Tutoring English Online with italki

Degree

To join the ranks of online Professional Teachers on italki, you’ll need a degree. It can be in any subject. This said italki are likely to prioritise those who have degrees in relevant fields, such as linguistics, English, culture or study relating to language learning, specifically.

This separates italki’s Professional Teacher category from other online teaching platforms like Cambly or Preply, where anyone - qualified or otherwise - can teach English.

If you want to teach English online without a degree, you can be a Community Tutor on italki.

Experience

Here’s another area where Community Tutors and Professional Teachers on italki differ. You do not need teaching experience to work online as a Community Tutor for italki. However, to help with your application as a Professional Teacher on the platform, you might need to have some demonstrable proof of teaching experience. 

That said, online platforms are a great way to build experience and language skills. In time, a Community Tutor can build the skills and CV to become a fully-fledged teacher. Plenty of English teachers have started working online before gaining a degree and becoming professionally certified.

Additional requirements

To teach on italki, you’ll need to be computer literate - your students certainly will be. To complete your italki application, you have to upload a picture of yourself, and a 1-3 minute long video explaining your teaching background, the kind of lessons you want to do, and your speciality areas.

Equipment is crucial: to become a tutor on italki you’ll need a reliable computer that’s updated with the latest software, headphones, a microphone (these are often included on headphone/earphone sets), a stable internet connection and - obviously - a webcam. Your students need to see you, after all! Make sure your home office or alternative teaching environment isn’t noisy or distracting; language learners will find other options if your lessons are too chaotic! 

Your time is also a major requirement. The more available you are for lessons with language learners, the better. Students appreciate reliability, and of course, the financial incentives are obvious. The more you can teach, the better your income will be.

Communication skills are a huge plus. Much of the work on platforms like italki is liaising with clients, articulating yourself well, and ensuring you’re maintaining positive relationships, both with support staff (when required) and the clients themselves.

How much can you earn teaching English with italki?

There isn’t a straight answer to this question, because, with italki, you can set your own rates!

If you’re a Community Tutor, you’re best offering lessons at the lower end of the pay scale. The minimum is $5/£4, and students expecting conversation practice probably won’t expect to be charged over $25/£20. Professional Teachers can charge anything they want above a minimum of $8/£6.40, but the top end - according to our research - tends to be around $80/£63.

There are a number of factors which dictate how much a tutor or teacher should charge on italki. Qualifications and experience are the most important; students will understand being charged more if they’re learning from a highly qualified and experienced language teacher. There’s high demand for teachers on italki, but also, a lot of competition for anyone setting up a profile to teach, so that’s something to bear in mind, too. The balance to strike here is being competitive, while not under-selling your talents.

The number of students you have, and the frequency of lessons, are also significant contributing factors in how much you should charge, and in how much income you can make. If you’re available on a weekly basis, and have a deep roster of students, you can expect to make a decent living. 

Some italki teachers speak of earning thousands per month. It takes time to do this, so don’t expect to rake in four figures right away. Theoretically, though, as you build up more experience and positive feedback on the platform, the easier it’ll be to make a comfortable living just from teaching online.

In terms of a commission, italki takes a 15% commission. Unlike competitors, such as Preply, there’s no commission on free trial lessons. Payment is conducted twice a month - if you request to withdraw your earnings between the 1st and 15th of a month, you’ll receive payment between the 16th and 26th. If you request later than the 15th, you’ll receive your funds the following month.

Pros

• if you’re not sure you want to commit to language teaching, italki’s Community Tutor function means you can help language learners practice chatting. That’s ideal - and it could spark a career in TEFL, or simply satisfy curiosity.
• italki, unlike some competitors, will help with learning materials and has subsections and tags so that new students can find exactly the right teacher for them. That’s great for teachers as it means they can teach in their areas of expertise, while students are - theoretically - getting great value for money.
• italki takes a considerably lower commission from lessons, compared to some competitors. Also, payment is frequent and well-organised, so teachers should expect to be compensated fairly and on time.
• You can set your own fees, meaning you can honestly evaluate your expertise and teaching ability, and set a price accordingly.
• The teaching experience is bolstered by an excellent support staff, that is noted for punctuality and a comprehensive level of assistance.
• Flexibility. While all online platforms offer flexibility to some degree, italki allows you to set your own hours and block book time off when needed. Whether you want to work part-time or full-time, the italki platform allows you to set your schedule.