Are you a certified teacher with a teaching license? Want to make some extra cash and build a whole new set of teaching skills for the future? If you do, that’s awesome. And this also happens to be the exact article for you, so be sure to keep reading.
Here’s how to decide if online teaching is right for you
You might have heard about other licensed teachers who’ve made the decision to work from home – or even to take their teaching careers on the road altogether – by teaching online. Or, you may have read about the many qualified educators who opt to teach English online while looking for their next classroom teaching job.
If you’ve done even a little research on the topic, you’ll probably already know that online teaching is also a great part-time option for lots of different types of qualified teachers. Here’s just a sampling:
- Working teachers looking to supplement their existing salary.
- Education graduates who have yet to land their first classroom teaching gig.
- Teacher retirees (and supply teachers) looking to earn some money on the side.
Takeaway: Regardless of your current working situation, teaching online is both lucrative and chock full of potential for certified teachers, regardless of your subject expertise or experience level.
And the career option with perhaps the brightest future for qualified educators right now is – drumroll please – teaching English online.
Teaching English online: The hottest job for North American educators
As we’ve mentioned on the Teach Away blog a time or two, there’s really no way to overstate the almost mind-boggling growth happening in the global online English teaching sector right now.
This is, in no small part, due to the huge growth in China’s online English education industry.
Fueled by the surge in demand for English language lessons delivered by North American teachers, online English teaching platforms like VIPKID, are currently ramping up hiring for a large number of teachers who hold a US or Canadian teaching license.
We’ve covered the benefits of teaching English online for graduates of all majors before, There are, however, some specific perks of the job are well worth talking about if you’re a certified teacher.
The pros of teaching online if you’re a licensed teacher
1. Freedom
One big pro – if not the biggest – is that you can teach at home – or anywhere in the world, really.
Balancing online teaching alongside a full-time teaching job is surprisingly straightforward. And getting started is easy – you just need the essentials, like a working computer/laptop, webcam, a solid internet connection, mic and headset.
Some additional props you might want to use you’ll likely already have lying around, like a whiteboard and flashcards.
For those contemplating turning teaching online into a long-term career, it’s totally normal to worry about missing the buzz of the staffroom. Seeing colleagues each day provides much-needed inspiration, a sounding board and support base for educators. Luckily, online English teaching companies like VIPKID are home to an amazing community of teachers. On the VIPKID forum, you’ll be able to get advice and support on pretty much anything related to teaching online.
Recommended reading: Are you ready to teach online?
2. Money
The pay can be quite lucrative, especially if you possess a teaching license. Qualified teachers command the highest hourly rate and are in huge demand at English tutoring companies like VIPKID.
By teaching as little as three hours a day, you could earn as much as $2,000 USD extra a month. Part-time online teaching is a win-win situation – you get to keep your regular teaching job and benefits and earn some extra income in the process.
Bonus for full-time online English teachers: You’ll also save on transportation costs, time spent getting to and from work, buying lunch and other work-related expenses.
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3. Flexible working hours
We’ve all got busy lives and it can be hard juggling personal and work commitments. Online teaching makes all of that so much easier.
One of the main advantages of teaching online is the ability to set your own schedule. This means balancing online English teaching alongside your regular, full-time teaching job is surprisingly straightforward. You can choose to start small, teaching anywhere from a few hours and build your way up to 20 hours a week.
There’s no grading or lesson planning required, just your time spent physically teaching lessons. So long as you’ve got some free time in the early mornings or evenings, it should be relatively easy to teach online for a few hours during the working week, as well as on the weekends, if you’re so inclined.
If you do choose to teach online on a full-time basis, you’ll get to tailor your online teaching hours to different peak times – mornings, evenings and weekends – depending on your personal preferences. For example, if you’re more of a night owl, you might prefer to teach into the small hours of the morning and sleep later than a standard teaching job will permit.
By making online teaching your primary source of income, it also means you’ll have the freedom to take vacation time when it suits you – and beat those pesky peak prices during school breaks.
4. Motivated students
As educators, we all want to create a disruption-free learning environment for each and every student in our class. But motivating a class of 20 or more students to listen and remain on task is no easy feat. If you can relate to this common teaching challenge, then teaching English online with VIPKID will be a breath of fresh air for you.
All lessons are conducted on a one-on-one basis, meaning you get to fully focus on your true passion – helping your students learn. Thanks to our increasingly global economy, English language skills are no longer an asset – they’re a necessity. There is no greater sense of accomplishment as a teacher than knowing that the knowledge you impart will make a positive, measurable impact on your student’s future.
5. New career path?
The K12 virtual schools market in North America is expected to grow by 13% per year through to 2021. Because online instruction is in the midst of a historic growth streak in the US, teaching English online with VIPKID is a great way to test the waters for a potential career transition to teaching your chosen subject online at a K12 virtual school at some point in the future.
What’s more, English learners are a quickly growing segment of the student population in Canada and the US – meaning that experience teaching English language learners online can be a great addition to your resume.
It’s time to make that teaching license work harder for you! Apply today to learn more about a teaching career (or part-time gig!) with VIPKID, including upcoming jobs, requirements, work environment and more.
