Teaching Conversational English Online: 9 Essential Tips
Teaching English online is gradually becoming a trend because of the benefits it brings to both learners and teachers. Teaching conversational English online can have many advantages as well as disadvantages. Pros for good teachers who know how to make their class stand out. And Cons is for courses that are considered boring. In today’s article, we will share with you 9 essential secrets that will help you stand out when teaching conversational English online.
I. Advantages and disadvantages of teaching English online
With the importance of English in the world, more and more forms of teaching English appear. Learning English conversation online is said to be the most popular form of learning. As you probably know, anything that brings us benefits, along with it, has certain disadvantages. The same goes for teaching English online.
Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages that online English conversation courses bring to teachers
Pros
- Teach anywhere, anytime you want
- Easily show your profile or marketing yourself
- Easy to search and select students as well as find out their information
- Earn great income every month
- You can teach and earn extra income as a side job
- If you are a good teacher, you will be known by many students and shared on social networking sites
Cons
- You may have to compete with a large number of other online conversational English teachers
- Today’s students are very smart. If you intentionally trick them or give them unsatisfactory, unclear or unqualified information, they may report you or underestimate you.
- If a student rates you low on an online platform, it won’t make much of a difference. But if a lot of students do that, the reputation you build will probably suffer a lot.
- You should be careful because social media or online tools and websites can get you up, but they will also bring you down very quickly if the courses you offer become boring.
II. 9 essential tips to help you teach English conversation online
Teaching conversational English online requires you to communicate with learners throughout the lesson. If you do not have expertise and understand the psychology of learners, the school session becomes boring and sometimes there is nothing to talk about.
If you are planning to teach English online to 1 or a group of students, the following useful methods may be useful to you.
Ensure a stable internet connection
The first condition that helps you to teach English online is an electronic device with an internet connection. Learning English conversation online with an unstable connection will cause the lesson to be interrupted and affect the time of both parties. This will make you look unprofessional.
Weak Internet makes it difficult for learners to hear clearly and can lead to not being able to fully absorb the lesson. This is also frustrating for learners. So, make sure you have a strong internet connection when teaching English online.
Find out about student learning goals
This is a necessary action if you want to become a good online English conversation teacher.
Take a day to talk about learners, such as name, hometown, culture of their country, interests of them. What form of study do they feel most comfortable with? What English skill do they feel the most lack of confidence in or need to improve? More specifically, what is their purpose of learning English communication?
Understanding your learners will help you set them on the right path. Focus on the knowledge they need to help them achieve their goals. It is also very helpful for you to choose the right curriculum or topics to talk about with them. When we talk to someone about a topic they are interested in, they get very excited and focused on it, right?
Therefore, before you want to teach someone English online, the first thing you need to do is to understand them.
Focus on common communication topics in life
The common goal of everyone when learning to communicate in English online is to be able to understand and use English in life. Common topics in life can be more useful and interested by learners.
You can provide learners with vocabulary, phrasal verbs or idioms commonly used by native speakers in real life. Teach them how to pronounce, stress, how to communicate in English so fluently and naturally. Don’t forget to correct their pronunciation and give honest feedback. What are the areas that learners should improve on, what they did well and what did not work so well that they need to practice more.
More specifically, you should choose topics and vocabulary that are suitable for each student’s level. A test to assess the level of learners is important to do first.
Create interesting, not boring lessons when teaching English online
What is an interesting online English class? Definitely a class that brings a lot of laughter to the students. Try to be a funny and witty online English teacher rather than a strict one. A funny person often leaves an impression on people and gets more attention and love. Therefore, create a lot of laughter in your classroom.
Because this is an online English conversation class. Therefore, focus on communication as much as possible. During the lesson, you can mix jokes. Organize games for students if you teach a small group.
Offers a variety of free online learning materials or resources
Learners will be very grateful if you point them to free and quality English learning resources. In addition to lessons with you, guide them to further study to improve their skills with other reputable online learning resources. It could be websites or materials that you have studied before or that you have been referred to.
You can also share your foreign language learning story so that your students can use it as motivation to strive. By doing this, you can become a hero in the eyes of your students. And for them, you are not only a good teacher, but also a caring teacher.
Introduce learners to community activities that improve their English communication skills
Besides the learning resources mentioned above, you can also provide students with community activities to learn English communication online that they can participate in. Meaningful activities such as online or offline English learning clubs, volunteer activities, exposure to many international friends and an English communication environment.
Create free English communication groups
Take advantage of the benefits that online websites bring to connect your students together.
You can create a group on social networks, where people can share their knowledge, opinions, or foreign language learning experiences. A place where students can freely ask their questions and get answers instantly. A place where learners around the world can learn English together, communicate and get to know each other.
This will definitely be a very useful English learning group. Not only learning English, people can also exchange culture with each other. It’s interesting, isn’t it?
Collaborate with other online English teachers
From time to time, change the atmosphere of teaching English online by collaborating with other teachers. Your class will become very fun and interesting when suddenly a strange teacher appears.
However, this job is only suitable when you are teaching English to a group of students and will not be suitable when you are teaching English online 1-1.
Ask students to give feedback or take a survey at the end of each lesson
After each class, don’t forget to ask students to rate your class. You can make comments about the student’s current level. And vice versa, you also need honest reviews from them to improve your online English teaching skills.
Ask your students what they are most excited about in each session and what they don’t like. Remember to ask them to rate your site well or recommend you to their friends so people know you better. This is a great way to market yourself.
Above are 9 effective methods to help you teach English better online. But remember, to become an online English teacher, before applying these ways, you need to prove your teaching skills and knowledge. This could be through a degree, TEFL certificate or previous teaching experience.
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Why you should teach English Online
