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Use Your Bilingual Skills to Become an Online Language Tutor

This blog post originally appears on our job board blog at Online Teacher Jobs.

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Benefits of Being Bilingual

There are many benefits to bilingualism and multilingualism. According to the Department of Education, the long term success of a bilingual and biliterate adult include more global job opportunities. Bilingual adults are able to make more connections with people, cultures, and places. For bilingual children, their ability to speak, read, and think in more than one language promotes higher levels of problem solving and critical thinking which is important in an academic setting. Additionally, continuing to speak their parent’s native language helps bilingual children to stay connected to their familial relationships, culture, and community.

Become an Online Language Tutor

Tutors are always in demand and you can tutor  in any subject. Learning a new language can be intimidating for anyone, but it is also fun! As a language tutor, you can teach various types of classes including speaking and pronunciation, writing, and even art. Consider teaching something unique to attract potential learners such as Art History of SpainFrench Pop MusicPokemon in Japanese. These classes can vary in learning levels from beginners to advanced. Of course, you can also teach ESL. Business English is a popular in different countries.

Where to Teach

An online teacher marketplace allows you to teach in your focused niche, create your own schedule and set your own rate. Marketplaces also take care of the marketing and promotion for you and your classes. 

If you prefer to teach adults, consider teaching with Preply. They are seeking tutors for various languages. No degree/ specific certification, or teaching experience is required. Preply takes a commission of 33% and decreases to 18%, with more hours that you teach.

If you prefer to teach children, Outschool is a great choice. Teach anything that you are passionate about! Outschool does not require a degree but expert knowledge in your niche. There is a 30% service fee from enrollments so plan your rate around this. They do all the marketing for you to help you get students enrolled in your classes.

If you are not interested in teaching for a company and giving up a percentage of your pay, consider teaching independently. A marketplace will already have students on their platform. However, teaching independently you will need to do your own marketing and find students on your own too. How to Start an Online Tutoring Business: Making 4-5 Figures a Month by Joanne Kaminski is a great read and starting point to help you in starting your own tutoring business. The book includes information about start-up costs, marketing, finding your niche, and where to find students. Joanne started tutoring on Skype many years ago. (Remember Skype?!) She also hosts a Facebook group for online tutors, Ultimate Support Group for Online Tutors.

There are different avenues to becoming an online tutor. Share your passion for languages with the world! You are creating more opportunities for others when they learn from you!