Are you interested in applying for online teaching jobs to change careers or make an extra income? The online teaching world has really exploded in the recent years. It has become a really popular choice, both as a primary occupation and as a part-time job on the side. But there are so many programs, companies, and types of jobs out there. So how do you know which ones to apply for? We’ve made a simple guide for you to understand the different categories or tiers of online teaching opportunities available. And so that you can have a comprehensive list in front of you of over 40 programs you can go and apply for right now – all in one place. The first thing to understand about online teaching jobs is that there are three main types of opportunities available – and each one is different in terms of how easy it is to qualify, how much the pay is, and the typical age and location of your students. You will probably need to choose among one of these based on your experience and qualifications. Keep reading because we cover each category and provide specific examples below. The first and easiest category to get your online teaching job is teaching English online to new learners, mostly in Asia. The requirements for this are you need to speak English fluently on a native speaker level and have any college degree. The second group of programs is tutoring K-12 students mostly in North America (you’ll often need teaching credentials and experience for these). And finally you can get an online teaching job in a post-secondary setting as faculty member, instructor, or teaching assistant (this usually requires you to hold an advanced degree in your specific field of academic study, as well as prior teaching experience). So without further ado, let’s begin by looking at the most popular type of jobs for teaching online – the international English teaching jobs :
1. Online Teaching Jobs – English Instruction (easiest requirements, somewhat lower pay)
Cambly With Cambly, you can get paid by the minute for just chatting with students worldwide. While the pay scale is lower than some other options below (it works out to $10-$12 per hour), this is really easy to get started with and the requirements are also simple: you just have to be a native speaker. It’s also really flexible in terms of scheduling. It’s really nice to have the option to earn a little extra money when you find yourself with some spare time. EnglishHunt Teach English to students in Korea in the form of short conversational sessions, similar to Cambly above. You don’t need to make your own lesson plans- they’re provided. Pays $10-$12 an hour. Palfish With Palfish, you will download their app on your phone and conduct your lessons on the app, which means this isn’t one of those online teaching jobs where you will need to own a laptop or webcam to be able to work. You can teach from anywhere. Palfish students are in China. The pay is $10-$12 per hour. Okary Oakary is a little different – it’s not a single company hiring teachers, but more like a job warehouser/aggregator for many different jobs teaching online in China. Once you make a profile, you can quickly apply for multiple online teaching job listings with it. If you’ve used large job sites like Indeed and Ziprecruiter, you already know the drill! Some of the popular companies that have jobs listed on Oakary include Palfish, Magic Ears, VIPKID, SayABC, Landi, Hujiang, Shiliu, Am Class, and VIPABC/iTutorGroup. Landi With Landi, you don’t need any previous experience to teach online. But you have to be a resident of the USA, Canada, or the UK. Earn up to $18 an hour. VipKid Teach English to kids in China. With VIPKID, their base pay rate will be $7-9 per class. Classes are 25 minutes long, which means you’ll be making $14-18 per hour. VIPKID has a few extra steps in their process of getting started: things like getting your virtual classroom ready, doing a test lesson, and making sure you have the right curriculum to teach (which they will provide). But in the end, it’s all to make sure new teachers are set up for continued success rather than just diving in and starting completely from scratch. English First English First is really well established and has the largest network of English schools in cities all around China (as well as many other countries). They have been branching out into online teaching in a big way. To teach online with EF, you’ll need to be a fluent English speaker, have your TEFL certificate, and have a bachelor’s degree (of any kind). They offer two streams – teaching children aged 5-10 and teaching adults. Previous teaching experience is not required. Magic Ears With their “1 on 4” classroom model, Magic Ears is able to offer pay up to $26 an hour for teaching online. Your students will be young learners in China- children between the ages of 4 and 12. You can join if you’re still in college (have a bachelor’s degree in progress and can provide your transcript), which is a more open requirement than most other programs, which require you to already have completed your degree before you can teach with them. You will also need TEFL certification, but it’s straightforward and inexpensive to obtain. SayABC With SayABC, you’ll be teaching young children in China (do you see a pattern with the last few programs?). Earn up to $17 an hour teaching online to 5 to 12 year olds. SayABC offers you their curriculum built in collaboration with National Geographic’s “Our World”. Once again, a BA in any discipline is required, but a TEFL certificate and teaching experience are not (though strongly preferred). Qkids Qkids is another popular program for teaching online in China. When you join up with Qkids, they will provide you with their nicely organized curriculum tailored to teaching the ages 4 to 12. You must be based in the US or Canada and have your bachelor’s degree and TEFL. The base pay is $16 per hour ($8 for each 30 minute lesson) and Qkids offers performance bonuses added on top of that. Dada ABC Dada ABC offers a pay scale of $14-$23 per hour for you to teach students in China online in a one-on-one setting. They accept candidates from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. One year of previous teaching experience is preferred; a TEFL certification and a Bachelor’s degree are required.
2. Online Teaching Jobs – K-12 Tutoring for Elementary, Middle School, and High School Students (higher requirements, higher pay):
A really common route to teaching online is to get an online tutoring job. This type of online teaching job means you will be helping a student anywhere from kindergarten to Grade 12 achieve their academic goals, with these students being primarily in the United States and Canada. For many of these tutoring opportunities, you will need previous classroom teaching experience or teaching certification. So they can be a bit tougher to qualify for than the international ESL teaching opportunities in the first section above, and with that usually comes somewhat higher pay. We are planning to expand the following list with details breaking down the pay scale, requirements, and what makes each program different. However, as a starting point if you’d like to apply to be a tutor, here is a list of online tutoring companies currently hiring :
Aim for A Tutoring (worldwide) Connections Academy Pearson Smart Thinking Sylvan Learning Centers eTutorWorld Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (search jobs for “CTY” or “work at home”) Tutapoint Tutor.com by Princeton Review
3. Online Teaching Jobs – Adjunct Faculty, Instructors, Professors, and Teaching Assistants at Post-Secondary Institutions (highest requirements, highest pay):
For these opportunities, you will typically need a Master’s degree or even a Ph.D. in the discipline you would like to teach. Unlike the other two categories above, these jobs don’t constantly accept applications and have ongoing intakes. They are less frequent (they come up as they become available) and the hiring process much slower. Once again, we are going to expand this section into a more detailed list of available opportunities. For now, if you are interested in these types of opportunities, here are some universities and colleges that hire for remote, virtual, and online teaching jobs that you can look up :
University of Wisconsin University of Maryland Colorado State University Berkeley College American Public University System AIU Online Ashford University Western Governors University Northcentral University Walden University American Intercontinental University Grand Canyon University Independence University Purdue University Rasmussen College Strayer University Herzing University Southern New Hampshire University UC Berkeley Online Extension Phoenix University Argosy University Capella University