How Much Money Can I Make Teaching English Online?
23rd December 2021If you are curious to get information on how much money you can make by teaching English online, make sure you have an online TEFL/TESOL course, a Bachelor's degree, and a strong command of the language. There are multiple options and opting for anyone can fetch you a hefty amount.
Though when you will start teaching for the first time, the payment will be not that high but gradually as you gain a good amount of teaching experience you will begin earning pretty decent.
Full-time or part-time teaching English online?
Let's say you're working with an ESL company and you teach there for a certain number of hours. You can choose to become a part-time English teacher or a full-time one. Generally, ESL companies provide an hourly rate for teachers but some organizations give opportunities to teachers to quote their service charge.
Apart from classroom management skills, salaries of online English teachers depend on the following factors:
- The ESL company with which you shall teach English online
- Your working hours.
- If the qualification and eligibility criteria required are matching with yours.
- Your basic salary and bonuses.
Where can you teach English online?
ESL COMPANIES:
Among other options, an ESL company will give you massive exposure if you get an opportunity to teach here. There are many ESL institutes that provide teaching materials to ESL teachers and hence you do not have to prepare a teaching timeline which is extremely time-consuming. Also, reputed ESL companies have excellent networks, and you can get good quality students.
These companies will not let you fix your wage but will determine your hourly rate by themselves. Your pay scale will depend upon your experience and qualification. These rates have a range between $8-$20 USD per hour, however, incentives may include bonuses like an extra $1 of pay per class if you teach more than 45 classes per month.
In order to become an ESL teacher in a high-quality ESL company, you must have a TEFL/TESOL certificate. An advanced or Diploma TEFL program will give you an edge and rank you higher than other candidates. Just like every other company requires a bit of experience, many reputed ESL companies prefer candidates having prior teaching experience so that they are aware of the exact teaching methodology.
Not every ESL organization demands a Bachelor's degree but some may have a major lookout for a University degree. It is always advisable to look for the incentive-based program because it helps teachers to earn extra money.
OPEN MARKETPLACE:
An open marketplace is an online platform that connects students who want to learn English from TEFL-qualified teachers. The names of teachers along with their experience and qualifications are listed and students can choose any teacher as per their demand.
Teachers must mention their achievements like their TEFL certificate, mode of learning e.g., TEFL certification online, in-class, or live online session. They should also mention if they have done an Advanced TEFL program or a Diploma. If they are targeting a niche market like young learners or business professionals, they should mention if they have pursued TEFL in young learners or TEFL in Business English respectively.
Besides, they must upload their university certifications, if any, and any prior teaching experience. Regarding prior teaching experience, teachers must be clear about where they have taught as in private tutor support, or a freelancer, or in any TEFL school. An introduction video must be provided by the teachers which should be absolutely professional and in the platform, their pay scale should be mentioned as well.
ONLINE TEACHING BUSINESS:
This is actually quite challenging but once it takes off, there is no looking back. Online teaching business requires a lot of courage and motivation because initially, the number of students you will receive won't be that great. The best strategy will be to thrive on and work hard to get ultimate success.
While you will be the sole owner of your business, this entire process is a bit tedious and not hassle-free. You have to take a lot of responsibility for planning the content, using the best and appropriate resources, strategizing the content, targeting the apt market, and delivering the video content correctly.
There are multiple benefits to having your own business. Those are:
- You are the only one who will rule your business. There won't be any interference from any 3rd party or outsider unless you want that.
- In the case of open markets, you have to pay commission but over here, every single penny is yours.
- You can set your hourly rate of delivering educational content based on your confidence and ability. Some students have the impression that if a teacher is charging low, he/she might not be that much eligible. Weigh the pros and cons, do market research, and then set your rate.
- You can get plenty of references from your students.
- There is no need to sign any contract and thus there is no rule you have to stick to.
Confused about paying tax?
You have to mention if you're self-employed or an independent contractor and based on these tax slabs will be determined. English teachers will have to take the responsibility of reporting if earnings are totally self-employed. To be more specific, the nationality of ESL teachers also determines the tax they have to pay.
If you're a citizen of the USA and you're teaching in a non-USA-based ESL company by staying in the USA, you do not have to provide papers for taxation. Then again, you have to report what you're earning, being a self-employed person. If you're receiving payment via Paypal and you've:
- Earned $20,000 USD in gross payment volume for teaching English online in a single year;
- 200 payments for teaching English online in the same year.
PayPal will send Form 1099-K to you and the IRS for that year for taxation filing purposes
In case you're a US citizen and living abroad while teaching English online, you do not have to pay US taxes for the first $80000 USD that you shall be earning every year.
So that was all about teaching English online and if you want to know more about online TEFL/TESOL courses, follow our TEFL Course youtube video!
Written By : Aisha Fazura