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Tutoring English Online with Skyeng
Skyeng is one of Eastern Europe’s favourite English learning platforms; what’s all the fuss about, and is it a good deal for teachers?
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One of Eastern Europe’s premier online learning platforms, Skyeng has seen significant growth since starting in 2012. Based in Russia, Skyeng works across multiple forms of media, with a mobile app and a website, meaning that teachers and students can either teach or learn languages from the comfort of their homes, or out and about on the go.
With comparatively relaxed job requirements, Skyeng is a handy platform for teachers who don’t have a degree or a great deal of experience. With hefty financial backing after rounds of private investment from investors around Russia, the English learning platform has seen hundreds of thousands of sign-ups and a growing teaching community.
So, what’s in it for English teachers? Is the Skyeng online school experience favourable compared to other online teaching platforms? In terms of what Skyeng pays, is it enough for an online English teacher to make a living? What’s the working culture like, what is the Skyeng Talks system, and how much flexibility is there?
Let’s find out.
Skyeng: An Overview
Based in Moscow, Skyeng is focused on EdTech, and how educational technology can advance understanding, business and worldwide economics. Of course, its primary goal is to teach English online, something it does to tens of thousands of monthly users. Equally, Skyeng’s LinkedIn page talks briefly about B2B partnerships, involving the teaching of English to a range of companies with eyes on expansion across the world. With English being the lingua franca of business, this part of the teaching online business is clearly important; over 4,000 companies have signed up with Skyeng for this purpose.
It’s not just about the teaching, though. It’s the methodologies of how English, and other languages, can be taught to users of smartphones and computers. Increasingly, platforms and online language schools are finding innovative ways to teach. Gamification, AI, intelligent curriculum design and other methods of upgrading the teaching experience have become increasingly common, with platforms competing to stay ahead of the curve.
What does this mean for an English teacher on the platform? Well, effectively the job itself is simple, but you’re part of a teaching company with a very firm focus on how English teaching will look in the future.
What are the requirements to teach with Skyeng?
Interestingly, Skyeng doesn't have their teach English online requirements posted anywhere on their website - at least, not in English! Not to worry, though; through online research and reading reviews from employers, we can get a very clear picture of what’s required to teach English online through this Russian platform.
We’ll focus on specifics, but for a basic outline: you don’t need a degree to teach English on the Skyeng platform. While having some background in teaching is preferred, you can teach English online with no experience on the Skyeng platform, and you don’t need a degree. However, you will need to have certificates from one or more TEFL courses to be considered.
Let’s get into more detail.
Bachelor's degree
You do not need a bachelor’s degree to conduct English language teaching lessons through the Skyeng platform.
That’s great news if you’re a student and you want to work as a Skyeng teacher. Or, you might be a retiree and want to generate extra income after working a full-time job for decades. Whatever your reasons, you might not have a bachelor’s degree, but that ought not to stop you from teaching English online.
TEFL Certification
You’ll need TEFL certification to teach on the Skyeng platform. A TEFL certificate with at least 120 hours of training is the industry standard. Having a TEFL certification demonstrates your ability to teach, perform self-directed study and understand important teaching methodologies and it also shows employers that you’re interested in English teaching long-term.
To gain something of a boost on your competitors in the online English teaching job market, it might be worth considering an advanced TEFL certificate, specifically an online English teaching qualification. Also, your TEFL certificate will need to come from an accredited, high-quality course provider. Employers can tell the difference!
Native/non-native
Great news: you don’t need to be a native speaker of English to find a role at Skyeng. However, there is a specific service Skyeng students use that can only be catered to by native speakers, called Skyeng Talks. Skyeng Talks aims to find teachers from across the world : “...will find you a teacher from anywhere in the world - from Australia to South Africa, and you will chat via video call about any topic you want.”
So, non native speakers are encouraged to apply, but can’t do it all. Native speakers will inherently have more opportunities than non native speakers on Skyeng.
Download our teaching English online guide
Skyeng Job description
So what is the Skyeng English platform actually like, and what can teachers do on there?
One important thing to note: a lot of students can use the extremely convenient platform without a teacher at all. Like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, students can perform self-directed English study, with all of the lessons being generated by AI. They can practise listening and performing spoken English without a tutor.
There are, though, lots of opportunities for teachers on the platform. The Skyeng online school connects students with teachers for one-to-one lessons. The student takes a solo lesson, and a teacher will create a course programme - so TEFL educators can test out their own teaching methods. Then, there’ll be conversational practice, homework and various tasks set by a teacher for a student to complete. These classes take 50 minutes, through the Vimbox platform.
For native speaking English teachers, there’s also the Skyend Talks mode, as previously discussed. These are 15-minute classes conducted by teachers who learned English as their first language and are designed to introduce students to English in a fun, pressure-free environment. For those who want to practise speaking English before committing to a full course, it’s a great option. As a teacher, you’ll need to be ready for a lot of these short classes.
So, your job will either be as a more traditional teacher on the platform, as a conversational buddy, or both. Practice listening as a teacher before embarking on this platform, because either way you'll be encouraging a lot of verbal work from your students.
How much can you earn teaching English with Skyeng?
If there’s one significant criticism of this platform, it’s the pay.
Being a Russian platform, the pay is in rubles. According to Skyeng, teachers can typically earn 40,000 rubles a month, equivalent to around $443/£354. There is a discrepancy in pay between native speakers and non native speakers of English, with the latter tending to start at a rate of $5/£4 per hour for a 50-minute lesson. Meanwhile, native speakers will earn about double that.
To get near that modest $443/£354 per month status, non-native teachers will have to conduct nearly 90 classes over 4 weeks, while a native speaker on $10-12/£8-£9.50 will have to conduct 45 lessons.
If you want to make teaching on Skyeng your full-time job, then don’t expect life-changing wages. There are incentives, though: if you can manage 18 lessons in a row with a student, you can earn about $0.80/£0.64 per lesson extra for every subsequent lesson. If you manage 34 consecutive classes with a student, that goes up to about $2.35/£1.88 extra per class.
A typical Skyeng review will point out that you need to work very often to make a living. Job interviews with the platform do go over salary, so remember not to be nervous about discussing it!The application process for Skyeng
The application process for Skyeng jobs is straightforward, but there are a lot of steps involved. There are 5 fundamental steps of the job application, starting with inputting your basic details and ending with some important training.
How do I apply?
The first step is inputting some basic information on the application page. Your age, your teaching experience, where you’re based; expect to fill out the same basic forms that you would at the start of any job application.
From there, you’ll need to record a video. In large part, Skyeng bases its decision on these videos, in which you’ll answer some basic questions about yourself, talk about your experience working with children or adults, what your teaching methods are like, and what you hope to achieve on the platform.
If Skyeng likes your video, they’ll invite you for an interview.
Interview process
Much like a Skyeng class, the interview lasts around 50 minutes. That spell of time consists of four distinct sections: interview questions, an information session, your demo class, and finally, a grammar test.
Interview
If you’ve ever had a job interview before, then nothing here will shock you. Expect follow-up questions based on your introductory video; qualifications, background in education, teaching experience, what teaching methods you plan to use and why you’ve applied to Skyeng.
Information session
Now, you can relax a little, as a Skyeng employee will guide you through the history of the company, what the role you’ve applied for entails, what teaching on the platform is like, what kind of salary you can expect, and so on. Remember to ask questions!
Demo Class
Now, you’ll have to do a demonstration class with a “student” - an employee of Skyeng - without any teaching materials provided for you. You’ll be given 15-20 minutes to demonstrate your teaching skills, timekeeping and ability to keep a student engaged.
It’s all about movement, enthusiasm and anticipation. Try, for example, an active warm-up with a student to break the ice. Later, try utilising Total Physical Response (TPR) methods to demonstrate both your understanding of modern teaching techniques and your ability to keep a student focused and task-orientated.
Mostly, it’s about showing your personality as a teacher. Don’t just tell Skyeng what separates you from other teaching talents; show them.
Grammar time
At some stage during the interview, you’ll have to answer grammar questions. As you normally would for any job interview, prepare and prepare again.Training
If you’re successful with the interview, you’ll be contacted within a working week and invited to a group training session with other teachers. Here, you’ll learn about the company and what’s expected from teachers. After this, you’ll be scheduled for an individual training session to integrate you properly and get you familiar with the platform.
What to consider before you start
Before you start working with Skyeng, or even applying to work on the platform, it’s worth considering a couple of important factors.
Time
If you want to make anything like a living on Skyeng, you’ll need to work a lot. Yes, Skyeng will do the job of actually pairing you with students, and there should be plenty of students, but it’ll take plenty of classes to earn your keep.
Do you have the time to make it worthwhile? Realistically speaking, it’ll take full-time hours with the Skyeng online school to earn a decent online English teaching salary.
Skyeng: Pros and cons
Like every online teaching platform, Skyeng has pros and cons attached. So, what works for Skyeng, and what should make teachers think twice?
Pros
- Flexibility: You can work as much as you like on the Skyeng platform, and there are plenty of students!
- Regular pay: You get paid twice a month on Skyeng, which can be very useful!
- Non-native speakers: whether you’re a native speaker or a non native speaker, you can find a role with Skyeng.
- No degree?: No problem if you don’t hold a bachelor’s degree!
- Materials provided: Though you’ll have to use your initiative, teaching materials are provided.
Cons
- Salary: The teaching salary is pretty abysmal, particularly if you’re a non native speaker.
- Time: Really, you’ll need to teach a lot to make a living on this platform.
- No room for professional growth: Realistically, it’s hard to progress as a teacher beyond building experience. Classes are very much tailored to students and while you can plan your lessons to some degree, it’s hard to develop your techniques and approaches.
Skyeng Reviews
So how does one of Eastern Europe’s most prominent English language platforms fare on the review websites? You might be surprised, but Skyeng does very well indeed.
In fact, let’s start with Indeed. Skyeng rates 4.2 out of 5, with flexibility, eager students and the convenience of the platform amongst the chief reasons for positive feedback. However, out of the 175 reviews, there are some extremely negative ones, with a number of 1-star reviews of the company.
Glassdoor, meanwhile, has Skyeng rated at 4 out of 5 by current and former employees. Similar to Indeed, the job flexibility, platform and support were lauded, but the pay and seemingly changeable management approaches took a star off.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How much does Skyeng pay per hour?
According to Skyeng, teachers can typically earn 40,000 rubles a month, equivalent to around $443/£354.
Q. What are the requirements for Skyeng?
To teach on Skyeng, you’ll need a high-quality TEFL/ESL certificate from a reputable, accredited course provider, and some experience is preferred.
Q. What is the Skyeng platform for teachers?
Skyeng is a Russia-based English learning platform where teachers can conduct comprehensive 50-minute classes or shorter chats with prospective learners.