Being a Private ESL Teacher: Benefits & Challenges
So you're thinking of being a Private ESL Teacher?
Teaching English as a second language with an online company is an excellent opportunity. It allows teachers to do what they love while offering location independence! You get to help others learn a new language and learn about other cultures.
If you are an experienced educator, becoming a Private ESL Teacher can give your online teaching career a huge boost! Switching to private teaching can give you more flexibility with higher pay for your efforts.
However, there are new challenges that come along with teaching ESL privately. In this article, I’ll explore both the perks and the challenges of becoming a private ESL teacher so that you can decide if it’s the right career shift for you.
The Benefits
Better Pay as a Private ESL Teacher
The Bottom Line: There is potential to earn a much higher salary as a private ESL tutor.
Before the big China shutdown, most Chinese companies paid around $18-22 per hour. Teaching opportunities have dwindled since then, with some companies offering as low as $4 an hour to qualified online teachers. Hard pass!
As a private ESL teacher, you can enjoy a much higher hourly rate. I charge $20 per 25-minute lesson and many other teachers are charging up to $25. This powers up your rate to $40-50/hour.
There are no limits to your pay, as you can create group courses to build your hourly rate higher. Some private teachers specialize in a niche, like business English or test prep. These teachers can charge their clients even more!
Teaching with a Company = $
Teaching Privately = $$-$$$
More Flexible Schedule
After becoming a private ESL teacher, you will earn more freedom in terms of when you teach, what you teach, and how you teach it.
For scheduling, you are free to reschedule and shift the schedule as you please. Of course, this takes more effort than working with a company that manages your schedule. In my opinion, the flexibility is definitely worth it!
Although you do not want to charge the schedule too often, knowing the option is there lowers stress when life emergencies happen.
For example, when I got COVID a few months ago, I easily canceled my lessons with just a few text messages. If I was working with a company, it would have been complicated and costly to cancel.
Many ESL companies charge a fee if you need to miss or cancel lessons. They require you to send in proof such as a doctor’s note or other documentation. When working for yourself, you are not forced to provide any documents and your only missed money is from not teaching the missed classes.
Complete Curriculum Freedom
Going private, means you get to choose your own curriculum and teaching methods. You can tailor your classes to meet your student’s needs. Some parents have preferences for class materials so you will need to negotiate this. Most parents will trust you as an expert if you give reasons for your choice of curriculum.
“With great power comes great responsibility.” You need to be self-motivated because planning lessons can be time-consuming. But don’t worry! There’s a hack for that!
There are so many online ESL curriculums out there (both free and paid). Using the Internet and online teacher communities, you can gather resources for your lesson library with just a few days of clicking around. For a quick start, grab a free month trial of the Going Up ESL Curriculum available in the Curriculum Center.
Another great place to find ESL curriculum is at The Tutor Resource. You can currently find Going Up Level 1 curriculum and many other curriculums on this site.
Even when using a pre-built curriculum, you’ll have to do a bit of research and testing to figure out which methods work best for your students.
Overall, having this freedom can be a big plus for both you and your students. You get to teach with content that works and your students usually get more engaging lessons than those provided by many ESL companies. You can change what’s not working and skip material that your student already knows.
Better Relationships with Students & Parents
One of the great things about being a private ESL teacher is the improved relationships you can have with your students and their parents. When working with a company, you may teach thousands of different students and only have a few regulars. It’s difficult to get to know each student and their family well.
As a private ESL teacher, you typically teach the same students for extended periods, which means you can develop better relationships. This leads to improved communication about student learning progress and a more positive learning experience for everyone involved.
After half a year of private teaching, I feel like I have a close bond with all of my students instead of only a few regulars. I can follow their learning progress more closely and adjust as needed. While with a big ESL company, I would often suggest level changes that were completely ignored. It has been rewarding to form a closer team with parents to influence student learning outcomes!
The Challenges:
Switching to private teaching can be a great way to gain more control over your teaching schedule and environment, as well as earn a higher salary. However, there are also some challenges that come along with making the switch. Let’s explore some of the potential challenges you may face when transitioning to private ESL teaching.
Finding Students
One of the biggest challenges for private teachers is finding students. When working for a school or language institute, they typically handle all the marketing and advertising to find students for you. When you’re on your own, you’ll need to take on this responsibility yourself. This can be a daunting task, especially if you’re new to private teaching or don’t already have an extensive network of potential students.
How to Find Students as a Private ESL Teacher
There are many ways for private ESL teachers to find students. Start by asking family and friends if they know anyone who might be interested in learning English. You can also post flyers in local businesses, schools, and community centers. Online groups are also a great place to search for students.
One of the best ways to find students is to offer free trial classes. This will give you a chance to show potential students what you can do and how you can help them improve their English skills.
Some teachers do a 15-minute trial class. Others do not offer a trial class at all. I have been teaching full 25-minute trial lessons. This gives me plenty of time to get to know the student while showcasing the full lesson format.
There are parents who may take advantage of these free trials, but I have not found that to be the norm. Some students who did not sign up right away, recontacted me months later to set up classes. Parents who do not sign up can also still help you with referrals. Offer them free lessons for finding you paying students!
Where I found my students so far: Former Students, LinkedIn, Parent Referrals
To offset the lack of income while building your private teaching business, transition slowly. You can search for your own students while still maintaining a schedule with an ESL company… or 2. I still work for an ESL company in addition to my private teaching hours. You can cut hours from your contracted teaching schedule as you find more private students.
It is important to be patient when finding students, as it may take some time to build up a client base. You need to be confident and comfortable promoting and marketing your services, as private ESL teaching is very much a business. But if you are up for the challenge, becoming a private ESL teacher can be a very rewarding experience!
Choosing an Online ESL Curriculum
There are many online ESL curriculums to choose from if you decide to become a private ESL teacher. Some factors to consider when choosing a curriculum include the age and level of your students, your teaching style, and the resources you have available.
We designed our Online ESL Curriculum for students ages 4 to 16. We do a balanced lesson format with reading, speaking, grammar, and phonics activities. Students are engaged with 3D graphics, animations, and interactive activities. Right now we have 200+ lessons ready to launch in the Curriculum Center.
No matter what online ESL curriculum you choose, be sure to tailor it to meet the needs of your students. With a bit of planning and creativity, you can create an engaging and effective learning environment for your students!
Managing Payments
Another challenge you may face is managing your finances. When you’re working for a school, they typically handle all the financial aspects of your job, from collecting tuition payments to paying your salary. When you’re working privately, you’ll need to handle these things yourself. This can be a lot to keep track of, and it’s important to make sure that you stay organized and on top of everything.
I, like many online teachers, use Stripe for all of my payments. You can link Stripe with WeChat Pay and other payment providers. To get this set up, you will need a registered business and an online presence. We will cover this in a future blog post, but here is the quick run-down.
Establishing an Online Presence:
1) Sign up for a Shared Hosting Plan with Dreamhost
2) One-Click Install WordPress
3) Install Elementor Page Builder plugin
4) Build your Site
Registering a Business
1) I recommend using an affordable accountant to set up and manage your LLC.
Creating & Enforcing Policies
So you started private teaching and are enjoying the lack of restrictive ESL company policies bogging you down, but there’s one problem. A lack of policies can mean enormous problems for your business. You need to have set expectations and signed contracts to avoid issues down the road.
Your cancellation policy is the most important. If you do not have a clear cancellation policy, you may find students that cancel all the time. This will affect your monthly salary and make it hard to plan out your budget. Decide how flexible you want to be and make sure that parents agree with your policies before starting lessons.
Clear communication on your policies will make sure you keep the relationship smooth and professional. Avoiding disputes also gives you a better chance to get a referral from that parent!
In Conclusion:
Switching to private teaching may seem like a lot of extra work at first, but the benefits are too huge to ignore. You have the chance to grow exponentially as a teacher and get more creative with your courses. Flexible scheduling gives you a better work-life balance and you get to create your own policies.
Your challenges will include sourcing an ESL curriculum, communicating with parents, enforcing policies, setting up scheduling/payment systems, and attracting students. Once you tackle those hurdles, your day-to-day can feel almost identical to working with an ESL company.
If you are on the fence about becoming a private ESL teacher, ask yourself these questions:
Am I willing to put in a few months of extra work to double my hourly pay?
Do I have another source of income to cover my living expenses while I build up a student base?
Am I ready to challenge myself to create engaging lessons and take full responsibility for my student’s English learning?
If you answered yes to all three questions, then there is no doubt! You are ready to become a private ESL teacher.
Check out the Teacher Toolkit for helpful links.
What do you think are the biggest benefits and challenges of becoming a private teacher? Let me know in the comments!
