Lesson 13: Online Teaching (40 Hour TEFL

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Online Teaching
INTRODUCTION
You have a 9 a.m. lesson with an English beginner in Tokyo. At 10:30, you will run pronunciation
drills with your student in Lima. After that, you will help a Chinese speaker in Boston prepare for
her first job interview in English. All without stepping outside of your home office. Sound like an
exciting schedule? Teaching English online allows ESL teachers and students from across the
globe to connect in new ways. It opens up so many opportunities for English teachers who want
to broaden their student base while taking control of their work schedule. But successful online
English teaching is not any easier than successful classroom teaching. It has its own pitfalls and
requires a particular set of skills to do it right. In this post, we will show you how to craft
engaging, effective online lessons and avoid the major obstacles of online teaching. We will also
help you promote your Skype English lessons and attract loyal students from all over the world.

What Are the Advantages of Teaching with Skype?

There are a variety of benefits for teachers when it comes to ESL Skype lessons. For one, you
are 100 percent remote, available for students to attend your virtual classroom anywhere you are
in the world. That means you can plan classes on your schedule (and you get to avoid
commuting, too!). Teaching English via Skype also connects you to a wider audience. You are no
longer limited to the student base in the city where you live. As noted earlier, you could hold
morning classes for ESL students in, say, Russia, and connect with your Japanese students
online in the afternoon. Another benefit for teachers is having access to a larger resource base.
Since you are teaching via Skype, any and all resources you want to use in your virtual
classroom are at your fingertips online.
What Are the Student Benefits of ESL Skype Lessons?
ESL students can benefit from online English classes as much as their teachers. One major draw
for ESL students to attend classes via Skype is that they get a wider variety of teachers available
to them. They may have one ESL teacher for grammar and textbook learning, one teacher for
business English and another for conversational classes. Another big benefit ESL students enjoy
is the ability to fit a class in anytime, anywhere. This is especially important for busy students
who may be balancing work, school, family time and other obligations.
6 Secrets to Teaching English via Skype Every Online
Educator Should Know
The benefits of teaching English via Skype are pretty clear, but how do you do it? The following
six secrets will help you make the most of your future online classes.
1.  Getting the Right Tech and Teaching Equipment
Teaching English via Skype involves a few technical aspects many first time online teachers will
need to get familiar with.
The first one is an obvious one: download Skype to your computer and other devices. Skype is
downloadable for PC, Mac, your mobile device and even Xbox.
The best plan is to download Skype to both your computer and mobile device or tablet. This
gives you multiple ways to connect with your ESL students, providing a Plan B if Skype becomes
glitchy on the device you are using.
One commonly overlooked essential of teaching ESL classes online is a good headset. Since
you will be teaching your students how to pronounce English words correctly, it is absolutely
imperative that they can hear you clearly and you can hear them too. There are plenty of
headsets available online, and the most expensive is not always the best. Read customer
 reviews and do a bit of research to find the right headset for your teaching needs. Once Skype is
downloaded and you have your new headset, it is time to make a few test calls. Skype has a test
call feature that measures voice clarity, background noise and other essentials to your students’
virtual classroom experience. It is also a good idea to call a few friends and family members to
ensure everything is working well. (Plus, it never hurts to connect with friends and family for a
Saturday afternoon video call!)
The digital era has ushered in some fantastic innovations, like Skype. However, these
innovations can have some limitations. Poor internet connections or computer speeds are
important issues for online teachers to be aware of. You need to ensure your connection is
optimal prior to class.
You can test your computer speed by visiting [Link]. For your Wi-Fi, it may be worth a
few extra dollars to boost your connection. This is a quick and easy internet connection test.
And remember, it is a good idea to always have a back-up plan. This could be a nearby library, a
quite coffee shop or even your smartphone as noted above.
2.  Choosing Engaging Online Teaching Resources
There is an ocean of online resources teachers can access, whether they are teaching English
via Skype or in a traditional classroom setting. For online teachers, however, the use of those
resources is seamless. Before you begin bookmarking new resources for your virtual classes,
there are essential ESL elements to consider.
First, you need to know your audience. One of the best parts about teaching ESL students online
is a wider student base, but this also comes with a need to be more culturally aware. For
example, using a Chinese resource for a Japanese student will not go over very well. You also
would not necessarily want to use a Forbes article for a teenage student.
Think culturally, and also think about relevance. This will allow you to find powerful, engaging
resources like blog articles, YouTube videos or even Pinterest posts for your students.
A few ESL gems you can include in your Skype class are:
 Smithsonian for Educators: Smithsonian for educators has more than a million learning
resources, from language labs to educational tidbits from the National Zoo.
 ello: ello is a great online resource for Skype ESL teachers, serving up videos, games,
news and more.
 FluentU: This innovative web and mobile app will expose your students to authentic
English videos with tools to help them actively build their vocabularies. Students can watch
everything from English movie clips to news reports to funny YouTube videos, which come with
interactive captions, flashcards and exercises.
 FluentU supplements Skype lessons perfectly, providing an entertaining but focused
environment for students to apply their lessons—all from their computer or mobile device and on
their own schedule. With FluentU’s integrated curriculum building tools, you can easily assign
videos to keep your students’ skills and motivation up between lessons. You can also track
student progress straight from the FluentU platform, so you will know which topics or vocabulary
sets to hammer in during your virtual classes.
 English Club: English Club has a wide range of ESL activities teachers can use in their
Skype lessons. You will find ESL worksheets, activities and lesson plans to guide your students
to English proficiency online.
 Armored Penguin: Armored Penguin is a simple site with lots of crosswords, word
puzzles and word matches to improve your students’ vocabulary skills.
 Reading Rockets: Reading Rockets serves up a variety of audiobooks you can extend
into more than one lesson. This site also has valuable resources for teachers, including fluency
and early literacy development.
 The New York Times Learning Network: The New York Times Learning Network brings
news into the virtual classroom. There are quizzes, an “article of the day” feature and much
more.
Always mix up your resources as well. This will keep things fresh and engaging for your online
students. You may find that theming your lessons by days is beneficial. Monday could be
dedicated to blog articles (reading and conversation), Tuesday could be videos (listening) and so
on.

3.  Setting up Your Virtual Workspace

Like any English class, whether online or in the traditional setting, you need to set up a teacher
and student workspace. When teaching English via Skype, you need to create a virtual space for
students to access class materials and submit work.
The good news is that there are plenty of platforms you can use to ensure you and your students
can share notes, homework and resources. A few online platforms include:
 Google Drive: free storage up to 15 GB; very easy to share and edit documents between
multiple people
 Dropbox: free storage up to 2 GB; comes with desktop apps and document scanning
features
 Trello: free collaborative workspace for organizing/syncing work and keeping track of
assignments and due dates
 Amazon Drive: free storage up to 5 GB; compatible across all major devices
One of the benefits of having an online platform in place is that your students can access
materials and resources anytime, anywhere and from a variety of devices.

4.  Getting More out of Skype’s Chat Features

Teaching English over Skype involves a lot more than simply hitting the video chat button. You
will need to type out vocabulary words, share links for the day’s lesson and send images and
videos. You will also want to make notes or corrections as your students speak to enforce proper
grammar, word use and pronunciation.
Skype makes this easy with a chat feature than can serve as your virtual whiteboard. You and
your students can share text and images, or copy and paste paragraphs that they want to
understand better.
You can also use Skype chat to provide student feedback or wrap-up at the end of a lesson. For
example, you might send the following points over chat, which your student can easily click back
to for reference after the lesson:
 Main topic for that day
 Resources (text, links, images, videos)
 The ESL skills covered
 Notable advances for the student
 Things to improve and how to improve them
 Next lesson topic and date
 Skype chat also allows teachers to share screens with their students. For instance, when you
and your students are working through a set of online exercises, open a screen share so the
student can see your cursor and follow along with you.
Share your screen with your students by first finding the “+” sign on your Skype screen during a
call. Click the “+” and scroll to “share screen” to initiate the screen share feature.
It may take a moment before your students see your screen, so ask them to tell you when they
can before moving on in the ESL lesson. Screen sharing will certainly keep the lesson on track
and moving forward without confusion.

5.  Showing Professionalism in an Online Setting

With the technical aspects out of the way, it is time to focus on you, the teacher. One
misconception of teaching English via Skype is that you no longer need to look as professional.
This train of thought can cost you students. Always remember that students are no longer
tethered to just one teacher when it comes to online learning.
Students get to pick and choose their online teachers, and they will often keep the ones who
appear the most professional, prepared and put together. You want to dress to impress, but also
take your audience into account.
You probably would not want to wear a suit and tie for younger students, nor would you wear a
T- shirt for your online ESL business classes. Know when to dress the part, and ensure you are
representing professionalism in every class.
Your video background is also important, and a commonly overlooked aspect of online teaching.
Students do not want to see your kitchen or a messy bedroom when trying to learn English. They
should be focused on one thing during class, and that is you.
Here are a few camera tips for teaching English via Skype:
 Have a white wall behind you
 Ensure there are no photos, mirrors, messes or any other distractions
 Position yourself in the camera like a passport picture
 Make sure the room is well lit
Noise is another distraction to be on the lookout for. If you plan on having your Skype lessons
from a coffee shop, you should rethink your strategy. Coffee shops should be reserved for
emergencies only. You want your virtual classroom to be quiet and distraction-free. Remember,
your voice should be all your students hear.
Always be inviting as well. Some students, regardless of how the class is given, can still be
nervous. Smile, enjoy the time with your students and do not bring outside issues into your class.
The warmer you are, the more comfortable your students will feel, thus creating an atmosphere
conducive to learning.

6.  Promoting Your Classes and Getting Students

With all the above secrets in your online teacher toolkit, you can easily implement online teaching
into your ESL career. Launching your online classes to the world is, however, easier said than
done. There are a few important elements you will need to attract students from every corner of
the globe.
One of the best ways to be found when teaching English via Skype is to have an English
language blog. You can set up a free blog using WordPress. Once set up, you can begin posting
short blogs about how to learn English, offering insightful tips and news about learning English.
After you have a blog, create social media accounts for your blog. If you already have a social
following online, you can just link your personal accounts to your blog. However, ensure your
social media accounts are “PG.” Remember professionalism! Using social media, you can
connect with new and present students to share your fondness and passion for language
learning.
Next is to have a pricing sheet in place to make things a little easier. You certainly do not want to
have one price for some students and another for other students. They may find each other on
your social media accounts and exchange information. Be affordable, but do not sell your ESL
teaching skills short.
 Do you have to give an introductory class? You bet. Giving one free ESL class has become
standard in online teaching. One of the best ways to avoid having free classes take up much of
your day is to give free shorter classes. If your normal Skype English class is one hour in length,
make your free introductory classes 30 minutes.
You also do not have to go at teaching English online alone. There are a number of online
teaching companies looking for qualified ESL teachers.
You can find online ESL teaching jobs at the following sites:
 Indeed Online ESL Teacher Jobs: Indeed is a traditional job search platform that has
plenty of teaching job potential as well. A quick search for “Online ESL Teacher” will net over a
hundred new opportunities for online teachers.
 Dave’s ESL Cafe: Dave’s ESL Cafe is worth bookmarking if you want to teach English via
Skype or teach abroad. You can find an International Job Board, which includes online/remote
opportunities.
 [Link]: [Link] has a very easy-to-use job search platform where you can enter a
country, type of position, experience level and a number of other keywords to find the right online
job for your ESL teaching future.
 ESL Jobs World: ESL Jobs World is all about ESL teachers finding the best jobs for their
professional growth. The postings list the company name, pay and other important factors you
need to apply.

Conclusion
Are you ready to teach English via Skype? The benefits are certainly enticing for teachers
looking to either take a break from the traditional classroom setting, or earn money while
traveling or living abroad. Enjoy the freedom of teaching anywhere in the world, from the comfort
of your home.
Armed with the above six secrets every teacher must know about online teaching, you can
expand your horizons and connect with students from all over the world.