Top 6 countries looking for online English teachers worldwide

What would you think if we told you that you can experience the thrill of teaching English to students in more than one continent on the same day? It’s true! It’s called teaching English online – and there’s a fast-growing demand for it across the globe.

Whether you’re a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher in Thailand yearning to earn some extra cash for your next trip, a stressed out parent in Birmingham attempting to fit work around the kids or an eager newbie English teacher in Melbourne wanting to tip your toe into TEFL before you head overseas, teaching English online could be perfect for you.

But where is all this demand for online English teachers coming from?

The demand for online English teachers

It’s a simple matter of maths combined with convenience in an ever more connected world. An estimated one billion people are already learning English and that number is rising. While many fantastic TEFL teachers are working hard in classrooms across the globe, there are simply not enough of them to go round.

Step forward online English teaching.

Online English teaching means that English teachers can pop up (virtually) in even the most remote destination without ever leaving home. It’s brilliant for students, who can find a teacher at all times of day or night. It’s perfect for finance-savvy schools, who want to include live, native English voices in lessons without paying the cost of a full-time teacher. And it’s wonderful for TEFL teachers who are looking for ways to earn some extra cash at a time and place that fits around the rest of their lives.

Sound enticing? Here are our top six destinations that are looking for online English teachers right now.

China

Unless you’ve been hiding under your duvet for the past decade, we hardly need tell you that China is rapidly becoming a dominant global market force. And to make this transition stick, Chinese workers need to speak English. Which means China has a HUGE demand for English teachers. In fact, China has the highest number of students learning English at any one time in the whole planet – an estimated 300 million at last count.

When you throw in the fact that this is a country that loves to embrace technology and has students flung across huge geographical areas, it’s hardly surprising that China has a massive demand for online teaching alongside more conventional classroom lessons.

Japan

Never one to be behind the curve, Japan is a leader in the online teaching world. With the country’s population increasingly interacting online, English lessons are finding a home there too.

Young Japanese students want to learn English as they eye up international travel, while many businesses stipulate the international English exam, TOEIC, as a desirable – or sometimes even mandatory – requirement of employment. It all adds up to a brilliant market for online English teaching.

South Korea

Online English teaching in South Korea is growing almost as fast as in China – and covers all ages and levels.

South Korean parents want their children to learn English after school to have better life opportunities. South Korean adults want to pass their TOEIC qualification to improve their job prospects and South Korean businesses need English speakers to negotiate international deals. In other words, South Korea is yet another country with a strong demand for online English teachers!

Vietnam

Vietnam’s surging demand for English teachers, both online and in classrooms, has three main sources.

First, the country’s rapidly growing tourism industry has fuelled demand by hotel workers, restaurant owners and local businesses keen to communicate with their ever-rising numbers of visitors. Secondly, Vietnamese businesses are keen to improve their English language skills in order to become more competitive in international markets. And finally, Vietnam’s younger generation has fallen in love with popular culture from the English-speaking world. A desire to understand American films or British music is a strong imperative to study English hard!

 Taiwan

Taiwan’s growing links with the US have led to a strong demand for English lessons from students keen to make the most of the opportunities on offer.

Combine this up with Taiwanese parents’ belief that learning English will open doors for their children to work and study abroad and the fact that taking on extra study in order to ace exams is almost part of Taiwan’s national psyche and it’s easy to see why there’s a big desire to find ways of learning English outside of the main school day.

English speaking countries

One area of online English teaching that’s often overlooked may be right outside of your window – native English speaking countries. At any one time, there’s a whole host of first and second generation immigrants looking to improve their English skills, not to mention students and temporary workers who need to keep their language skills topped up to be successful.

It might not feel as glamorous as teaching students in Asia – but when you’re sitting in front of your computer at home, it hardly matters where the person at the other end is based.

Start teaching English online

If all this has left you raring to go, you’ll find a huge array of companies and platforms that recruit online English teachers. Take a look at our TEFL jobs board and browse through the online vacancies for a sample of what’s on offer.

When you’re looking for online English teaching jobs, bear in mind:

• The peak hours for online English teaching in most countries are between 6pm to 10pm, Monday to Friday and between 9am to 10pm at the weekends (i.e. outside of school and working hours). Remember that these are local times – so make sure you check out the time zone before you commit to a 3.30am class!
• Wages for online English teaching vary enormously. As a rough guide, if you’re working for a company, expect anything from between £7.50-£17.50 ($10-$23 / €9-€20) per hour as a base rate, which often can be topped up with bonuses for introducing new students and teachers as well as aspects such as reliability, good timekeeping and a higher number of teaching hours.
• Online English sessions typically last for either 30, 45 or 60 minutes, depending on the class size, age and level. Most online lessons are either one-to-one or for small groups of around two to six people. However, there are also opportunities to teach larger classes – either for specific activities within a classroom-based lesson or (less commonly) as a standalone session.

Read our article How to make money teaching English online to find out more!