Becoming an online English tutor is one of the best ways to make an easy side income from anywhere in the world. One of the best things about teaching English online is that you can do this job anywhere, which makes living on the road of making money while travelling easy!
You can easily turn to teaching English online into your full-time income so that you can live the lusted-after nomad lifestyle. In like manner, you can start a travel blog, or become a freelancer and make some great side income.
I want to help fellow travellers learn how to make money online so they can travel more often, or turn their life into a nomadic full-time travel lifestyle. Find here the best ways to become an online English tutor and make some money from your laptop, from anywhere in the world!
(Disclaimer: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning if you click on the link and make a purchase, I receive a small commission. This is at no extra cost to you and you may even receive a small discount. See disclosure for more information.)
How to Become An Online English Tutor
Qualifications
Teaching English online has a few requirements you need to meet in order to qualify. Most companies require the following:
- You must be a Native English speaker or near-native
- From a country with English as the first language: Canada, the United Kingdom, or the United States
- You must have a strong and reliable internet connection, a working microphone, webcam, and a quiet place to conduct lessons
- A Bachelor’s degree or completing a bachelor’s degree
- A TEFL Certificate
- You have a teacher’s personality: fun, enthusiastic and positive.
These rules vary depending on the platform you sign up for. However, the native English rule is pretty consistent between platforms because in order to teach English you must be at the highest level possible.
Most higher-paying companies require a TEFL Certificate. A TEFL certification is a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification is a certificate that is required by schools hiring English language teachers to teach non-English speakers the language. Some companies don’t require this, but it having it helps with the entire teaching process as with the course to get the certificate you learn how to plan a class and conduct language lessons. Find here the best places to take a TEFL course online.
Earnings
Depending on the company you teach with you can earn between 10$ to 25$ an hour teaching English online. With this income, you can work a few hours every day and have enough to live a comfortable life on the road. You won’t exactly be making a killing but if you are travelling in cheaper countries and opting for low-cost accommodation you can live a nice life abroad.
Some of the platforms pay per minute and some pay hourly. With some platforms, you will have to commit to a set amount of hours per week while with others you can set the scheduling.
To earn even more from being an online English tutor you can join referral programs where you can get bonuses and make money for every person you bring to the platform to teach.
5 Best Places to Teach English Online
VIPKID
VIPKID is a great online English tutor platform for people from North America who want to teach English to Chinese children. The platform connects teachers with Chinese students and the platform does all the lesson planning, test marking and more!
Each class is around 25-30 minutes and you can earn up to $22 an hour! This is one of the higher-paying platforms that also has a referral program where you can earn 50$ – 60$ per referral.
Requirements:
- Teachers must be North American
- You can only teach Chinese children
- If your wifi cuts out for longer than 3 minutes you are charged a class cancellation fee
- You must have a university degree (the topic doesn’t matter)
Magic Ears
Magic Ears is one of the most popular and highest-earning choices for online English tutors from Canada and the United States. The platform takes care of lesson planning, marking of tests and more so all you have to do is show up and teach English!
With this platform, you can earn up to $26 per hour, which makes it the highest payout option from this list.
Requirements:
- No university degree is required
- Only available for Canadians and Americans
- Magic Ears offers a TEFL for just $20
GoGoKid
GoGoKid is a newer platform for teaching English online available for people from Canada and the USA. The platform connects you with young Chinese students up to the age of 12 and does all the lesson planning and marking, allowing you to focus on teaching.
Each class is 25 minutes and you earn between $7 – $10 per class. But the platform offers incentives for 2.50 per class bringing up the potential earnings to $25 per hour.
Requirements:
- Must be Canadian or American
- Must have a bachelor’s degree
- Must have a TEFL Certificate
Qkids
QKids is another great option for teaching English online that is great for making a side income. This platform will train its tutors, however, they must be from North America. The one con to this platform is that tutors must actually be in Canada or the USA when they teach, which makes living on the road and working with them difficult. This is a great way to make money before travelling or having a side income.
However, you can earn up 10 $20 per lesson and get a $100 referral bonus when you refer other teachers.
Requirements:
- Must be in Canada or USA
- Must be North American
- Must do a minimum of 6 hours per week
- Don’t need a degree but you must be enrolled to get one
Becoming an online English tutor is easier than you think. In just a few short steps you can easily live a life on the road doing a fulfilling job that allows you to work when and where you want. As an online English tutor, you can finally enjoy life on the road and enjoy travelling full time!
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Love,
SSW
I just moved abroad so I am looking into flexible jobs and ways to make some extra cash and this post is really helpful & thorough! Thanks for sharing!