So you want to become an online English teacher, but you may or may not have an education and do not have experience. Due to this, you are worried you may be called out as a fraud. You want to be your own boss, travel at your leisure and just take your laptop with you so you can teach as you go. But, is this realistic considering you have no degree and no skills? You bet it is. Even if you have a degree in another field, you may still be weary of having the ability to teach. Whether you have a degree or not, this article is for you.
I remember being twenty years old, sitting on a beach once with a friend of mine talking about our dreams. She mentioned that, since my dream was to travel full-time, I could pursue English teaching to help me maintain an income or possibly even live overseas. I can recall the exact moment and the exact feeling that came over my body. My heart lit up and my mind dashed to images of me teaching English to Thai, or Chinese students in Asia, setting up my life there and, to put it simply, being THAT cool. As quickly as these images came, they went with an overwhelming sense of “that could never happen to me.” Little did I know, it could.
In the following article, I will be discussing the biggest fears that held me back from teaching and the reality behind those fears. If you want to know exactly how I gained a steady student base and have managed to support myself for the past 4 years abroad by teaching, see my article "How to be a successful online English teacher with no education or experience" where I dive into the nitty-gritty of finding a legitimate platform, passing your English teaching interview, preparing materials, attracting students, and keeping them.
Self Doubt & Fears of Being Ridiculed
At the same time my friend recommended teaching, there was a looming feeling of the fact that it was too good to be true and I never in my life thought that anyone would pay anything to learn a single thing from me. After all, I wasn’t an expert or relatively knowledgeable in basically anything. Even if I had gotten a degree, I didn’t see myself as the kind of person to put myself out there and lead a single person in a lesson, let alone a class. I thought of myself as too naive, inexperienced, and young to accomplish what seemed to be the dream life. Fears of being overlooked and ridiculed, of making mistakes, and being plagued by imposter syndrome completely removed this idea from even being a goal of mine. I could set out to travel the world, but there was no way I could teach anyone anything. Who would take me seriously?
Finding Remote Work as an Unskilled, Uneducated Young Adult
The idea of being an English teacher stayed in my subconscious for quite a while and made its way into my daydreams a time or two. It wasn’t until two years later when I landed in Turkiye, met my husband, and decided to live here that I considered this idea once again. The main reason was out of desperation because I couldn’t find anything else for myself to do and working for a Turkish company was out of the question considering the long hours and astonishingly low pay. I began searching for online, remote work and quickly realized that there were many others who were also unskilled and also wanted to make money from home. Let’s just say, the pickings for unskilled, uneducated, online, remote work were slim to none.
After endless searching, I considered teaching once again. However, what I soon realized was that most reputable websites either required a degree or were so flooded with teachers, like Cambly, that there were nearly more teachers than students and took an eternity to get approved for an interview. I was nearly hopeless at this point because it seemed that the only platforms that would accept me and didn’t have a surplus of teachers were scams. Do not lose hope at this point. However, you may have to try out a few different sites, create a profile, and see how it works out. I personally applied for and marketed myself on 3 different sites before finding Amazing Talker, which is where I teach. Also, don't worry if it takes some time to land students.
Feeling Like You don’t know Enough
In addition to the issue of finding a platform that would take me on was the looming issue of “what the heck do I teach them?” I had very little knowledge of grammar rules at the time and had forgotten most of what I had learned. Like most natives, I couldn’t explain why we said things a certain way or why my husbands’ mistakes were indeed mistakes. “It just doesn’t sound right” was nearly the only explanation I could give. Not much of a teacher, it seemed.
What I didn’t know about teaching, which I blame on isolation in the US, was that people around the world are very willing to pay simply to speak with a native who could offer them a few corrections and some useful vocabulary. The thing is, in many countries where English is taught in school, it is taught with a focus on grammar and tests rather than speaking. This means that many students are very knowledgeable of grammar rules and more often than not know more about English grammar than their native counterparts. However, due to the way that English is learned in schools, most of them never had an opportunity to put their English skills to use. You might ask why they don’t practice the language with others since everyone learns it in school. Well, every Turk I have spoken to and every student I have had throughout my 3 years of teaching will tell you that the people of their countries are so terrified of making mistakes when speaking that they refuse to speak it with the people around them. On top of that, if you go out and about using English, people will think you are trying to show off. I guess that would make sense considering most Americans learn Spanish or French in highschool but putting it to use with your fellow Americans would most likely be humiliating or strange.
Imposter Syndrome: You have more to offer than you think
On top of everything else, I felt like a scam artist wanting to teach people something I didn’t know. Was it right of me to charge money for something like this? I was absolutely plagued by imposter syndrome and felt guilty, especially when my students thanked me. What I didn't know, as I said before, was that many people across the world want access to native speakers so they can practice and learn how we actually speak instead of what the textbooks teach them. Have you seen how English is taught in textbooks? "Have you received an invitation to your friend's party? Will you be attending?" The main point is that a surprising amount of students are less interested in grammar than speaking and are eager to practice conversation. However, eventually you will need to be able to, or learn how to, explain to your students why their mistakes are mistakes and how to fix them. This may sound daunting, but as long as you market your skills truthfully and sell your lessons for a price that reflects your skills, students are very understanding when you don’t have all of the answers. There were many times when students asked me the reason behind one of my corrections or a certain grammar rule and I would say “Oh, that is an excellent queesstiioonn….” as I googled the answer on the spot. There were other times when I simply had to admit I didn’t know and what followed wasn’t being cursed out by my student for being a fraud. Instead, what followed was laughter and giggles as well as a promise from me to do the research and get back to them on their question. You may be reading this with a raised brow, but believe it or not, that is how I learned and you would be surprised how much you pick up through real-life teaching practice versus simply studying grammar yourself. Knowing grammar rules is different from being able to explain them, thus I think you learn tremendously from the task of making them comprehensible to someone who may not have the same grammar concept in their own language. The same applies to vocabulary as many vocabulary words may not have an equivalent in their language. Being able to explain the difference between two similar words or two similar grammar concepts is a skill that you will hone over time. Plus, with each student, you learn the most effective ways to get the concept through to them without causing more confusion.
What I am trying to get across is that you are not faking your skills, experience, or education. Getting a degree, while I’m sure it can teach you many things, does not make you a good teacher. Thus, it is okay not to know everything and I assure you that you will pick up most of the knowledge and experience you need within the first year of teaching to be a successful online teacher. This is precisely how I started and I have had a steady 30 or so students for the past 3 years. Even if you have an education as a teacher, giving your first lesson, as I can imagine, is equally as daunting. You can’t get experience teaching without actually teaching, so don’t worry about not being an expert or making mistakes. As for me personally, I had a lot of trouble with imposter syndrome as these students looked to me as, what I felt was, their leader to help them progress in their language learning. I felt they trusted me and I was terrified of giving them wrong information or not knowing how best to help them improve, especially since I was teaching multiple levels across all ages. In the beginning, I remember getting my first advanced student in a trial lesson and I had no materials prepared for her level of speaking. I was so embarrassed and felt like I had wasted her time for which I apologized and simply explained that I was a new teacher with her being my first advanced student. Do you know what happened? She told me not to worry and has taken two classes per week from me for the past 3 years straight. What I'm getting at here is that as long as you make an active effort towards meeting your students' needs and price your lessons appropriately, you have no reason to fret.
You don't have to be good at everything
Over time you will realize what your strengths and weaknesses are, which you can expand upon. Maybe you aren't a grammar wiz or perhaps you are specifically good at writing. Promote your strengths and let students know what you can teach them. For example, I know how to write, but I don't really know how to teach it. So, I don't. Simple as that. If your strength is casual conversation and informal English, roll with it. Students love learning slang and you can successfully market yourself as that. For me personally, I do not like teaching academic or formal English. I also am not overly passionate about teaching children. I prefer casual conversation with adults because that is my style and that is exactly how I market myself.
What to teach them?
You may not know what your strengths are yet, so you might need to teach a bit of everything to figure it out. One of my biggest fears was entering into a classroom and having materials that were too easy, too difficult, or boring/useless for the student. How did I know what to teach them and how the heck do you know what they need to learn? Do I hit them with grammar? With reading? With conversation? Well, the simplest way to do this in the beginning is simply to ask. Ask them what they want to learn and 99% of the time, they know exactly what they want and you can just do that. This works really well particularly for the beginning of your teaching career because, over time, you will learn which level students are at simply by listening to them and, through experience, you will understand what they likely know and don’t know. Additionally, students begin with a trial lesson and, in this lesson, I let students know that I will be evaluating their speaking. I take notes and jot down mistakes that I correct at the end with the student. Then, use those mistakes to help you form a plan of what to teach them later on and you can base your materials on that.
Materials
Upon reading those last few sentences the word “materials” may have caught your eye. “Prepare materials?” you may ask. Yes, prepare materials. “You mean make my own lesson plan?” Could be, or you can get free materials from different websites like eslbrains, linguahouse, etc, which I find super useful when I’m in a pinch. However, you will quickly see which kinds of exercises work in a lesson, and which don’t. You will learn which exercises help your students as well as which ones they are most interested in and you can use that knowledge to create your own lesson plans. In the beginning, they may not work out the way you expected or they may be complete duds. That’s okay because I started out the same way and it is all a learning experience. If you want to know how to create lesson plans, check out my guide here.
Conclusion
Being a native English speaker is a blessing that I have learned to truly appreciate and you should as well. You do not have nothing to offer, far from it and you can gear your lessons towards your strengths and your target audience as you gain a student base. I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but market yourself truthfully and price your lessons accordingly so your students know what to expect from you. Do not be afraid of learning from experience itself as it will give you the tools you need in the real world rather than theories that may or may not be applicable. Be open and honest and enjoy the journey! You'll meet so many kind faces along the way and very likely make some new friends.
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