How to Teach Languages Online: A Step-by-Step Guide

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So, you’ve decided to be an online language tutor. Good for you!

Teaching languages online is one of the most lucrative career options nowadays, especially as more and more people shift to remote work. It’s also one of the most fulfilling — you get to earn from teaching something you know while also helping language learners.

However, if you’re new to the world of online teaching, the idea of starting from scratch may seem daunting. And even if you have a background in face-to-face teaching, shifting to an online career can still be unsettling.

You’re probably wondering how to teach languages online. How and where should you start? This in-depth guide will take you through the requirements and tips you can follow to become a successful online language tutor.

Why teach languages online?

First off, why even consider this job?

The fact that you’ve already decided to become an online language tutor means you have your own reasons for pursuing this career. But let’s say you’re still on the fence, or you might need a bit of a push down the road. These reasons and benefits should motivate you:

You can teach what you know.

I’m going to assume that your first choice of language to teach is your native language. Whether you’re a native English, French, Spanish, Korean, or Mandarin speaker, your mother tongue gives you a leg up. Most tutor platforms prefer native speakers. But if you have certifications in other languages you learned, that can also be an advantage.

You can make a difference in the lives of others

Like I said earlier, teaching lets you help language learners. This is true regardless of the subject you teach — education empowers people and changes lives. Whether your student is learning a language for leisure or professional purposes, know that what you do can help them achieve their goals.

You can earn decent money

Teaching languages online is a real job. Regardless if one’s doing it as a side gig or a full-time job, there is real money in it. The revenue from e-learning is predicted to grow continuously and revenue from online language teaching is not an exemption.

If you are an experienced or certified teacher, you can make $15-20 per hour but even entry-level teachers can make a decent amount.

You can work from anywhere, anytime you want

Working remotely means you don’t have to worry about commuting and wasting time in traffic! Many online teaching websites also offer flexible hours so you can work at your preferred schedule. As long as you have the skills and the required technology, you’re good to go!

You can interact with people from various cultures

Unless you teach at a platform that specializes in a certain type of clientele, you’ll likely end up teaching Chinese kids, Japanese businessmen, or university students from Switzerland. This unique opportunity to engage with people from different countries and cultures doesn’t come often with other jobs.

You can gain valuable skills and boost your resume

The Roman philosopher Seneca once said, “While we teach, we learn.” Scientists call this the ‘protégé effect’, the concept of learning from teaching.

Teaching will require you to brush up on your knowledge of the language you’ll be teaching even if it is your native language. You’ll need to study your material, master teaching techniques, and develop your communication and organizational skills. And as you gain more skills, you also enhance your CV.

What do you need to teach languages online?

What does it take to be an online language tutor? The qualifications may vary based on the language you’ll be teaching and the website you’re applying to. But you’ll find that the skills and technology requirements are more or less the same across various platforms.

Skills

Communication skills: This one’s pretty obvious but still has to be highlighted. You’ll be helping language learners become better at reading, writing, listening, and speaking. You’ll have to master these skills before you even think of tutoring.

Teaching skills: Knowing a language is not enough. You should also be able to dedicate your full attention to your students. As a teacher, you need leadership, classroom management skills, critical thinking, patience, and lots of empathy for your students.

Flexible teaching style: Consequently, teaching also requires adaptability. You will have students from different backgrounds so you need to creatively tailor-fit your teaching approach for each student.

Professionalism: This trait stems from taking pride in your work. Professionalism means you hold yourself to high standards, can work efficiently, have good judgment, and can act politely towards your students. This also includes being punctual in your classes.

Business know-how: If you plan to take the freelance route, you’re essentially becoming “your own boss”. While you may work on a tutoring site or two, you’ll be responsible for declaring and paying your taxes as well as marketing your services.

Tech skills: You don’t have to be tech-savvy to be an online language teacher. But you do need to know how to set up your webcam and microphone and how to use video communication tools and/or online classroom tools.

Qualifications

Most online language tutoring sites require that you’re a native speaker of the language you want to teach. Others require that you have at least a C1 (advanced) CEFR level.

Some employers require a Bachelor’s degree either in education or linguistics. Some require previous teaching experience. Some websites accept applicants with neither degrees nor experience. But most of these companies ask for certifications, like these sites for teaching English online. Some of these qualifications include:

• TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language)
• TESL (Teach English as a Second Language)
• TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)
• CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

Note that all of these are ESL (English as a Second Language) certifications and you’ll need different certifications if you plan to teach other languages.

If you plan to teach English long-term, it’s worth signing up for TEFL courses. The same is true if you’d like to teach other languages. Make sure to take the required number of hours for the certifications and enroll at reputable sites such as MyTEFL, TEFL Academy, the TEFL Institute, and International Open Academy.

Technology

This one’s pretty straightforward. To teach foreign languages online, you must have the following technical requirements:

• Stable internet connection
• Working laptop
• Microphone and webcam – This can be built-in or external, although external mics and cameras typically provide better audio and video quality.
• Video communication tools (e.g., Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts)

While many websites no longer specify the technical specs for your laptop and internet speed, meeting minimum system requirements will help you get the best experience possible. For instance, Skype recommends at least 400 kbps of internet speed.

Where to teach languages online

You’ve got the skills, the qualifications, and the tech. What’s next? How do you finally find students to teach?

While can independently teach languages online — as in looking for students on your own and conducting classes in your preferred video communication tool — doing this can be exhausting and easily dissuade you from going further.

Teaching via online tutoring companies or tutor marketplaces, however, gives you access to their vast clientele while also helping you with managing bookings and payments. Granted, a portion of your income will go to commission fees charged by these companies. But you can consider that as payment for their student pool and marketing assistance, taking a huge load off your shoulders so that you can focus on teaching.

I’ve previously named websites where you can teach languages and websites where you can teach English without a degree. You may refer to these lists for the requirements, application process, pay, and other relevant info. We also have articles on websites for teaching Japanese and teaching Korean.

Among the most popular sites is Preply, which has about 100,000 active language learners per year. The site provides tutoring on over 100 subjects and hobbies, including languages. Popular languages include English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Chinese.

What’s great about Preply is that it doesn’t require a degree, specific certifications, or teaching experience. Popular tutors can earn up to $550 per week and hours are totally flexible.

That said, Preply takes a 100% commission fee for your first lesson payment with every new student. For all subsequent lessons, the commission varies from 18% to 33%. This means the more repeat students you book, the more you earn.

Aside from Preply, it’s also worth looking into italki, Novakid (for English teachers), AmazingTalker, Lingoda, Verbalplanet, and Verbling. For U.S. residents, Wyzant is also worth checking out.

How to become an online language tutor: Top tips

Now, it’s time to look at the steps you have to take to finally start your online language teaching career and succeed in it.

1. Know your purpose

It sounds cliché but it’s a necessary step: you have to know your why.

Are you doing this to fund your living expenses, future travels, or a car you’ve been eyeing for quite some time? Do you have this burning passion for teaching? Do you want to connect with language learners from different parts of the world?

Knowing your purpose can help you stay motivated when the going gets tough (because it will). You’ll need to remember your motivation to keep going.

2. Choose which language you’ll teach

Your native tongue is your best weapon and in many tutor marketplaces, this is what’ll get you through the door.

That said, if you have a good command of a second or third language, you can also teach it. Many language tutors actually thrive in doing this because they know what it’s like to learn the language and can share best practices with their students.

3. Check if you meet the qualifications and required technology

There are two ways to go about this (and this will help with tip #4). You can look for websites that will likely accept you with the qualifications you currently have. Or you can study further to get certified so you can apply for sites that require said qualifications.

If you have no teaching/language-related degree, no certification, and no prior experience, you can still teach languages online. Case in point, italki hires community tutors who can teach students through conversation practice. Just be aware that having one or all of the three qualifications will help you attract more students and price your services higher.

Also, make sure that you are ready with the required technology. Familiarize yourself with different video communication tools so you’ll know how to navigate them when it’s time for your class.

4. Choose the right tutoring platform

Here are some factors to consider when choosing the website where you’ll teach the language:

• Type of students you would like to teach
• If your target language is offered on the site
• Average fees
• How hard/easy the recruitment process is
• Type of classes (one-on-one or group)
• Whether the site provides teaching materials or you have to produce your own
• Reviews from tutors (You may check out sites like Indeed and Glassdoor to see reviews of different tutor marketplaces)

You can think of more details to pay close attention to but the above list should help you filter your options.

In your application and/or onboarding, make sure that you’ve not only ticked off all of the site’s requirements but also made your profile as detailed as possible. This will help future students know if you’re the right fit for them.

5. Know how much to charge

Pricing is one of the trickiest parts of your journey but it’s also one of the most essential.

Because there is no industry standard rate for language learning fees, it can be challenging to set your rates. But you can look to tutor marketplaces to see the average rate for each language. On Preply, for instance, the average rate for private English tutors is $19/hour for native English speakers and $17/hour for non-natives.

Your starting rate will depend on your qualifications and level of experience. To some extent, making your profile attractive (e.g., mentioning your specialties) can also help you charge higher.

If you have no experience, it would be best to start at the lowest rate you can afford. The cheaper your rates are, the more students you will attract. Then, teach as many students as you can and gain as much experience as possible.

Be careful not to get stuck into this low starting rate for a long time though. By getting more students, you can quickly test your teaching methods and materials. Once you start getting more students that you can handle (and once you feel more confident in your skills), you should increase your rates.

As an alternative strategy, you can also consider tutoring for free before you apply to any tutor marketplace. Most websites list teaching experience as an advantage — and free tutoring services count as experience.

Think of it as an “internship” if you will. You can build your portfolio by offering free lessons to your friends, acquaintances, or people you encounter on language-related Facebook groups. Be transparent about it — tell them you’re doing this to gain experience and they’ll be likely happy to take you up on this. Make sure to ask for their feedback or review later.

6. Don’t forget marketing

As an online language tutor, you’re not merely a teacher. You’re also a service provider. And for you to effectively sell your services, you need to market yourself.

The first thing you should identify is your target market. Will you cater to schoolchildren? University students? Business professionals? You can teach various types of students as long as your skill sets match them BUT you have to communicate this in your profile.

For example, you can segment your expertise in your profile. This can be in the form of subjects such as English for kids, English for homework help, IELTS, Conversational English, and Business English.

You can make appealing descriptions of your services by mentioning your qualifications and experience in your profile. A thoughtfully written bio — one that’s succinct but with character — will work wonders. If the profile includes a video introduction, make sure to be engaging and let your personality shine through.

If you have previously posted online content of yourself teaching a language (e.g., a YouTube video, a TikTok, podcast, or blog), include that in your profile too. And if the website allows it, do put a link to your portfolio or reviews from older students.

7. Set your schedule

Many tutor websites allow for flexible scheduling and some don’t even require minimum teaching hours. This is one of the benefits of teaching languages online.

That said, higher availability also gets you more students. It’s best to open as many slots as your time allows when you’re just starting. This will help you get more experience and more reviews, which will then help you demand higher rates.

8. Prepare for classes

So, you’ve finally booked students. How do you prepare for your classes?

Like a traditional (offline) teacher, an online language tutor must prepare lesson plans and use the right teaching tools. Some websites may require their tutors to use the same syllabus and built-in tools. Lingoda is one example of this; it uses a structured curriculum and provides extensive teaching materials.

Websites like italki, Preply, and AmazingTalker ask tutors to customize their lesson plans and teaching materials based on the needs of their students. Most sites also offer training videos for tutors to better equip them.

There are pros (and cons) to both systems. Having a curriculum to follow and native resources means you don’t need to make your own and you just have to familiarize yourself with the built-in tools.

On the other hand, preparing your own teaching materials allow you to be flexible and creative. This is especially beneficial if you’ll be teaching students with very different goals and skill levels.

Here at Learn Languages From Home, we have tons of resources that you can use for teaching (or get ideas from). Simply search a language and you’ll see our suggested apps, books, podcasts, and websites for that particular language.

The internet also offers a wealth of resources for teaching different languages. Find the most relevant, organize them in whichever file storage app you prefer (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive), and plan how and where you’ll use them.

Also, do come on time to your classes. Don’t let tardiness ruin your chances of getting positive reviews.

9. Know what your students need

A crucial part of being an online language tutor is knowing your student’s goals. Here, communication is key.

Some websites have some sort of ‘placement test’ that students fill up before they get matched with a tutor. This questionnaire identifies the skill level and needs of the students. If the website you’re teaching on doesn’t have this, you’ll have to ask the questions yourself during your first session with the student.

Some students are aware of their skill level, some aren’t. Either way, you can confirm this (and it’s important to do so) by administering a short test or interviewing them. It’s also vital to know what their learning style is. Some students prefer casual conversations, others like to read and write.

As a teacher, you should strike a balance between accommodating your student’s preferences and achieving their goals according to his/her learning speed. I get it: you have this desire to teach a language in the way you think is best. But we all learn differently. Customize and be prepared to work around your student’s goals, not your own standards.

10. Measure your effectiveness

The most straightforward way to evaluate yourself is through reviews. Remind your students to drop a review for you because many don’t leave reviews unless they’re prompted.

Reviews will help you gain insight into what’s working and what’s not. What are your students saying about you? What do they like about you? What do they not like about you? Did they think you helped them achieve your goal? Did they enjoy their session with you?

If you’re getting rave reviews, great! Keep on keeping on. If you’re getting less than stellar feedback, don’t be salty and instead see it as an opportunity for you to improve. Also, don’t beat yourself up too much. Check the feedback to see which areas you should tweak.

Another metric of effectiveness is the number of repeat students you get. Loyal students translate to credibility and — in some websites like Preply — more bucks.

11. Teach and be taught

Going back to the protégé effect, you can learn by teaching. Through teaching languages, you get to share your knowledge while also learning from your students, the teaching resources that you’ll encounter as you prepare for your classes, and fellow tutors.

The latter is important. Being an independent worker, it can be easy to isolate yourself and try to do everything yourself. But by doing so, you’re limiting your opportunities to learn and grow.

The adage ‘learning never stops’ applies to teachers as much as it does to students. Connect with other tutors on the platform you’re teaching in or through tutor communities on Facebook or Reddit. Ask questions, ask for help. Watch other language tutors on YouTube to be exposed to more teaching styles. Keep learning!

Final thoughts

And there you have it! I hope this comprehensive guide on how to teach languages online helped inspire you to get started in this challenging but fulfilling career. Sure, it takes a lot of preparation. But the perks, from potential earnings to opportunities to meet people, make it all worth it. Take it one step at a time, enjoy the process, and stay motivated!