Teach ESL: The Online ESL Industry

The online ESL industry, I have many strong opinions and feelings on this topic, some people will agree with them and I have no doubt that some people will be offended by them. Even before covid took off, online teaching was a rapidly growing field with numerous companies providing online platforms to teach both adults and children. While you can find companies that cater to numerous countries, China is by far the biggest consumer of these online ESL platforms, targeting native English speakers primarily from the US and Canada (many of the platforms do have residency requirements) as teachers.

I have a love/hate relationship with the online ESL industry and teaching ESL online. I do teach online and have done so for a number of years, to supplement my income (a girl wants to travel) and in a full time capacity, both freelance as well as for my university (yay covid). I've also taught as an independent contractor for an online ESL company (VIPKid & italki) and I have my own private clients who I teach with textbooks and materials that I choose and design. This article takes a look at the world of online ESL teaching, what I love and hate, the pros and cons, and who should or shouldn't teach and why.

Mediocrity Reigns Supreme

My biggest issue with the online ESL industry, is that it breeds mediocrity and in an industry (ESL) that already suffers from wide spread mediocrity, for multiple reasons, the online teaching realm amplifies these issues.

Certification/Education

The ESL industry suffers in general from a lack of standardization when it comes to ESL

certifications and this is further exacerbated when countries don't have any standards for the ESL certifications that teachers have (online, in person, number of hours, etc...). With the CELTA being considered the gold standard of certifications and the bottom rung being the $20 online only ESL certification courses you can find on groupon. In addition many of the online teaching companies are now offering their own online only ESL certifications for teaching online, that wouldn't actually be recognized or usable anywhere else due to the poor quality. Proper training an education is important for teachers so they know how to teach basic skills, proper phonics (I hear so many of my young students using false phonics and it drives me crazy), comprehension and how to address student's weaknesses or learning disabilities, among other issues. If a student has a learning disability the way you teach them is completely different from other students, if your student is weak, part of your job as a teacher is to adapt and scaffold the lesson to that student. These are all skills you learn through proper education and training. And while many platforms offer "workshops" that are supposed to help teachers build skills, when they're being taught by teachers who also lack proper training, how helpful can they really be? I would occasionally attend workshops when I was an independent contractor with VIPKid, both trying to improve my skill set and to satisfy my curiosity on their usefulness. When it comes to education, and at the end of the day language learning is part of education, is working with a teacher who lacks proper training and education helpful or harmful? If you're a parent, would you want your child learning from "teacher" who spent $20 on a Groupon certification? Would you consider that qualified?

Education vs Edutainment

Another issue I have with the online ESL industry and many online teaching platforms, is that it while it may have been designed for the purpose of education, what they have cultivated is edutainment. In part this is because so many of the teachers are under qualified and under trained. This has resulted in using edutainment as a teaching crutch and to retain students, which in turn has made edutainment prioritized over quality teaching skills and the ability to educate. If you look on YouTube and watch videos from teachers on these platforms who have tutorials, the rely heavily on overly distracting and colorful backgrounds, props, puppets and other gimmicks to engage students, build rapport, create a positive learning environment, and to ultimately teach the material. In my experience (both in the classroom and online) with both teaching and coaching teachers, being entertaining has a time and a place, it is not for everyone and teachers really need to develop their own teaching style.

Using props and gimmicks to engage the learners and teach, also have a time and place, however, they are often used to cover up a lack of knowledge and proper teaching skills. When you rely on edutainment and gimmicks to teach, in a way you also limit yourself to younger students, as not all students, especially learners on the older end, may not like all the extras of the classroom. I've heard the argument that all these things are needed to create a positive learning environment and to engage the student. If you have taught ESL in a public school or even a university (public and private) in a developing country, you know the teachers are doing the most with the least. There are no fancy classroom decorations, props, puppets, costumes, etc...having computers, a projector, and heat was about as fancy as it got at the private university I taught at in China (and they didn't always work), that's also what I'm working with equipment wise at my university in Mexico. I have friends teaching at public schools in Vietnam and other Latin American countries who have a chalk board and textbooks and that's it. And we are expected to create a positive learning environment and engage our students (in large classes, not one-on-one) with what we have. Is it nice to have all these extras? Sure, but you don't need them do accomplish any of those things.

When it comes to teaching the actual material, when teachers rely on gimmicks instead of actual teaching skills, students don't always learn the material well or can be weak and still get passed along the levels (even with pre-set curriculum, but more on that later). As those weak students get passed up the levels (and they do get passed along even when they lack proper skills) the material will become very challenging for them. And from a teaching perspective, having to re-teach basic skills like phonics, reading and comprehension at a higher level is quite challenging because at that point the lessons are not geared to be teaching those skills. I'll say it, I hate cleaning up the messes other "teachers" have made of their students.

Making English Accessible

One of the the big pros of online ESL platforms (and really for language learning all around) is that it gives learners greater access to lessons and teachers. While attending an English language academy is a norm in Korea, in China this is a growing phenomenon, online platforms help fill in the demand at a lower cost. In China there is a steady increase in families that fall into the middle class with more disposable income, the demand for language schools that offer classes with teachers who are native English speakers However, there are still often issues with access to language schools and native teachers. Families that live in smaller cities or more remote areas may not have access to language schools, the cost of sending a child or multiple children to a language school may also be out of a families budget. Online lessons while still pricey, are much cheaper than enrolling in a language school. It also allows for students to pick lesson times that best suite them and take lessons from anywhere they have wifi (and I have seen some interesting locations). As both a language learner and teacher, I'm a fan of anything that makes learning more accessible and equitable.

Earning Potential

So how much can you earn teaching on these platforms and can you really support yourself through teaching alone? If you search any of these teaching platforms on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook etc, you will come across nomadic teachers who often say they support themselves solely off teaching and others (usually based in the US) who also say they make their entire income and support their family by teaching (many of these individuals seem to be married with kids, and I can't speak to their spouses income). I can say that when I lived in Bali and was teaching online full-time, I was able to support myself and live quite comfortably as my costs of living were quite low. So what's the truth to these statements about income?

Who's making the big bucks?

How much can you make teaching online? The reality is if you're just teaching on one (or multiple) of these sites, chances are you aren't going to make enough to support yourself living in the US (a number of platforms have residency requirements) unless you're teaching a full 40 hours a week. Which would mean teaching overnights and being fully booked for 40 hours a week. If you look at the teachers making most of the YouTube videos and who are really pushing their teaching platforms on social media, chances are they are making most of their money from referring and "mentoring" perspective teachers. Teachers are given a referral code that allows them to earn a bonus when a referral is successful (the structure and amount varies from platform to platform, but it averages around $100 per referral). While their teaching skills are usually lacking and they tend to fall into the edutainment category, the tips they give in their videos will help you get hired (or if you just mimic their teaching demos...I have issues with the demo lessons and hiring process as well). It's important to know how these "successful teachers" are really making their money, so you can accurately judge your own earning potential if you are strictly going to teach.

Pay Structure

And while we're talking about earning potential, it's important to note that almost all the platforms have some sort of pay scale that is designed so that companies can pay teachers the least amount possible. The base pay will actually be below minimum wage (in the US) in most cases and you can raise it by getting a variety of "bonuses" for different things. Raises are also based on things like number of classes taught, but there will be caveats that prevent all the classes you teach from counting towards this number.

Oversaturation

A factor that many people don't consider when undertaking online ESL teaching is how many teachers are already on the platforms and how competitive attracting students can be. With so many platforms and such lax hiring standards and a high demand for teachers, platforms have hired en masse the platforms have become oversaturated with teachers which means competition for students can be stiff. With very few platforms guaranteeing hours, some teachers don't get bookings for months or even their entire first contract. While many "mentors" and "teachers" making videos about these platforms talk about how easy it is to get booked and how quickly you'll be making money, the reality is this varies from person to person. So if someone comes on as a teacher and expects to start getting bookings right away, because they need money, the reality might be very disappointing. Especially if they got talked into investing money in a lot of (unnecessary) extras, like props and backdrops or if they had to purchase new equipment (laptop or tablet) in order to be able to teach. In addition to taking a while to start getting booked, it can also take awhile to attract regular students so that you do have consistent income.

Platforms like italki allow teacher to set their own rates. While this sounds like it would allow you to charge a decent rate, over saturation and teachers under charging to attract students drives down the average of what you can charge and remain competitive. While you may project your earning potential to be high (we all want to be paid what we're worth) the ability to charge higher rates may have to wait until after you've built a client base. It also depends on what you're offering, you can charge more for test prep such as IELTS and TOEFL than you can for a general English or conversation class.

Adults vs Kids

Another big factor in your earning potential teaching online is your market. The platforms that cater to adult learners pay hardly anything, which may not make it worth your while. The platforms for teaching kids offer a higher rate than platforms for teaching adults. The downside of teaching kids is that you can be dealing with students as young as three and some teachers are just not about that life (raises hand), as it brings in a set of challenges that you don't face with teaching adults.

Content Quality

Pre-set Curriculum & Lessons

This is something that is super common in Asia both in private language schools and on online platforms. One of the ideas behind pre-set curriculums seems to be a belief that new teachers and teachers that lack proper training or certification, can still just drop in and teach the material successfully as long as they follow the curriculum and teaching methodology. And this is true, to a point, but most of the platforms don't provide any real instruction in teaching their curriculum or the methodology they want teachers to use. It also doesn't take into account weak students, students who don't have evenly developed skill sets, or students with learning difficulties. While pre-set curriculums sound nice and does translate to less work for the teachers as you're not writing lesson plans or creating material, you still need to know how to adapt the lesson content and teaching methodology to fit your students needs. I've seen a lot of curriculums in my time teaching, while some of these pre-set curriculums aren't too bad, some are also atrocious. And for some reason a lot of the curriculums used in China (at language schools and online) tend to be particularly awful. They tend to use some really outdated methods and theories for ESL learning. I've turned down working for a few platforms, because after seeing the curriculum I couldn't believe how bad it was. A bad curriculum will require teachers to do more prep and have a strong skill set to properly teach the material to a variety of students, and honestly if I'm going to do more work, I want to be paid more.

Pre-set curriculum and lessons also mean that lessons are not material friendly for learners of

all ages. There is definitely an assumption with these curriculums that lower level English ability equals younger students, but this is definitely not always the case (based on my experience in the classroom and online). When older students are faced with childish material they often lack interest in the lessons and it can be harder to keep them engaged. Pair this with teachers who lack the skills to adjust their teaching to older students and supplement the material to properly challenge the students (I'm looking at you edutainers). The same goes for younger students who have quite advanced English skills, they're also being faced with topics and material that is geared towards students who are older and have more prior knowledge to pull from. An interesting feature of lot of ESL curriculums designed by Chinese companies or for use in China with kids, is that they choose topics that will correspond with what students of a certain age will have covered in public school. This means that when higher level curriculum is designed for older students, but your student is younger, they may not have even learned about this topic in Chinese.

Curriculum Freedom

When teaching freelance or on a platform that lets you control the curriculum, you have far more options and are able to provide better and more personalized lesson content for your students. However, if you're having to charge a lower rate to be competitive, it can seem like more work than the money you are making. This is why I have very specific courses that I offer through my freelance business, I wrote out lesson plans and created a lot of supplemental material before I started marketing. This makes my prep minimal as I already have a large collection of resources to pull from that are lesson appropriate and can just be tweaked to suit students needs. For teachers who have never written lesson plans because all their teaching is with pre-set curriculums, or have never learned to properly write a lesson plan, the idea of creating your own lessons and materials can seem intimidating.

Culture Police

If you browse the online boards and forums associated with any of the major online ESL platforms, one common theme I've seen among the comments is the need to be culture police and to "educate" students about what is correct behavior. Having lived in China, I know what is considered normal and acceptable behavior is very different than in the west, and in general the Chinese lack awareness of cultural norms and acceptable behavior in other countries. As a teacher, it's not our job to police behavior and "educate" until they behave according to our cultural norms, while you cannot teach language by completely leaving out culture, it's important to know when it's appropriate. Especially when dealing with sensitive topics that really shouldn't be broached when teaching Chinese students, if you think the CCP doesn't pay attention to things like online ESL classes, I'd think again. Does that make me sound paranoid? Maybe, but it's also based on my experiences in China.

How are the Teachers Treated?

Many of the contracts for the big teaching platforms are not very teacher friendly, they don't allow for things like rescheduling if something pops up in your life or there is an emergency. Which means once you book students, you are really committed to that. Teachers are often penalized monetarily if they need to cancel classes, and even if you think it is an emergency and would fall into that kind of "safe" category, the company may disagree. If you miss a certain number of classes your contract can be frozen or canceled, and while I do understand this to a point, as you want your teachers to be reliable and to show up to class. If platforms hired more professional educators and less of the any old Karen with the cheapest TEFL they could find, your teachers would probably be more reliable. At the end of the day these are companies out to make money and the teachers like the students are just a commodity, so don't expect them to care too much. Make sure you fully understand the teaching platforms policies on cancelling and read through your contract, understand what it means to be an independent contractor. Chances of you changing these companies policies are slim to none, so make sure you know what you'll accept and be prepared for something like a contract termination if an emergency occurs.

Teaching on a platform vs freelance

While the most common venue for teaching online is through platforms where you are an independent contractors, you also have the option to work freelance for yourself. Going this route allows you to be in control of what textbooks and supplemental materials you use, design your own lesson plans, choose what types of English you'll teach and set your own prices. This can translate to more work as you are responsible for creating everything, but for anyone who is serious about teaching this should be something you take pride and can rise to the challenge of doing. Another drawback of freelancing for yourself is finding students, you will need to actively promote yourself and find students. This can take up time as you'll need to research the best places to post or advertise and you may want the post/advertisement to be in your potential students first language, which can mean paying for translation if you don't speak it. On the plus side, the students you attract are more likely to be serious about learning and will often recommend you to friends, family etc. who are looking

What/Where do I teach?

I mentioned that I have been teaching ESL online for a number of years I teach both with an online platform that caters to kids (VIPKid) and I have a following of regular students. I also teach freelance and have my own registered business, I only teach adults and offer very specific courses for individuals and small groups. In my own business I mainly offer courses that typically run for 8 - 12 weeks depending on the course and students pay for the course up front. I do offer some pay as you go lessons, but in very specific areas. I enjoy teaching my adult students way more than kids, but that is also my personal preference. I have dabbled on italki, but as I got my own business underway, I wanted to put more time and energy into that instead of italki and have completely phased off that platform. However, I have used it for my own language learning needs as I continue with studying Korean and Spanish. On the platform where I teach kids (VIPKid), I only teach the upper level students and specialty courses such as grammar, writing, and TOEFL prep. How much I teach varies, during breaks from my full time job I teach more, but with the semester getting ready to start, I'll be reducing my availability particularly to my younger students as I'd rather but my energy into continuing to build my freelance business.The university where I teach will most likely be remote for the beginning of the semester, but based on how covid is looking at the moment it will most likely be remote for the whole semester. While I appreciate that teaching online has allowed me to take a sabbatical from contract positions, I really do prefer to be in a physical classroom and can't wait to be back in one.

Should You Teach?

In the words of Johnathan Van Ness "Just because you Ameri-can, doesn't mean you Amiri-should". I don't think people looking for a worcaktion should teach ESL in other countries, you can catch that article here, I don't think native English speakers with a bachelors degree and the cheapest TEFL certification should be hopping on the online ESL bandwagon.

If you're already an ESL teacher or have previously worked as an ESL teacher and are looking to supplement your income (covid has been hard and impacted a lot of teachers salaries), absolutely go for it. If you're willing to get a quality TEFL certificate and put some effort into your education and training prior to taking up teaching, sure go ahead. If you're just looking to make some quick money and are only going to shell out for the Groupon, maybe this isn't for you. When covid took off, many online platforms actually suspended hiring for a number of months (some have started back up, others have not) due to the amount of applicants and the current over saturation on platforms. Paired with a potential decrease in students as parents around the globe are becoming unemployed and having to cut expenses (I couldn't find any good data on covid and unemployment in China...shocker). Every time I'd see someone recommend that a recently unemployed friend take up teaching ESL online, I couldn't help but cringe and think "please don't". While yes, it would be great for these individuals to be employed again, it may not be feasible for them to support themselves or their families by teaching online. Again we're talking about education and under qualified, trained, and inexperienced teachers can be more detrimental than positive to a student's learning experience.