Why Teach Languages Online?
Whether teaching the nuances of a language to native speakers, teaching foreign languages or offering translation services, all of these can be easily carried out online.
In the case of foreign languages the internet is arguably the best place to teach or learn as you can actually be talking with people from the country in question.
Teaching a language over the internet does not need to be a formal process.
Many people require language services such as help with article or script writing, advice on grammar, or translation between languages.
Some of the benefits of teaching language online include:
Vast numbers of potential students from the 2 billion plus Internet users around the world.
Increased privacy, students do not need to know your real name or visit you in person.
Travel costs are eliminated for both the student and teacher.
Time of lesson more flexible, students can locate teachers available at a time that suits them.
Lesson continuity in case of the teacher or student moving location.
Technical Considerations
You do not need expensive state-of-the-art computer hardware or a degree in computer science to teach online. Any Windows, Linux or Apple based computer with Internet access, which is less than five years old should be fine. For language tutors a simple USB headset and optionally a webcam is the only other hardware you require.
A webcam would be advised as people like to see who they're talking to.
A webcam may also greatly enhance some lessons and would be essential for others. Sign language for example would be incredibly difficult to teach without being able to see each other.
USB Webcams and headsets are very cheap to buy and many of you may already own these.
On the software side you can utilise the free Instant Messaging (IM) tools such as Skype, MSN Live, Yahoo, and OoVoo.
These tools enable you to communicate globally over the internet via webcam.
These IM tools are free to download and free to use, so there are no costs in establishing the connection between tutor and student.
These tools have been designed to be easy to use and configure.
The only configuration you may need to tweak is volume of the microphone and headphones, which is simply achieved through moving sliders or dials on the screen.
So if you have an internet based computer, a headset and webcam, you're ready to teach language online.
Implementation
Your next steps are to get listed on websites, these could be social networking sites, free ad sites, job sites, your own site, or bespoke online education portals.
Payments can be arranged through PayPal or other online payment systems.
You will be confronted with some tricky issues, when do people pay, before or after the lesson? What if they refuse to pay? Avoiding booking problems, such as double booking. How to get the students to trust you? All of these need to be carefully thought through so that the entire process runs smoothly.
If that previous paragraph has taken the shine off all this, don't despair, there is an easy solution. Just register on an online education portal.
They handle the payments, bookings, feedback for you.
Conclusion
We have learnt of the many benefits of teaching language online and established that the technical side is neither complicated nor expensive.
We also now know that there are services to alleviate the administration and implementation issues, leaving you to simply get on with the teaching.
So why not give it a go?
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