So far in this guide we have looked at The Basics of Teaching English Online, the Skills and Qualifications you may or may not need, the Tools and Equipment, where to find Online English Teaching jobs and how to prepare for your Online English Classes.
But you need to refine all of these things to make sure you are not just a GOOD Online English Teacher, but a GREAT one.
This requires constantly improving your skills as a teacher.
But also using the right tools to ensure that you are highly organised.
In this part — Part Six of The Ultimate Guide To Being An Online English Teacher — I want to cover TEN effective ways that you can gain more students and become a sought after English Teacher online.
Let’s get started right now…
Building Rapport with Students
You will have to build rapport with your students.
This means forging a strong connection with them so that both you and your students can create a productive and enjoyable learning environment.
By this, I don’t mean being ‘the cool teacher’ or trying to be their best friend. But I do mean getting to know who your students are as living human beings.
Here are a few things I have highlighted to help you do just that.
Create a Friendly and Approachable Atmosphere
So, every time you start a class, begin the session by greeting the student warmly and engaging in some small talk.
Ask them about their day, about their hobbies (you need to find out what they like to do in their free time), life at school or in their hometown.
By doing this, you will make them feel valued and therefore more comfortable in speaking English with you.
English learners often have negative feelings about their own English skills, so use positive reinforcement in your lessons to boost their confidence.
Hand out compliments when they make an effort to use English and show genuine excitement when you see them improve.
Even if it is just a small amount of progress, let them know that they are making progress, nonetheless.
The student should end each class by closing the screen and having a little more faith and belief in themselves and their English studies.
Get to Know Your Students Personally
As I said briefly above, you need to make a conscious effort to find out about your students’ personal interests, their goals for studying English, their goals in life generally, and anything else you can dig deep about them.
Once you understand what motivates them to learn English or to do anything at all, then this can help you tailor their lessons more clearly.
The lessons you create then align more smoothly with their goals, passions and desires, therefore making the teaching material and the classes much more relevant.
If you are teaching younger learners — any kids between the ages of five and twelve — you should try to find out what things they like too.
They may be children, but they are living, breathing human beings with likes and dislikes.
This may mean finding out what cartoon shows they like, what stories they are interested in, or what popular games they like to play.
Now you can use these things in your own lessons. Trust me, the kids will love you for it.
The kids love your classes, the parents are happy, more classes for you.
The same applies if you are teaching adults in Business English classes.
Find out what their job is (this is essential!), what their career goals are, what their university major is…
Also, find out what they like to do when they are not working.
Incorporate all of this in your classes.
Now the classes are so much more relevant to them.
Happy campers all around.
Be Patient and Encourage Communication
It should go without saying that you need patience by the bucket load in your Online English Classes.
You will meet many students who feel awkward or even painfully shy when opening their mouths to speak English.
This is especially true for beginners.
Your job is to make them feel at ease and to encourage them very strongly when they make mistakes.
Encourage them to embrace their mistakes in English.
Mistakes are there to help the student learn.
It is all part of the learning process.
And of course, you have to listen. Not just listen, but actively listen.
Use clear and visible body language and facial expressions to show that you are very much listening to them.
They need to see that you really value their participation.
Eventually, this will help them open up more and speak out loud to you in English.
They should feel 100% comfortable being in your class every time.
Provide Constructive and Motivating Feedback
Your students will need to hear constructive and motivating feedback from you at the end of every single class.
You need to give a summary and appraisal at the end of class.
Do this by focusing on strengths and areas for improvement.
Ideally, you should offer two pieces of positive criticism and one piece of negative criticism.
I say ‘negative criticism’ here, but really we should refer to is ‘area of improvement’.
The two positive things can boost their confidence.
The one area of improvement is just enough for them to concentrate on and take action.
Do not give your students generic feedback like ‘good’, ‘well done’ or ‘great’.
This is useless!
Give more detail.
Why was it good or great?
Let the students see exactly where they did well.
Managing Time and Workload
As an Online English Teacher, you will be doing a balancing act between multiple students, often in different time zones.
You will have to manage your workload so that you never miss a class.
You need to be organised!
And staying organised can be a real challenge…
Below I offer you some advice and tips on how to stay on top of everything.
Let’s take a look now…
Balancing Multiple Students and Time Zones
I personally think that two of the best apps you can use to maintain your schedule and keep a close check on the times and dates of all your classes are Calendly and Google Calendar.
Calendly is free to use, but there is a paid version which is $10 a month.
I personally think this is great value, as you can set up all your different classes.
Calendly integrates with other apps, which makes it all the better for you. It can integrate with all the popular video conferencing apps.
With the paid version of Calendly, you can send reminders to your students about classes. So less chance of getting a dreaded no-show.
Google Calendar is also free, and it integrates perfectly with Calendly.
So once one of your students books a class on Calendly, it will automatically appear on Google Calendar.
By using these two apps, you can map out your entire week.
Everything should be very clear to see. When you have classes and with which student and all the right times.
Setting Boundaries and Maintaining a Healthy Schedule
As well as setting up all your classes and working times, you need to establish a clear boundary on how many classes or hours per day or week you wish to work.
Establish Clear Working Hours
You need to define very clearly to yourself what your working hours are and then stick to them.
You can establish your available times on Calendly. And then those should be the only times when your students can book you.
For example, you might wish to have a couple of classes in the morning and maybe two or three in the evening.
And maybe you would like Monday and Thursday off completely.
Establish that schedule on Calendly and then stick to it.
Avoid Overbooking
If you are starting out as an Online English Teacher, you might wish to book as many classes as you can get. Just to get the experience you need.
But be careful not to overdo this.
Booking endless classes back-to-back will only lead to exhaustion and burnout.
This will result in a decreased performance from you as the teacher.
Make sure you establish clear times when you can take a break.
Breaks are important!
You need to recharge your batteries…
Set Expectations for Communication
Let students know when they can expect a response to messages or emails, and don’t feel pressured to respond outside of your working hours.
If you are freelancing or setting up a business of teaching English online, then, of course, you need to respond to your potential students and existing students promptly.
But don’t feel pressured to respond immediately.
Due to time differences, you could receive a notification on your phone of a new email or enquiry in the middle of the night.
There is no need for you to reply within seconds!
Prioritize Self-Care
One thing you absolutely must take care of is your own physical and mental well-being.
Having lots of students on your roster is great, but you also need time out for exercise, meals, and rest (this is vital!) as this will improve your overall teaching ability in terms of the energy and effectiveness you bring to the class.
Take time out for yourself!
Using Tools to Streamline Your Workflow
Above I mentioned tools such as Calendly and Google Calendar.
And earlier in the guide, I mentioned tools such as Zoom and Google Meet.
But there are some other tools you can use to streamline your workflow.
Two tools that I think are very useful are Todoist and Trello.
These apps can help manage all your day-to-day working life and the tasks you have to do.
Yes, Calendly and Google Calendar can schedule your classes, but what about lesson planning, updating your website (if you have one) or perhaps making videos for your students?
You will find there could be a hundred other things that you have to take care of and apps like Todoist and Trello are ideal for this.
Me personally, I use Todoist as it just suits my brain and the way I think.
The paid version is $48 a year. Which I think is great value for what it does.
Trello uses the Japanese Kanban method. I tried this, and it didn’t really work for me.
Have a play around with both and see which one you like. But using one of these tools can make your life much smoother and efficient.
Continuous Learning
You cannot just assume that just because you have a TEFL certificate or a CELTA you know everything about teaching English or teaching generally.
This should be a continuous learning experience for you.
In order to stay competitive and provide the best experience for your students, you need to be in a constant state of learning, improving, and growing as a teacher.
Let me outline some ways to stay on top of your game:
Stay Updated with Teaching Methods and Technologies
Teaching methods are always being updated.
New technology appears at lightning speed.
Here is how to make sure you are updated on these two things.
Explore New Pedagogical Approaches
You need to ensure that you are well-informed about new trends in English learning, language learning and teaching generally.
Make strong efforts to keep up to date with all of these aspects to ensure you are keeping your own teaching methods fresh and effective.
Incorporate Technology into Your Lessons
As I said, technology changes today at the speed of light. You must make sure you are up-to-date with all of this.
Do not be left behind!
Follow Industry Blogs and Webinars
Many organizations and educators regularly post useful content about best practices, tools, and trends. Follow resources like Teaching English with Technology or Edutopia for ongoing learning.
One very effective — and free — way to keep up to date with new teaching methodologies and technology is to read websites and blogs about these two things.
There are quite literally tons of free resources where you can find out about teaching methodologies and technology.
Here are some useful sites to begin with:
Attend Workshops and Online Courses
You can also enrol in courses to help you improve as a teacher.
There are many courses to help you learn more about Online English Teaching, language learning or even more specific areas like Business English or IELTS preparation.
Two very popular platforms to find courses are Coursera and Udemy.
Look here for courses you might be interested in.
But also follow some YouTube channels that deal with any areas you wish to improve upon.
Join Teaching Communities for Support and Growth
And of course, one of the best ways to keep updated about Online English Teaching is to network with your peers — other Online English Teachers — who can then offer valuable insights, tips, experiences and even emotional support.
Social media will provide endless groups for this.
Facebook and LinkedIn being the most obvious choices.
But there are also forums on Discord and other online communities where teachers can share information and help each other.
Platforms like Reddit and TeachAway have vibrant communities for online educators. Participate in discussions, share ideas, and learn from others.
One really useful platform to join and communicate with many other teachers is Reddit.
There are many communities — subreddits — you can join to discuss ideas and thoughts with other teachers.
These are the most popular subreddits that could be of most use to you:
Build a Personal Brand
You need to let other people know that you are teaching English online, and you are available.
You can do this by creating your own website.
Hosting is not expensive and there are many tools to help you build the site.
Like I said, I use Zume hosting, and I love what they do.
Contact here:
If you have your own site, you can add your own lesson plans, articles and guides — hey, just like me!
You can also use social media to build a following.
Of course, this takes time, but it is within your capability to do this.
Conclusion
If you want to build a steady stream of students that are keen to join your Online English Classes, you need to give something more.
Yes, you should be constantly learning. Finding out how to be a better teacher all the time.
And use the right tools to ensure that you are on point about time-keeping, schedules and class arrangements.
In Part Seven, I will talk about Earning Potential and How to Increase Your Rates as an Online English Teacher.
And please let me know what you think of this guide so far.
Leave a comment below…
Many thanks!
