My Crazy Adventures as an Online English Teacher
Teaching English online was a job I fell into but, I quickly began to appreciate the life and travel aspects of the job. I have continued teaching English online for far longer than I expected because it’s hard to give up the freedom that comes from working remotely.
Teaching online opens up your world in so many ways: intellectually, socially, and geographically. I traveled a lot while teaching online and was able to invest more time in my family because I could keep a flexible schedule.
Teach online, do fun things
Here are some fun things I did because I could teach online from anywhere.
I lived on a boat in Boston.
I lived in Eastern Europe for a few years on and off. I lived in Mangalia and Bucharest, Romania. I also lived in Berlin, Germany years ago while teaching English at academies.
I traveled through Europe visiting all the Christmas Markets and European castles that I could in 2018. I managed this by teaching for Palfish from my car at times.
I can visit my family in Pennsylvania anytime I want.
I can teach full-time or work part-time while working on other projects.
Best Parts of Online Teaching: Life and Travel
Travel the World
Teaching ESL online lets you travel the world and it’s the quintessential digital nomad job. Palfish, especially, is populated by teachers who love to globetrot because they let you teach from your phone or tablet. For more companies that let you teach from your phone, look here.
Work from Home
Teaching ESL online lets you work from home (which is great for juggling young children, too). This was my primary motivation for teaching online and you can read more about my experience here.
Set your own Schedule
Teaching ESL online gives you flexibility and let’s ditch the 9-5 workday. You can book classes when you want, and sometimes even cancel ahead of time (though, usually this is bad practice).
Work for Yourself
Teaching ESL online lets you work for yourself. You can work for ESL companies but you can also work for yourself and teach English. If you create your own booking platform, you can build your own business, charge your own rates, and be your own boss.
Make New Friends
Teaching ESL online lets you meet new people and learn about new cultures. I have made good friends from teaching online, especially from adult students.
Learn about Linguistics
Teaching ESL online helps you learn more about linguistics and your own language. The greatest way to learn about a topic is to teach it. I understand and appreciate languages much more now that I teach them to others. For example, teaching students voiced and unvoiced consonants made me aware of my vocal cords while speaking and transformed my awareness of the /th/ sound.
Cultivate Joy
And finally, but not least, teaching English online is just plain fun.
If any of this sounds like a really exciting adventure to you, then teaching and traveling is a good fit for you and you can learn a lot from Facebook Expat Groups for online teachers if you want to learn more.
The Reddit digital nomad group is great, too!
Happy traveling and teaching!
If this interested you, read more about my experiences in these posts below 🙂