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susanmholman
Joined: 26 Jan 2006
Posts: 7
Location: South Korea
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 Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:12 pm Post subject: Online teaching |
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I was wondering if anyone had ever tried teaching ESL online. I've seen several companies who hire. 
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Susie |
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skennedy
Joined: 26 Jan 2006
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:30 pm Post subject: Teaching online |
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A word of caution! I tried it and set up my computer with the company-they actually confiqured my computer online so I had to let them into all the 'stuff' one asks to configure a computer. Anyhow , since I was so naive, Everytime they hooked me up to a student "it didn't work' the way it was supposed to . Meanwhile, they had access to all my files and stuff. I finally told them it wasn't worth my time-I never got paid anything. My computer was so messed up I had to take it to be repaired which cost a bundle and then I had contracted for DSL which I no longer needed and I had to pay for it . I would never try it again but if you do know the company and have a techy friend configure your computer to what they need. 
________
Honda PA50
Last edited by skennedy on Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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susanmholman
Joined: 26 Jan 2006
Posts: 7
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:28 am Post subject: |
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 Thanks skennedy!
I've been looking around and I figured it sounded too good to be true.
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Susie |
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esl_teacher
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| This actually works, trust me. I am doing this right now and know of people in the US doing it as well. |
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susanmholman
Joined: 26 Jan 2006
Posts: 7
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:14 am Post subject: |
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Dear esl_teacher,
Thanks so much for your response. How did you get started?
Do you work for a company or on your own? I've been thinking about creating my own school. I know several people who would like to teach online. I love to travel and I would be able to teach anywhere.
Thanks again.
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Susie |
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Nead
Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 34
Location: Dublin Ireland
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| Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 1:27 pm Post subject: I am interested!!! |
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I am very interested in teaching online, but am wary because of the normal concerns. If there is anyone out there who is successfully teaching on line or has had a good experience or is LOOKING for an online teacher, I also want to know more about it.
Thanks
N
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Nead Doon |
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dOlier
Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 1
Location: Ireland
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| Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:08 am Post subject: Online teaching |
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I started doing this last year, early last Summer. At first there were lots of students out there, but it seems to have dried up.
There are now many more teachers than pupils. And most teachers are only charging about $10.00 per hour.
It is no longer worth it for that kind of money.
I am trying to target wealthier students: western Europe or Japanese business students.
I have applied to some online companies/colleges but no luck so far.
I too would appreciate any useful advice. |
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Lee Hobbs
Site Admin
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Posts: 141
Location: TheGulfCoast
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| Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:31 pm Post subject: Re: Online teaching experience with TutorABC.com |
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| frankie wrote: | | They advertise $630 USD per month for 45 teaching sessions completed. I |
Hi Frankie,
So, $630 USD divided by 45 sessions works out to $14 dollars per session.
How long was each teaching session, if you don't mind me asking? For $14, I hope it wasn't over an hour per session (especially if you use the old lesson planing rule of one or more hours outside of class for every hour spent in class). There are probably better ways to invest 45 hours (or more) of your time.
Let us know if they ever pay you what they owe you at least!
Lee
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Lee's blog is still available, however, here: www.english-blog.com |
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bean4sale
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:08 am Post subject: TutorABC online teaching |
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| I have worked for TutorABC for 3 month now. I havn't had any problems with my payment. Do you use paypal frankie? When I first started they couldn't pay me thru paypal but after I verified my paypal account with my bank I had no more problems. I agree with you that they have a nice system and it's nice to have IT standing by to help. I teach part time but I have gotten to know a few people there and we never had any issues. I am not sure of why you are so against them but I want to say that I am glad I can teach online. |
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bean4sale
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:23 am Post subject: TutorABC |
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Frankie,
That was a fast reply. You have some good insight to language learning, how long have you been teaching? What country are you in?
I hope you don't mind me asking so much questions, it's always interesting when you meet people that do what you do.
I am sorry that you don't work for TutorABC anymore because of pay. It's always good to know that you have good people working beside you. Did you ever get a contract with pay information when you first started? I got a good rate and it's a stable source of side income for me. I think of teaching more as a hobby than work. |
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Lee Hobbs
Site Admin
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Posts: 141
Location: TheGulfCoast
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:38 pm Post subject: Salaries for Online ESL instructors |
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| frankie wrote: | | ...Essentially, they offer a base, which is $5.00 USD an hour, plus bonuses based on your feedback ratings... |
Frankie and bean4sale,
Thank you both for your comments on this subject.
You are correct, this is an important industry issue and one that we should be keeping our eyes on. If there are other online ESL teachers out there, readers of this forum would be interested to know how much you are earning "actually" (after taxes, etc. as opposed to what is advertised) for full-time work (if you are comfortable sharing that information) and how you think it compares to salaries paid by conventional, brick-and-mortar schools. Is it a living wage?
Best,
Lee
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Lee's blog is still available, however, here: www.english-blog.com |
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bean4sale
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:13 am Post subject: TutorABC |
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Frankie and Lee,
I am a sales trainer for a major brand and I have tutored English and Math on my spare time for the past 10 years. I call it a hobby because I love what I do. It's hard to comment on living wage, cost of living varies. You would be the best judge of that. I live in California and the cost of living is quit high. I make a decent living being a training, about 150k a year but if I wanted to be rich I should be in a different field but that's another story.
I choose to be a Trainer because I enjoy helping people progress. Teachers and trainers was never one of the top 10 paying jobs in the world.
As for TutorABC as with most jobs it has a privacy clause so I can't disclose my income. But if it wasn't an acceptable wage I would not even of started.
(I'll give you guys a hint, it's a bit lower than me teaching at a local center but higher than most part time jobs. However I did save on gas teaching online!)
There are a lot of different websites and honestly it's hard knowing which is real and which are scams. TutorABC is real and me and frankie both got paid from there ( very important) I just want to let others, who is also interested in online teaching, know that it is fun and in my case rewarding. |
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bean4sale
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:10 am Post subject: TutorABC |
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I have to agree with you on that comment frankie.
and why so many replies? HaHa...I pressed submit once and.....the rest you know. |
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Lee Hobbs
Site Admin
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Posts: 141
Location: TheGulfCoast
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| Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject: Why teach online if it apparently pays less? |
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Thanks for catching those redundant posts UJ.
| frankie wrote: | | ...If I made $150K a year I wouldn't mind teaching for peanuts, however, since I don't...I can only ask for a decent wage... |
I must say that I understand your point here, Frankie. For some good folks out there, tutoring may very well be a hobby like fishing or flying model planes. That's fine, I'm glad for them. We need all kinds. The world needs tutors. I will probably even do this (tutor) when I retire myself someday. I only hope that a hobbyist's students also understand, up front, that a part-time tutor is not in exactly the same situation as a full-time professional teacher who expects to earn a living from his/her trade. Hopefully, society will continue to value the institution of teaching as a profession on par with other services necessary for a civilized society like police and fire protection and the provision of healthcare, for example. Let's hope that the profession is never reduced to the point where teachers MUST do another job to earn their living. That would certainly be a travesty.
For a great many of us on this forum (I hope), teaching is our profession of choice, a career we voluntarily entered not only to give back, serve and empower the public, and to hopefully promote a love of knowledge, but also to sustain ourselves (and our families?) doing that which we do best according to our own aptitudes and interests (in this case, teaching). The expectation of a living wage for something that a professional teacher has spent valuable years (and money) training for in expensive graduate degree-granting institutions and then devotes most of their waking time to is not unreasonable, in my opinion. To not receive one is, understatedly, unfair.
On the other hand, as teachers, we have to take the salary that employers offer into account when we agree to "sign on" for a job (or, in retrospect, first consider getting into this industry). If it's not enough to make ends meet, it's up to us to refuse the job offer (or, career choice) and let the employer know that they are not offering a wage one can live on (I suppose every national economy has a median income for our particular profession). By the same token, it's only responsible to alert the online teaching community if an employer is not living up to what it has promised, especially if one has been cheated.
We've heard a lot so far about only one particular firm that hires/pays online teachers to perform their services. Personally, I'd really like to hear about some other companies that hire online teachers to help round out the discussion (employers and employees). Is online teaching an industry designed/intended only for those looking to "supplement" their income (as opposed to an equal-pay alternative career choice that pays the same as teaching in brick-and-mortar schools)? Or, is this simply a way for employers to cut costs by expecting their teacher-employees to provide their own teaching materials and overhead (rent, computer, internet access, electricity/heating bills, etc.)?
Most importantly, are the students who are paying for their online instruction aware that their online teachers (whom, I'm sure, are doing a great job) are possibly not being compensated fairly (at least on par with other teachers in their field and geographical region) for their services? Are students generally informed/aware of the common reasoning that the schools which pay the best salaries are typically more selective in their hiring process and, theoretically, choose only the most qualified/experienced from their pool of applicants--meaning that the student gets what he/she pays for?
Just my thoughts, for whatever they're worth. No disrespect is meant for online teachers...in fact, just the opposite. I have colleagues that regularly teach online courses for universities in the U.S. (some full-time) and the pay for teaching in postsecondary ed. virtual classrooms is relatively equal, in most cases, as the pay earned for teaching in postsecondary ed. brick-and-mortar classrooms. However, as one responder noted earlier in this conversation, the work put into online teaching (as reported by those who have done both kinds) is actually MORE time-consuming and challenging than that normally invested in the teaching of a non-virtual classroom. If this notion is true, then some online teachers may be underselling themselves if they accept a pay schedule which is grossly beneath their own industry's income standard.
A big thanks to the contributions from everyone on this thread. Let's keep this rolling!
Best,
Lee
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Lee's blog is still available, however, here: www.english-blog.com |
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Lee Hobbs
Site Admin
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Posts: 141
Location: TheGulfCoast
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:16 pm Post subject: Re: TutorABC job report |
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| SOL wrote: | | ...So, if you’re happy to work your ass off online for around $10.50 per hour (if your lucky) less 20% ripp-off tax (now your down to $8.40 per hour which you’ll be taxed against in your own country) then go ahead and be my guest... |
Thanks for that lengthy report SOL.
I agree with your final thought. Even the worst, inexperienced, untrained, uncertified, undocumented, and illegal worker posing as an ESL teacher should be able to pull off something better than $8.40 USD per hour (before home-country taxation) in most any country. If you're in to charity work, at least pick one that doesn't charge its students. Potential online ESL students should be aware of how low their ESL teachers are being compensated before they waste their hard-earned money on such a dodgy operation. Buyer beware!
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Lee's blog is still available, however, here: www.english-blog.com |
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