Online teaching positions are normally flexible short-term opportunities with around 15-20 hours of teaching a week. Teaching online means you have the flexibility to teach wherever you are in the world – from the comfort of home or in an exotic faraway land! It’s also a lot easier to set your own schedule and fit your teaching hours around your lifestyle. Online teaching roles are aimed mainly at teaching young learners via an online interactive learning platform. But there are opportunities to tutor adults, too.
10 Benefits of Working Remotely
Teaching English online is one of the most accessible jobs you can do if you want to work remotely as the only skill that you need is the ability to speak English fluently. You don’t even need to be a Native English speaker to get your TEFL certificate so you can teach English as a foreign language. All you need is to be able to speak the language well enough to teach it, and then you can live that remote life that you’ve always dreamed of living.
Here’s some extra persuasion of why you should pursue that remote working lifestyle with our 10 benefits of working remotely.
Working to Your Own Schedule
Not a morning person? Unless you’ve got an important Zoom meeting, then you can work to your own hours. Night owls can be in their element working remotely as they get to work during the time when they’re at their most productive.
Work from Anywhere
The joy in getting to work in any country around the world is a wonderful advantage. It is one of the biggest reasons why you should consider taking your career online. Imagine being able to go for coconuts on a tropical beach in South East Asia or going for dinner at an authentic Italian pizzeria with glasses of wine in some region of Italy, and it not being for a holiday but a way of life. Being able to work from anywhere allows you to live life as you want to. If you teach English online, you don’t even have to move countries if you don’t want to. By becoming a TEFL teacher, you can turn teaching English online into your career from your own home.
Bring Your Dog to Work Day
When you work remotely and have control over where your office is and what hours you work to, then every day can be bring your dog to work day! It’s one of the greatest joys to be working away on your laptop while your pooch snoozes with his head resting on your foot. It’s also such a great stress reliever if you need a mental break and your canine companion is there and ready to play. Your dog will also make sure you don’t work too hard by letting you know when it’s time to take a break, go out for a walk to get some exercise and fresh air.
Earn as Much as You Want
This benefit to becoming a remote worker all depends on what type of job you do online. If you’re working as part of a contract with a fixed monthly salary, then this benefit doesn’t really apply to you. However, if you’re a remote worker who works to an hourly rate or takes on freelance projects, then you have the potential to earn as much as you want depending on how hard you want to work.
A Sense of Accomplishment
Working for yourself is one of the greatest freedoms that you can experience. As an entrepreneur working remotely, you’ll no longer be putting in the hours every day to make someone else richer. The life that you have provided yourself by finding a way to earn a living online will give you a sense of accomplishment that just isn’t achievable when you work for another person.
Create Your Ideal Working Environment
Ever worked in an office environment and found it to be sterile and unstimulating? A place where you can hear a pin drop and you have to wear clothes that don’t allow you to mentally breathe? By working for yourself as a remote worker, you can choose what type of environment to work in. If you like your earphones in and music blasting to drown out the world while you let your creative instincts flow, then you can do that without fear of being reprimanded. You can wear what you feel comfortable in and you can go out and grab a cup of coffee whenever you feel like you need a caffeine fix. You can set up whatever environment you need to make you your most productive self when you decide to work remotely.
Spend More Time with Your Family
Do your family complain that they never get to see you because you’re working too much? If you’re working remotely then you can be available for whenever your family need you. If your online job is able to support your family, then you’ll be able to spend exponentially more time with your loved ones.
Save Time Commuting
What a time saver and benefit this point is. Have you ever totted up how much time you spend every day travelling to and from work? Then have you ever multiplied that number to find out how much time you spend commuting a week? A month? A year? If you haven’t, don’t do it, because it can be a terrifying number. Or maybe you should do it so then you can really understand the benefits of working for yourself remotely. The amount of time of your life you could save to do the things you want to do could be significant to changing your sense of wellbeing.
Become Independent
You will become more independent as you won’t have someone checking over your work or to help you. You’ll become more of a problem solver and learn to trust yourself. You’ll also learn to become more disciplined as you’ll have to set aside hours to work with more distractions around than there would be in a typical corporate environment.
Learn Who Your Friends Are
You will learn who your friends are by becoming a successful remote worker. Because you were brave enough to break the 9-5 mould, you will be the envy of everyone. You’ll be calling the shots on how your life is run and choosing the working hours that suits you. You can do what you love and work from wherever you want. You’ll either be hated or you will be a source of inspiration to your real friends who support your lifestyle.
Most online TEFL companies will ask for a minimum of 120 hours of TEFL training and teaching practice. Some online companies may ask their teachers to also have a bachelor’s degree. This is particularly true for Chinese companies, as it’s a government regulation (no matter where you are living).
You will more than likely need high-speed internet, a computer with an HD webcam and a headset if you want to teach online. If you have the choice of a video calling platform for your online lessons, Zoom is a good choice. It gives you a clear view of your students. You can also share your screen and create separate rooms for group work in lessons.
If you have no experience in teaching online, a good idea is to get some teaching practice in as employers may ask for “experience” hours, which are unpaid. You can alternatively complete our 10 Hour Virtual TEFL Course, which has a section focused on teaching English online.
You can add our 30 Hour Teaching English Online Course to any primary course to boost your knowledge and skills. The teaching English online course is a huge benefit because it prepares you to enter the online tutoring world – and looks great on a CV, too!
Then there’s our Professional Online Expert Course. This is a specialised online teacher qualification that gives you the skillset and the confidence to hit the ground running. This package includes the 120 Hour Advanced TEFL Course, 30 Hour Teaching English Online and the 30 Hour Teaching Young Learners to give you an edge in a competitive market.