If your time is completely flexible and you can give a lesson anytime within 24 hours, then online teaching will probably make you money.

The second thing that puts a knocker on it is that Skype, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, ICQ and other Instant Messenger services have a feature allowing instant chatting with anyone around the world for free. If you just want to practice speaking English online, why pay a tutor? So lots of visits to your advertisement but when people find out that it isn't free, not many requests.

(I tested this by offering a free online automatic IELTS speaking practice service 'for a short time only' recently and got over 60 requests from India within a few weeks. As soon as I ended the free trial period - no one!)

The third thing that makes it difficult is that, while there isn't much competition in the real world for an English tutor, (I can easily make a living tutoring students in person in Sydney) there are lots of teachers doing it online and offering free trial lessons.

The fourth obstacle is that the countries with money that want to learn English (Japan and Korea) don't trust online payment systems or use credit cards online or PayPal. And the ones that do want to pay, want to use different payment systems that tend to cost a lot more in fees or take a while to get to you (money transfer systems). (My online student in Kuwait could only use Western Union Money transfer which required me to travel to and line up at a post office with ID to get paid)

The fifth obstacle is that you also need to know a lot about computers to troubleshoot any problems that your student may have with his connection. As I've also worked in IT I thought this would not be a problem but, try explaining a solution to a computer problem to a student with limited English and no understanding of how their computer works and you'll soon realise that it can be very stressful.

Here are some connection problems I've encountered so far: Incompatible IM program versions; people still using slow dial up; not enough RAM; students still using Windows '98 - Skype doesn't work properly with it; students who have computers running a large number of things that cause their voice to bubble but they're not aware of it and don't know how to turn it/them off - spyware, adware, viruses etc; students who insist on using loudspeakers to hear you so that you are distracted by hearing your own voice a few seconds later; PC's that keep crashing or programs that won't connect - most of your lesson is spent trying to connect to them resulting in a much longer and frustrating lesson, and other problems!)

Having said that it is a great way to supplement the income you already have if you're happy to put up with some of the hassles that come with it. :)

A quick way to get started is to set up your own website offering the service, then use an online advertising system, or free classifieds, to point to your site and promote yourself. If you already have students that want to continue lessons with you after they return to their country then online is a great way for them.

Hope this helps.

And, if you're wanting to add to your teaching materials, I recommend my Ebook - Become an English language conversation tutor. This is the second edition 2008 and features a detailed chapter on how to teach online.

Cheers, James
James Hogan is Principal and Teacher at Adult English School in Sydney

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