I want to get a certificate but I dont know how to check if the school is legit or not. I can only do online certification. Can someone suggest a good school. Also did you land a job using that certification? Help.

Single na teacher babae ha

Hello! I am an online ESL teacher on Preply and Cambly. I am looking to improve my skills and apply to better companies. I also want to teach abroad eventually but my current focus is finding more online work.

Could anyone please tell me which of these are better for employers who require a TESOL/TEFL certificate? Based on my research, these seem to be some of the better affordable options:

ASU TESOL

TEFL.org

I am leaning towards the ASU course so that I can apply for American companies, such as air reading. Plus, I already have Coursea so it would be cheaper. However, I haven't read a lot about it online and today was my first time coming across it. The TEFL.org one seems more well known.

Also, if you have better suggestions please let me know! I am looking for something that is $250 USD or less.

My previous agent and her colleague is making it difficult for me to secure a job in China. My previous agent is making her colleague do all the communication. So, she got me an interview with a school in China, and they sent me contract which I signed, after 2 weeks, that school did not send the signed contract (from the school) back to me. And they started to change the terms and conditions on the contract, therefore I had to terminate this contract. After a some time, a new agent got me an interview with another school. I got the contract, signed it and the school signed it as well. All was going well, till my first agents colleague started threatening me. He also phoned the school who wanted to employ me and kept worrying them each day which lead them to cancel the contract. I had a remaining amount of RMB 1400 to pay to the old agent for translation fees before the end of April 2025, my sister sent the payment via WeChat but the recruiter declined the payment. This agent then proceeded to send a law suit to me, but it was just a printed out letter from his agency and not from a law firm (he has no grounds to file a lawsuit, and I have proof of all WeChat messages and what was said)

This recruiter then proceeded to call me yesterday and said he doesn’t want the translation fee, the only way to move is if is let his agency find me a job and I pay an agency fee of RMB 6000, and if I don’t do this then he said he will keep checking the work permit application system for my name, and see for the school that employs me and worry them. So I asked this agent why is he threatening me and he said and I quote “I am not threatening you, i will actually do it”. I don’t know if he will be spreading false information about me but his threats are making is difficult for me to get a job.

When this whole situation started, I contacted a lawyer who helps out teachers in China, I explained the whole case to him, and the lawyer also knows about the call and threats, and the lawyer said that whatever this agent is doing would not be legal.

Any advice on how to move forward would be greatly appreciated! This whole situation has been stressing me out, I am a first time applicant as well.

Hello, are there any companies that give consistent classes? Or is it when classes become available? Thank you in advance!

I have an undergraduate degree (in Psychology) and I'm interested in knowing what are the best teaching jobs where having a degree is an accepted form of credentials. I just had a look around this reddit and found Accent Advisors, unfortunately I'm British and they need people with American Accents otherwise it would have been perfect for me. What else is a good option?

I just logged into my account and it was deactivated with a notice saying that it’s for one of two reasons either I haven’t given a class in 90 days, which is not the case since I gave 5 classes 2 days ago or that I violated the warning and suspension guidelines, which I don’t think I have, because I take my classes seriously and make sure I follow the rules. I did not receive anything else or any warning before this. Is there a way to reactivate my account? I already sent an inquiry but no one replied and it’s been a few hours, and I’ve been anxious all day as this is my only income source

[Hiring] English Tutors who can create fun worksheets for ages 7-12 or/and 13-16

I’m looking for English teachers who can create worksheets for the above age group and to the standards of the Singapore English syllabus.

If you have any past portfolio/ resume, please share with me as well. TIA

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice on how to add more value to conversational lessons. Right now, I cover a variety of topics, bring in articles, work from textbooks when students want it, and provide corrections on grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. I focus on helping students express themselves naturally, but I feel like I could be doing more to help them “level up.”

For those of you who teach conversational English, what do you do to ensure your students keep improving? Are there any strategies, activities, or techniques you’ve found that work really well?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Hey can anybody guide me after how long after getting rejected on preply we can apply again. ? Need help please reply

Had a number of hilarious students in a row this morning and handled them with ease.

1. Student with free talk and no introduction requested. Screen opens and I greet her and ask how she is today. Her face is sour, lesson history littered with no shows. She replies, "fine". Dead face. I say, "that's great" and allow the free talk with no introductions to proceed, a mild, unaffected smile on my face :D The silence hangs.......................... It continues to hang............................ I open a tab and start browsing Reddit. She goes "hello", I reply that Ican hear her just fine. At this point she pulls up a daily news and gets to business. Nope, I'm not a monkey turning tricks. Either you want to particiapate or not, I'm not begging and pleading you. Nice try though.
2. Student I keep hoping will leave me alone, but no. He picks difficult articles constantly and then asks me complicated questions. I'm like, if you don't have the intelligence to figure out what "laser focused" might mean, in the context of a sentence, when you know the meaning of both words... then you are beyond help, sorry. I just turned every question back on him: "what do you think that means?" and then open another reddit tab. Of course, he knew every time. He doesn't seem like one of the malicious ones, just clueless or maybe his mom didn't give him enough attention... something weird. The questions he asks are pointless to the learning English.

After the article he has another question for me. Asks me to epxlain the difference between trade tarriff policies in the US vs China lolllllllllll I am not smart enough for that, sorry. I am a $5 english tutor on Engoo who used to work AT THE MALL, hunny. So I tell him that since this class is for him to PRACTICE ENGLISH, it would be best if he explains.

And to top it all off, he tried to keep me talking after time was up so I waved, said goodbye and x'd out. He still gave me a five, unreal.

I should follow these students protocol for accessing low grade services and go into McDonalds with a thermometer requesting my coffee al dente, my big mac slightly rare and my fries with a touch of malaysian truffle salt and see what happens.

Don't get me wrong, students who are not demanding, have basic scoail awareness and aren't treating me like human Chat GPT get corrections, definitions in the chat, etc. The rest can va se faire foutre with a spring of rosemary, al dente.

Hello everyone! Sorry if this question is a little random, but I’m considering going private and making a website to attract students. However, I know that word of mouth is the most effective method. I’ll be traveling to Eastern Asia this spring and am considering making business cards/brochures to advertise my classes. I’ll be traveling for a couple of months so I thought of possibly distributing these in the countries I’ll be visiting. Has anyone had experience with this?

I was considering asking places such as study cafes if they would allow me to hang up a flyer or trying to find bulletin boards. I know universities would also be good options of course but realistically I doubt I’d be allowed to leave my information there. Does anyone have any tips?

I was teaching on italki for about 2years consistently, no formal teaching qualifications other than a tefl certificate, so it was mostly conversational tutoring. Would this experience count as teaching experience if I wanted to apply for in person teaching gigs in foreign countries?

Hey guys!

I've been teaching in-person and since last year via Preply and I gotta say... there's gotta be a better way to do this.

I mean the platforms take 30%? And most of that money (I'm guessing) goes to Google AdWords and salaries for questionable features on the platform. I'm a programmer myself, so don't get me wrong, I like programmers getting paid.

However I feel like 30% is too much and so I started a spreadsheet which, just like on a real world bulletin board (not blackboard, maybe I need an English tutor myself haha), is supposed to let tutors list themselves and students find us:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g_VUTNL4LzKt72O8PaCotqPzvXj6zNM6sOpRGaFKjrc/edit

What do you guys think? We already have 5 English tutors :)

I believe that most people are community-compatible, so if someone tempers with your listing, just repair it. Kind of like Wikipedia.

I would like to post this link somewhere where students can find it, where do you guys think would be a good place? Probably not on a bulletin board :P

Discover 3 powerful marketing strategies to grow your service business in 2025. From local SEO to automation and social media marketing, learn how tools like ServicePro911 can help plumbers, electricians, and gardeners streamline operations and attract more clients.

Read full blog here https://servicepro911.com/3-marketing-strategies-to-plan-for-2025-a-guide-for-service-businesses/

I should have looked more closely, or read more carefully. What a goofy and scam business. They make you go through 2 demo lessons basically, trying to demonstrate pronunciation instructions following "their method." It's like some secret sauce recipe.

And later I found out that the owner, is the second interviewer, but too afraid to tell you that. Then he does voice impersonations in order to pretend you are working with students from different nationalities.

Claims to be American, but their entire crew is in Mexico. No disclosure, all cloak and dagger. Don't waste your time, the whole company is goofy!

Laptop advise

Hi tutors:)

I was retrenched from my job a year ago and struggled every single day since. And as a breadwinner it sucks. A friend of mine suggested that I do the TEFL course and paid for me to. I passed and I know that I’ll be really good at it.

Only thing is that I was at her house for the 2 weeks doing the course because I don’t have a laptop or headphones of my own. The country I live in is a developing country so it’s not every household that can afford luxuries like laptops.

Is there a way to do the tutoring with a cellphone? Has anyone ever tried? I will save towards the laptop once I get some bookings but I want to start working and earning a bit of money. I’m super eager if you have any suggestions. Or do you think I 100% need to use a laptop?

And where can I find good lesson plans for BEGINNERS?

Thanks. (I have posted on other related subreddits just so I can get info)

So last night I gave my first ever trial lesson to another student who is also at B2 level. It was going well but I decided to conclude the last 20 minutes of the lesson with an activity that just went way over my student's head, knocked his confidence and was just completely out of place. I wish now that I had rather focused on a simpler, shorter activity that got him speaking and interacting more while focusing on what he really wanted.

His self-assessed language level was C1 so I figured it'd be appropriate to give him a hard activity. It wasn't. For my next student, I want to keep it way more interesting, relevant and get him to do all the talking!

I'd also like to know where you guys get your activities for your lessons because I was little annoyed with how disorganised Preply's catalog is. Thank you for the advice!

I’m a tutor on Tutlo since July 2024 and would like to ask if there are any from Poland here .

I'm from the UK and I have just had got my TEFL cert and would like to be a online English teacher who wants to travel.

What budget-friendly location would recommend for someone starting out, that has a reliable internet connection?

I'm part of a team building a website where English teachers can direct students to do exercises and reinforce their learning. The website allows teachers to give prompts or instructions to AI, so the model can make the exercises, provide suggestions to students when answering a question wrong, and even grade their answers. We are looking for volunteers to take a look and give us suggestions/ideas about the website and how we could improve it.

Money Transfer I’m trying to get some money sent from Japan to Mexico. We already PayPal, Tokyo Transfer, International transfer from bank to bank. They money will “show” in the account, but it doesn’t let me withdraw it over here. Does anybody have any suggestions for this or that’s had this kind of problem before.

Hey guys, tia for your attention. I wonder if you could help me with some tips or examples for a successful intro video. I just got hired and they said I have not been activated since I have not uploaded the video. I wanted to get some advice before doing so as it seems to be the catch for getting new students. Thanks

Hi! I'm have my first private student from Turkiye and I don't know how to accept payments from her. Any ideas? She said she cannot transfer from her bank to my Revolut account. I don't know what to try. HELP! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Learn how a Cash Discounting Program works, how it helps businesses save on credit card processing fees, and why it's a game-changer for your profits. Discover its benefits and how to implement it with Piggy Bank POS.

Read full blog here https://piggybankpos.com/what-is-a-cash-discounting-program-and-how-does-it-work/

I’m a non-native English speaker with a degree in teaching English and a TEFL. I’m currently looking for online teaching platforms that hire non-native speakers. All the schools I encounter are either shady or hire natives only. Any recommendations for good platforms or at least okayish?

Also, if you have any personal experiences (positive or negative) with different schools, I’d love to hear about them!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a good platform to host my private ESL lessons and possibly courses. I want something that allows students to buy a package of lessons and then easily book on my calendar without needing to fill out their details every time. Ideally, I want the process to be smooth and user-friendly for both me and my students.

I’m considering platforms like PayHip and Podia, but I’m not sure if they offer this level of flexibility with scheduling. I’d love to hear what platforms other teachers are using for their independent teaching and how well they handle lesson booking and student management.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! 😊

I know this subreddit can lean a bit towards the negative but I'd love to hear some success stories of online ESL teachers going independent and creating a profitable and successful online English teaching business!!

I'm newly independent and so far I think it's the best decision I've made (no more shitty academy work and bratty kids)!