Cambly

Diverse Learning Objectives: Students approach Cambly with a variety of goals, including:
– Casual conversation practice
– Structured English lessons
– Exam preparation, such as IELTS and TOEFL
– Business English proficiency
– Job interview preparation
– Practical English scenarios, like conversing at a grocery store or directing a taxi driver

Diverse Tutor Backgrounds: Cambly doesn't restrict its tutor base to just English teachers. The platform boasts a rich tapestry of tutors from various professions, including business professionals, personal trainers, chefs, nurses, and more.

1-on-1 Video Chatting: This ensures personalized attention for each student.
24/7 Availability: Both tutors and students enjoy the benefit of on-demand sessions. This means students can log in anytime to find a tutor, and tutors can log in whenever they're available to connect with students.
Flexible Session Durations: Depending on the package chosen by the student, sessions can last 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or even an hour.
Advanced Booking Option: Tutors can choose to approve a student's request to schedule a class in advance, though there's no obligation to do so.
No Minimum Commitment: Tutors set their availability and aren't bound by a minimum number of hours.
Recorded Lessons: Every session is recorded, allowing students to review and reinforce their learning.
In-chat Translation: An innovative feature where both tutors and students can type in their native language and have it instantly translated, ensuring smooth communication.

While Cambly caters to students of all age groups, it also offers a specialized program known as Cambly Kids, dedicated to younger learners.

No Degree or Teaching Certificate Needed: Cambly's inclusive approach means you don't need formal qualifications to share your expertise.

They pay $0.17 per minute ($10.20 per hour). It's not huge, but it's a really fun way to earn a little extra and learn about other parts of the world at the same time. No experience is required.
To receive a payment from Cambly, you must have at least $20 of credit in your account. If not, you must wait until the next pay cycle to collect.

Pay Structure: Tutors earn $0.17 USD per minute, which translates to $10.20 USD per hour.
Automated Time Tracking: As tutors engage with students, Cambly automatically keeps track of the time.

Cambly tutors are paid weekly, biweekly, or monthly through PayPal, eCheck, direct deposit, wire transfer, or a prepaid debit card.
Try using Wise as the best way to receive freelance payments through wire transfer.

Given Cambly's global student base, peak hours span 24/7. This means tutors can log in at any time and find students eager to learn.

Your profile is your first impression on potential students. It can include:

– A brief introduction video
– Languages you're proficient in
– Your country of residence
– Specializations (e.g., business English, test prep, travel & culture)
– Personal interests
– Professional experience and educational background
– General availability timings

Here are the scores on the biggest review sites that former Cambly teachers have given:

Glassdoor: 3.6/5 stars
Indeed: 3.4/5 stars

The positive reviews generally emphasize the flexible nature of the work and the ease of the application process. On the other hand, the negative reviews focus on the relatively low pay compared to other online English instruction sites and the lack of upward mobility in terms of increasing the money that you can earn on the site. 

Example review:

Charlie's Cambly Review:
I’ve been a Cambly tutor for a year now since I completed my TEFL training (although you don't need a TEFL for Cambly).
Here’s my rundown on what it’s like to sign up with Cambly, and the positives and negatives of doing so which I wish I’d been prepared for before I started.

It’s quick and easy to sign up with Cambly, there’s no interview, and you don't need a teaching qualification or degree.
It could even be a great online job for teens or students because of no experience being required.

Your biggest asset is that you’re a native speaker of English and can hold a conversation. The downside of an easy application process means a lot of applications! I was lucky and got recruited within a couple of weeks, it seems Cambly up their recruitment drive in springtime so now might be a good time to apply.

Cambly pays you weekly on Mondays via PayPal.
Although pay is convenient, it isn't much at $10.20 an hour, or 17 cents a minute. This converts to about £7.30 an hour in the UK, but Cambly really promotes itself as more of a conversational site than a teaching site and so the low-stress levels of the job balance out the lower pay.
You can open your schedule for reservations when you want, and as far in advance as you want and you can backup your schedule with Priority Hours.
Signing up for priority hours means you promise to be online and available to take calls within the hour.

These will be your main source of income when you start Cambly until you’ve gained a rating and start to get bookings.
Overall I think the benefits outweigh the negatives on Cambly, especially as a secondary supplement to your income because it’s so flexible – you might even make some international friends along the way too!
It's easy to apply and try it out for one hour, just to see if it's something you'd want to pursue!

Flexibility: A Double-Edged Sword
Cambly offers unparalleled flexibility, allowing tutors to log in and start teaching at any time. This “login-and-talk” model is a significant advantage for those seeking a flexible teaching schedule. However, there's a nuance to this flexibility. Cambly has a “priority hours” system, where tutors who schedule their slots in advance are ranked higher on the tutor list, thus receiving more calls. These priority hours need a 12-hour notice for cancellation. While this system offers more structure, it still provides more flexibility than many other platforms.

Uncertainty in Class Availability
While Cambly's model offers flexibility, it doesn't guarantee a steady flow of classes. New tutors often find that they receive calls for about half the time they're logged in. This inconsistency can be challenging for those relying on a steady income from Cambly. The platform might be better suited as a supplementary income source rather than a primary one.

Working Predominantly with Adults
Many online teaching platforms focus on young learners. In contrast, Cambly primarily caters to adult students. This demographic can be a refreshing change for tutors who prefer mature conversations over managing young children's behavior. Engaging with adults allows for genuine discussions on mutual interests.

Navigating Inappropriate Interactions
While most Cambly students are genuinely interested in learning, a few might misuse the platform, leading to inappropriate conversations. Cambly is aware of this challenge and empowers tutors to manage such situations. Tutors can drop calls they're uncomfortable with and even ban students who behave inappropriately.

Empowering Tutors
Cambly stands out by giving more control to its tutors. Unlike many ESL platforms where the student's needs dominate, Cambly allows tutors to manage their classes as they see fit. This autonomy ensures that tutors can teach in a manner they're comfortable with, leading to a more fulfilling teaching experience.

Compensation: A Trade-Off for Flexibility
One of Cambly's significant drawbacks is its compensation. The platform's low entry barriers and flexibility mean that it offers lower pay than many other online teaching platforms. Tutors earn $0.17 per minute, which translates to just over $10 per hour when on a call. However, given the gaps between calls, the effective hourly rate might be between $5-8. While this rate might seem low by Western standards, the job's nature—primarily conversational practice—means that it requires minimal preparation and effort.

All Cambly classes are personal, one-on-one digital sessions between students and users that take the form of video chats. Classes run day and night, 24/7, so there is always work available on the site. 

When you join Cambly, you will be given access credentials to log into the site whenever you are available and ready to deliver instruction. Students, likewise, can log into Cambly whenever they please. 
Once on the site, Cambly matches teachers with students for one-on-one teaching sessions. 

When students book their class with Cambly, they have one of three options: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or a full hour. You will receive this information upfront before the class begins so you can manage your time appropriately. 
As a tutor, also, you can set your availability so that the class you get fits into your desired schedule. The goal of Cambly is to make the process of connecting with students for one-on-one learning as smooth as possible.
How Does the Cambly Platform Accommodate the Communication Barrier With Non-Native Speakers?
Cambly uses an automatic translation feature. Using this, students can type their queries into the chat box in their native tongue. Software then translates the content into English. 

Different learners have varying interests in terms of what they hope to learn from their time using Cambly. The areas that you can expect to cover as a teacher on the platform include:

Business English
“Survival English” for tourists and new arrivals to English-speaking countries
Job interview prep
Basic conversation
Exam prep

No. The beauty of working for Cambly is that anyone can do it – provided that they have a working internet connection and are a native English speaker. 
In fact, the majority of instructors that use Cambly do so as a side project. In their “everyday jobs,” Cambly instructors are cooks, doctors, entrepreneurs, and other working professionals. 

No. While many other online English-teaching platforms require teachers to hold degrees and advanced teaching certificates, Cambly is open to anyone who speaks English as their mother tongue.  
The states considered to be “native” English-speaking countries include:

United States
Canada
UK
Ireland
Australia
New Zealand

Yes. Cambly records all instruction sessions so that students can go back later whenever they need to review the content discussed in the lesson. 

Pro #1 – Flexibility
Cambly is much more flexible in many ways than other teach from home jobs. First and foremost, Cambly is a login-and-talk style company, which literally means you can log in any time you want and start making money.
In theory, this means you can work as much as you want, when you want – but there is a catch.
Cambly's priority hours system allows teachers who book their teaching slots in advance to feature higher on the teacher list than those who have just logged in, meaning that they will receive more calls.
These priority hours can only be cancelled up to 12 hours in advance, meaning that if you want to have the best chance of receiving calls, you need to commit to a set schedule.
This is still much more flexible than other alternatives, though, as you can decide whether or not you want to book priority hours each day and aren’t locked-in to doing this every week.
Another point worth mentioning in regards to flexibility is the fact that Cambly is a 24-hour platform. This means you can log in for as many hours as you want (24 hours straight, if you can manage it) which makes it about as flexible as it’s possible to be.

Con #1 – Classes Aren’t Guaranteed
The flipside of not having a set schedule means that Cambly aren’t obligated to guarantee you any classes during the times you do choose to log on.
According to most Cambly reviews, new tutors on the platform should expect to receive calls for about 50% of the time they’re logged on.
This can vary, though, and sometimes you can be online for an hour or more with no calls coming through. Other times, you might have back-to-back calls for hours.
This can be frustrating as you never really know how much money you can earn through Cambly from week to week.
Most of us have bills to pay, and the security of knowing that you’ll get some minimum amount on your monthly paycheck is important. This means that Cambly is potentially more useful as a side-income to supplement your regular, guaranteed income than it is as a sole source of income.

Pro #2 – You’ll be Working With Adults
A lot of people out there like working with children, and if you do, good for you! That means you’ll have no problem finding a rewarding online teaching role, as most companies work with young learners.
But for others (like me), working with children can feel a little draining, which makes the fact that Cambly is a platform with mostly adult students a huge bonus.
With adults, you can have real genuine conversations about topics you’re both interested in. You don’t need to worry about your student running off to play with their toys if your class gets too boring, and you can focus more on actual conversation practice and less on behaviour management.
However, there are some disadvantages that come with working with adults, which brings us on to our next point.

Con #2 – Inappropriate Student Interactions
Most of the students on Cambly are great and are just looking to practice English with a native speaker.
There are, however, a select few who choose to use the platform less like a learning environment and more like a dating app.
It’s not uncommon for students to strike up inappropriate conversations.
Fortunately, Cambly are aware of this issue and have taken steps to improve the situation for teachers, which we’ll talk about more in the next point.

Con #3 – Low pay
Our final con is perhaps the biggest downside to working with Cambly – the pay.
Unfortunately, the low barrier to entry and great job perks means that Cambly pays its teachers significantly less than the industry standard.
Cambly pays $0.17 per minute of tutoring, which works out at just over $10 per hour that you’re on a call. As you’re unlikely to fill your schedule completely, you’ll probably earn around $5-8 per hour instead.
This isn’t great by western standards, but the silver lining is that you really don’t have to work very hard for that money. Calls are mainly just conversation practice – it’s just talking, and there’s little teaching or planning required.

This is one of the most common questions that potential teachers have before joining the platform. The main Cambly English teaching program is accessible to all ages, from the youngest learners to degreed working professionals, much like an alternative teaching platform like Amazing Talker.
However, there is a Cambly Kids program that is dedicated entirely to teaching minors. 

In the digital age, we are all more aware of the data that we share with online entities and how it is used. When you create your public profile on the site, the following information is displayed for prospective students to take a look at before booking a class with you:

2-minute intro video
Spoken languages
Home country
Specializations in ESL (if any)
Work experience
Education
Available times to teach

Everyone likes to get quick replies to their applications. Unfortunately, due to the enormous number of applications that the company receives, Cambly makes teachers wait a few weeks before hearing back about the success of their applications and acceptance into the program. 
Cambly does not respond to candidates who do not meet its requirements. 
Also, the company recommends re-applying from a different email address in cases where a teacher doesn't hear back. 

Because many of the instructors who teach on the Cambly platform have “9-to-5” jobs, one of the most common questions about working for the site pertains to time commitment: is there a minimum number of hours that teachers are required to teach to keep their account on the site open?
There is no minimum time commitment – teachers on Cambly are free to work as much or as little as they please. 

As anyone who has taught English professionally will attest to, planning lessons can be extremely time-consuming and mentally taxing. Oftentimes, in fact, planning a lesson takes nearly as much time as actually delivering it in the classroom. 
When you teach at Cambly, all the lesson planning is already taken care of – all you need to do is show up with your best foot forward and dive into the teaching. 
When you teach at Cambly, all the lesson planning is already taken care of – all you need to do is show up with your best foot forward and dive into the teaching. 

No. Applicants to Cambly will be barred from using smartphones to apply. Teachers are required to have a laptop with a speedy internet connection to make the learning experience as optimal as possible for the learner and as enjoyable as possible for both teacher and student. 

Cambly was founded in 2012 by co-founder Kevin Law and Sameer Shariff, two San Francisco-based entrepreneurs who previously worked with Google. Since then, with seeding from investors, Cambly has grown into one of the most recognizable names in the ESL industry. 

Cambly, operating on its business model of providing high-quality English education across borders, attracts students from every corner of the globe – East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, the Pacific, Africa, etc. According to the company, it has users from over 130 countries. 
For whatever reason, Cambly is particularly popular with clients from the Middle East, with Saudis representing a disproportionate percentage of Cambly users. 

Like any employer, Cambly has requirements that teachers must adhere to while working on the platform. Many of these are common-sense proposals that are required in everyday work life at “regular jobs,” such as:

“Treat everyone with respect.” That means “any discrimination based on race, culture, religion, physical appearance, or sexual orientation.” This standard applies to both teachers and students on the site; violators are kicked off the platform. 

“Appropriate dress.”  You don't need to wear a business suit to teach with Cambly, but you must be fully and appropriately clothed. The standard that Cambly uses is “dress like you are going to a university class.”

Avoid discussion of religion or politics

No substance use during class

No sharing outside contact info with students

No solicitation of services outside of Cambly