ESL Jobs Forum

[markc]

I've read the interesting thread on online teaching and I noticed that all of the respondents have been working for, or considering working for, companies.

Has anyone here ever set up their own freelance online teaching operation? This is something I'm interested in, although the technical aspects are something I know little about. I would like to teach up to two students at a time. The biggest difficulty I see is finding the students, although I think I may be able to find some in some of the countries I've taught in by word of mouth.

Does anyone here have this kind of experience? Any thoughts?

[markc]

I guess not.

I think relatively few teachers work for themselves - either online or offline. It's harder in some ways, but gives certain freedom. I've worked freelance and had my own language schools, but not yet online.

[jda]

I've set up my own operation. It's taken me a lot of time and effort but I now have a website that gets lesson requests everyday. I'm looking at expanding and taking on more students.

It's quite easy getting a template and building a site. But without spending quite a bit on advertising, it's quite difficult to bring in students. The online teaching industry is growing and recently some ebooks have appeared that give you the 'secrets' to teaching English online!

Some sites seem to only really offer conversational lessons but others are quite sophisticated. PM me if you want to ask me more about online lessons.
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[markc]

Thanks for the information jda. Your site looks good. I do have a couple more questions, I'll pm you later.

[JamesAtRealize]

do you mean skype lessons? that kind of thing?
student retention might be challenging.

I'm surprised how many of my students used to do skype lessons, tried them a short time and then bailed because it was not authentic enough or some other reason.
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マンツーマン 英会話 神戸 三宮 リアライズ - James

[markc]

Yes, using skype. Why would retention be harder for students learning online? What reasons did your students give for dropping out?

[JamesAtRealize]

quality of conversation was one, delays causing confusions, inability to share a textbook easily, a few other things like that I guess

There were also some people that needed a more human connection, for which English lessons are also a social event and they don't feel that with skype, it was too cold for them.

Also maintaining motivation with an activity outside your home is easier, like people who go to the gym vs owning weights in your garage.
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マンツーマン 英会話 神戸 三宮 リアライズ - James

[markc]

I agree that online lessons would not be for everyone. I think they would be best for a motivated adult student. I think some software allows for sharing of materials.

[JamesAtRealize]

Yeah there's great software for that but then it's targeting adult, motivated, technically somewhat-savy students. It feels like a huge minority when I think of my student base lol.

Then again, it does feel more ideal for a busy business man, which there are a lot of!
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マンツーマン 英会話 神戸 三宮 リアライズ - James

[zoeharrison]

jda - do you know the title of a good ebook that outlines the secrets?

also, congrats on having a successful website that gets daily requests. what is your secret? do you advertise?

[Nelly English]

I would like to comment on Skype on line teaching.

I have had a few local students, introduced to me, and they were quite surprised by the quality of the teaching. They never expected it to be so interactive.
I believe that you cannot JUST teach online, you need lots of experience in
teaching first. Then you need to be able to visualize the student's position and fill in the void. In the beginning it was utterly exhausting for me, but now I have
it down pat.
However, with a total stranger in another country I think there would be a lot
of setting up before lessons could take place.

I am in the process of setting up my own site, but would really appreciate advice on how to advertise, and would like to know if the earlier post spent a lot of money on advertising, or can some of it be done for free!

Good Luck to anybody out there going on such a venture, but plan and foresee before you take the step. You need to deliver quality.
NE

[lakers100]

Yes online teaching could be possible. My friend, even though he is not yet a graduate (but I don't know if he has a certificate about online teaching), he teaches korean people how to speak english. I think he's earning 5-10$ per hour of teaching. That's actually a great amount of money already.

Skype would be a good way of communicating and for the materials, I still don't have any idea of transferring them in the most comfortable way.

I guess he found this job in outsourcing sites like oDesk, Freelancer, Elance, etc.
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