Italki

Unlike traditional online teaching platforms such as SayABC, DaDa, or VIPKID, italki operates as a marketplace. This means it doesn't function as an online school but rather as a hub where teachers and students meet. The beauty of italki lies in its simplicity: it connects language learners with teachers for private, personalized lessons.

Unlike other platforms, italki expects teachers to curate their lesson materials. This includes slides, PDFs, and other resources. For conducting lessons, teachers can use platforms like Skype, Facetime, Google Hangouts, or QQ.

Higher Earning Potential: Unlike fixed-rate platforms, italki allows teachers to set their rates.
Flexibility: Teach at any time of the day, not just the early hours.
Diverse Student Base: Opportunity to teach both young learners and adults.

Creating Course Material: Teachers are responsible for their lesson materials.
Managing Multiple Platforms: Teachers might have to juggle between different communication platforms based on student preferences.

Profile Picture: A clear headshot with a neutral background.
Introduction Video: A brief video introducing yourself and your teaching style.
Teaching Skills: List out your language proficiencies and teaching specialties.
About Me: A concise section detailing your professional background, teaching approach, and achievements.

Your italki profile is very important as this is what a student sees when they chose a teacher. Your profile picture should show your face clearly and you should appear friendly. The video is extremely important. Try to have a well edited video.
Plan what you are going to say and speak clearly and confidently.  Give a brief description of yourself and your experience and then talk about how the student is going to benefit from lessons with you. Keep it short and do not just talk about yourself. Same thing for your profile description.
You should also think about picking a niche. Do you want to give fun conversation lessons to French people? Do you want to help students with exams? If you speak another language this will help you a lot and you can use this in your introduction video. You should also upload any certificates you have such as TESOL certification to increase your chances of being approved.

Teachers on italki have the flexibility to set their rates, ranging from $4 to $80 per hour. Many teachers offer trial lessons at a reduced rate to attract students. On average, English teachers charge between $25 to $33 per hour. italki takes a 15% commission for facilitating the platform.

Setting a price can be difficult and can cause you to waste time overthinking. It is usually a good idea to start off with a low price and increase it gradually. Check out how much people from your country/niche are charging and find an average price and aim for that. Give a discount for packages (e.g. 10 lessons) as everybody loves a discount and these classes really are your bread and butter.

At the moment, the best way to get paid is to take your money out using Payoneer. Payoneer charges 3 dollars per transaction and Paypal charges 3% so that usually ends up being a lot higher.

It is good practice to add a new student on Skype as soon as they book a class with you. You are free to use any video tool you like but Italki have been trying to integrate this into their website with “Italki classroom”. Classes are usually 1 hour long but you can also have 30/45 and 90 minutes if you want. Try to keep the classes engaging and challenging. You can give the student homework if you want. It is a great idea to ask your student what she/he would like to do in class and make notes and use this for your classroom planning. Don’t be afraid to give feedback and advice.

It is completely up to you how the classes are planned and delivered. You can send your student a lesson before the class, share your lesson on your screen or just have free conversation. You could also use an interactive whiteboard. Some good websites you can use are teachthis.com or onestopenglish.com.

Italki’s policy is that if a student doesn’t give the teacher 24 hours’ notice, then the teacher gets paid. This is left up to the teacher though so you can choose to reschedule a class if there was an emergency.

The following is a review from an Italki teacher…

Italki Pros and Cons

Pros
– You can set your own schedule and work whenever you want. Italki gives you great freedom.

– You prepare your own material and you have more control over what you teach. This is important to me but maybe other teachers would be happy to have the material provided for them. In my opinion this makes the class more interesting as you choose the material based on what you and the student are interested in which leads to….

– Great connections with your students. Sometimes, it feels like you are teaching your friends to speak a language and that can be great especially if you are a digital nomad.

-No extra documentation

– You can work from home

Cons
– No block classes, You can end up with one class in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Sometimes it can feel like you are working the whole day just for 3 classes.

– Your work hours can drop quickly e.g from 20 hours a week to 5 hours. This can make it difficult to plan expenditure for the coming month.

– No benefits/ holiday pay etc

Final thoughts on Italki
Overall I really enjoy teaching on Italki and I love the freedom that you get. It is not a stable income job and difficult to live in high cost of living countries but it works well to supplement your income. The students that you get and the fun you can have while teaching are the reasons I will continue to teach online with Italki.