ESL 2020
2020 has been an interesting year to say the least, but have no fear the teacher is here. Despite the pun yes, now is a good time to get into online teaching. People have been loosing their lively hoods left right and centre and yet I have had no problem with walking straight into a job as a Kids Online English Teacher, why?
“With zero experience and the right attitude you can go anywhere, everyone has to start somewhere.”
Russell 2020
Teaching isn’t for everyone. Sitting in front of a screen for several hours per day explaining a dreaded school subject to someone who doesn’t speak your language can be daunting to say the least, but it does have its little rewards. When you suddenly recognise your students improvement as they answer a question you never thought they could in perfect English… using your accent. Absolute gold.
ESL now?
There is some debate over whether it’s a thriving industry right now. With an international super plague encompassing the Earth, lot’s of smaller businesses are struggling to keep staff and students alike. The good thing, is for the bigger companies with their well established online presence. These companies are actually expanding and actively hiring to meet the demand. With each small business that closes, hundreds of new students are looking for teachers from the more well developed companies.
Now don’t get me wrong, the pay isn’t perfect, you will likely be earning around £10 an hour plus incentives, especially if you have just started. But this is more down to a choice than a restriction. I am of the mind that you should learn the ropes before earning the money. I went for a company that gives you all of the help you need as a beginner, with zero lesson preparation. Once you have gotten used to the lesson styles and layouts you can increase your wages, most do his by 6 month reviews or simply by changing companies.
To be honest there are lots of businesses out there, each already have their own curriculum that you literally just need to ‘read of the powerpoint’ to be able to complete the lesson. However, that’s not really teaching is it. You will find that you quickly develop your own separate mannerisms and techniques for delivering the lesson to different students, be it someone who struggles or an English language prodigy.
Do I need another language?
The single most terrifying thing that I remember, and get asked regularly, is how do you teach a child who doesn’t speak your language. Well, first things first, that’s kind of the point of ESL in the first place. I find it actually benefits you if you don’t speak the same language. You learn how to adapt to not being able to say an explanation and the child develops quickly by being “forced” to learn and understand more. Ignoring this, there is no need to worry at all, the lessons are specifically designed to slowly develop an understanding of the language and be built upon. There really is no need to worry.
Hours
The best thing I have found with teaching English is the time difference. For me being in the UK, I get up and start work at 8:00 a.m. but finish at 1:00 p.m. This means it leaves me the whole day to do as I please.
I am also not bound to any set schedule. I can choose my working hours, meaning if I don’t want to work a specific day or time, I don’t. I book time off when I wish, as long as I give some time in advance, and I can also pick up more lessons if I am free. If my plans fall through and I get the day free, no problem, I’ll do some teaching for extra money, win win.
Anywhere
Finally a great factor for online teaching is something you can’t do with teaching in class. I can work from anywhere in the world, as long as I have a good Internet connection. This will depend on the company that you work for and their eligibility requirements. Some more strict companies will allow you to work in a foreign country if you are going to a set location for an extended period and can prove your connection is good. This means travelling is still perfectly on the table, as long as you account for the time differences for the students you teach of course.
Personally I would recommend a company that teaches in China, purely for the times and remuneration. The country’s sheer size means there are literally hundreds of companies to choose from, all wanting teachers, leaving you with a better wage per demand and if you live in the UK, the time difference is near perfect.
Not online
If online ESL isn’t for you but you would love to travel for a while then try a physical school location. An excellent part of these ESL schools is that you are not the students only teacher. Each student goes to an in country physical class to learn, you are the local English teaches native assistant. The students come to you to practice what they have learnt with a truly fluent speaker, meaning most of your students will already know the material if not more. You could choose, if you wish, to go to one of these school on yearly contracts where they will help you to set up your life for living abroad whilst you can travel the country from a home base and live in the culture. This is one of the routes I am considering taking myself.
For warning
When choosing an ESL company there are many, many schools to choose from, take reviews of these companies with a pinch of salt. I spent weeks looking for companies and kept swaying due to former employees reviews. When I joined a company I realised something important, you are wanted in this field. Thats not to say you are irreplaceable, but they know what to expect from a beginner and will generally make allowances when you first start.
Reviews
If you don’t like where you are at, just leave and go to another company. I personally have never experienced any of the issues that I have read about, even for the company I work for. Some of the issues were even things that, now I have been in the situations, I recognise as, honestly, the employees fault not the company. I think every business will get disgruntled employees. That’s not saying that at times the company isn’t to blame, these do happen too, just like everywhere else, but things can be blow out of proportion. Does anyone ever review something unless they had a terrible experience and want to hurt them back, just food for thought. But as I said, just leave, it is very easy to walk into another ESL job, especially now. And if you really don’t like it, go back to what you were doing with the experience you have in that field, simple. You can even work both, get your feet wet so to speak. Most of the companies now have removed any minimum weekly hour requirements so trying it out is perfectly fine, even for 1 lesson a week.
Any who…
Long story short, don’t spend too much time overthinking everything like I did. I believe this to be the best decision I have made as of my journeys so far. I earn as much money as I did previously, working less hours and at sociable times. I spend the rest of my time learning new skills that will be useful for travelling.
What do you think, is this something you would be interested in trying? A change of pace from the daily grind or perhaps even a career change. I hope this helped anyone who was on the fence or has, at least, made some of you think more about this less spoken job sector.
If you have any further questions feel free to Leave a Q.