Teaching English Remotely – Tools and Tips For Success

Discover the best tools and strategies for teaching English remotely, ensuring a successful and engaging experience for your students. 

As one of the oldest professions in the world, teaching has evolved around the world to become a mainstay of any successful society. It doesn’t matter where you go in the world, you’ll find that teaching is present and thriving. As a new TEFL teacher, that means you’ve got countless opportunities for working and living in other countries because you can teach in a language school, public school or private school – the choice is yours.

However, there’s another option, which is picking up considerable speed and will probably evolve into the dominant form of teaching for many parts of the world – online work. We live in an age where an internet connection is not only easy to access, but it’s often the norm. It’s easy to find work anywhere in the world because you go onto the web and find jobs in your home country or abroad, and as long as you’re willing to be a bit flexible, you’ll be able to find plenty of jobs. 

We’ve taken a proper look at the exciting world of teaching remotely, and we have been able to put together a list of tricks and strategies that you can use to try and get the best career teaching virtually. There are a fair few things that you can do to make your career successful, and we’ve compiled a list of our top recommendations. It’s worth noting that we base all of these tips and tricks on having a qualification to teach English as a foreign language, but besides that, anyone can implement these ideas for themselves.

Look For Jobs Abroad or Up-Country

The first thing that you can do if you want to be able to work as a successful TEFL teacher is to explore looking for jobs both further away from you in the country you live in, but also in other countries. The primary strength of the internet is that all geographical restrictions are removed, so technically, there’s nothing to stop you from applying for jobs in other countries if you’re qualified to do so.

There are a few considerations that go into this, of course. The first problem you will undoubtedly face is that when it comes to working in other countries, you may have to have certain qualifications, depending on where you want to work and what that will mean for your career will depend on where you want to apply. The other concern is that you may need to speak a little of the language that you’re applying for.

It is up to you where you choose to apply, of course. You’ll want to explore opportunities in other parts of the country to start with. There are plenty of jobs for remote teachers, and this can help a lot with getting started. However, there are just as many career choices in other countries that don’t require a degree as do, so it’s not too hard to find something that works for you.

Adapt Your Materials For Virtual Use

Working virtually is something that a lot of teachers find themselves doing after a while and it can be a good way to try and find more work and expand your image. However, people don’t appreciate how much of the online world requires you to adapt materials and make specific changes to learning materials and tools, which can leave you unprepared for specific situations.

If you stop and consider the logistics behind a lot of your teaching materials, you’ll find that they have been designed for a traditional classroom environment, which means that they’re not suitable for use online. It presents a real problem because you then have to try and make things work for a virtual setting and this takes time. 

In some cases you may have to design new materials specifically for teaching remotely. This might seem like a difficult process, but try not to be too worried. We are more than happy to help you with the construction and design of online teaching materials because we do recognise how difficult it can be. 

Consider a Specialist Qualification 

If you’re looking to build up a successful career teaching remotely, you may want to consider expanding your horizons and skills by undertaking a dedicated qualification for this process.

You may not be surprised to know that we have a course dedicated to people who want to learn to teach virtually specifically. It is a supplementary course for our main qualifications, and you can use it to develop skills and ideas specifically geared towards.

Our teaching English virtual course has been carefully cultivated to help you prepare for the world of the virtual classroom. We talk about how to adapt your strategies and change the way that you teach to suit an online setting. Being able to mix up the way that you teach and create new strategies that work in the online setting is key to being a successful teacher on the web. The accredited 120-course that we offer will also help you teach remotely in better ways.

Consider Your Virtual Reputation

Your virtual reputation can form a large part of any successful teaching career. If you’re going to be working on the web, then the only way people can judge you is from what they can find remotely. The goal is to make sure that you portray yourself in the best possible light and that you receive glowing feedback from past students if you’re working as a freelancer or that you are well-respected in your industry.

There are a couple of ways that you can do this to ensure that your reputation remains good. Having a dedicated set of business social media platforms that you use and keeping your personal life very private is the best way to do this. As we live in the days of social media overload, students and teachers alike will try to find you on social media platforms to get more information about you, and you don’t want them to find something they can use to upset your career.

With that being said, you still want to use social media to its full advantage, because it can do a lot for you. Like we say, it’s worth having a dedicated set of business accounts. These will be tools that you can use to position yourself as an industry expert, and this is a very important part of any successful teaching career. Plus, they are good tools for you to work with other professionals and the wider business world.

Have Software Ready 

One of the big benefits to the world we live in right now is that there are only two or three online platforms that are capable of supporting a classroom full of students and teachers. These are generally things like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. They are the only trusted platforms which can really be used effectively, and while there are others, these are quite universal across most of the western world.

One of the best things you can do is to learn these platforms and be comfortable using them as a teacher. There is nothing worse than starting your first day as an online teacher and not knowing how to use the software provided or recommended. You should install both of these software programs directly onto your computer and then get to know them. It’s worth noting that some companies and schools have proprietary software for teaching, and they’re very often restricted to only their teachers. Understandably, this makes it more difficult to prepare for them.

Get The Right Equipment

The only reason that modern teaching works in the online world is because we have access to a selection of incredible gadgets that we can use to make our own lives easier and to improve the quality of learning for the students. As an online teacher, you can’t afford to be a technophobe or somebody who just doesn’t like computers. You have to have the right equipment if you want to be able to teach in the best possible way, so it’s time to get very comfortable with using a computer on a full-time basis.

You need a strong, stable Wi-Fi connection to work as a teacher. However, the big consideration for you should always be whether or not you have a laptop or desktop computer. You will need one or the other. We usually recommend a desktop because it’s more powerful, but there’s no way you could teach from a mobile phone. We also recommend that you get a wireless headset. You can get wired ones that will do the same job just as well, but your goal should be to try and have the freedom to move around when you’re teaching, which can be very difficult if you don’t have a wireless headset because you’re tripping over yourself all the time. 

Build Your Classroom

One of the most important things you can do to guarantee success as a new teacher is to build your classroom. However, we are talking about a virtual classroom, so the rules are often a little bit different from trying to build a physical one. It’s important to recognise that students’ perception of you will be different when they are learning online, so your classroom has to be different to meet their needs. 

Your goal should be to design a classroom that is bright and accessible on a screen. You need a large space that is private and doesn’t have constant distractions in the background, like ongoing traffic or people walking fast. Some online teachers rent office space to have a permanent classroom environment that doesn’t infringe upon their home environment. It’s really up to you how you do it, but having an office environment where you can build a classroom is a must. You will need things like a whiteboard and somewhere to put resources.

Keep Trying

If we could give out a single piece of advice for anybody who is considering teaching as a profession, it would be to keep trying to improve and not be afraid to make mistakes. Teaching is an ongoing career path, and you’re always learning. You won’t be the same teacher in 10 years, so it’s important to allow yourself to grow with the times and not assume that you are perfect from day one. 

Keep trying to improve and look out for new techniques and ideas you can implement. The online teachers are the ones who are always growing and looking for new opportunities, and you can easily join them. 

Closing Thoughts

Teaching remotely is a big industry now, and there are a lot of opportunities for you to build the kind of career you’ve always wanted. However, there are things to keep in mind, as is the case with any type of profession, and you do have to be willing to adapt to the rules of this specific part of the TEFL industry.

We find that a lot of our graduates are more than happy to learn and grow, and many of them achieve incredible things. We recommend that you take a look at our course about teaching remotely because it will equip you with all the skills and knowledge you need to build an effective career. However, with that being said, we do always recommend trying to find the right career path for you. Teaching virtually is not for everybody, so it’s important to take a look at what that entails and whether or not it’s something you could see yourself enjoying.