5 Tips to Become a Successful Online TESOL Teacher
There’s an abundance of online teaching English positions available at the moment. But, before starting, most online schools will want a quick demo lesson (5 – 10 minutes) or to conduct an online interview with you first. Today we are going to share with you 5 tips to help you land that online job with ease!
1. Smile.
It’s an easy one, but a big smile goes a long way. It demonstrates happiness, likeability, and trustworthiness. The next generation of online teachers are expected to be highly engaged with their students because schools want to provide an enjoyable learning experience. Long gone are the days of handing students worksheets with a hands-off approach and a stern face. Remember, you’re on a journey with your students to help them learn English, so let’s make it a happy one.
2. Enthusiasm.
This is the key to building rapport with your students. We naturally gravitate to more enthusiastic people – and this is the same with the teacher/student bond. By maintaining high-energy levels throughout the lesson we demonstrate positivity and engagement. And let’s face it, students will find it hard to connect with you if you’re acting like ‘Eeyore’ the donkey from Winnie the Poo – so be more like ‘Tigger’.
3. Praise and encouragement.
You’d be amazed at how far a “well done!” goes in the mind of a student, especially a young learner. Basic compliments reinforce that students are doing something right and it creates a positive feedback loop of encouragement. This is all about providing a positive and supportive learning environment for the student. Great work on ready this far! Keep going!
4. Constructive feedback.
Nobody likes being scolded for getting something wrong. The name of the game is constructive feedback. This means starting with what they did correctly, then leaning into how they could improve. For example, “that was great Jenny, I liked how you started that sentence, but let’s use a better adjective to describe your favourite meal, can you think of any?” – change good for delicious.
5. Gamify.
It doesn’t matter what age or language levels you’re teaching, everyone loves playing games. It’s an amazing tool to help facilitate the learning experience, learn language functions, and a surefire way to become your students favourite teacher. Something a basic as First Letter, Last Letter:
The teacher starts by saying a word, then the first student (number one) must make a word that starts with the last letter of the word that the teacher said (e.g. bus — steak — key — yellow — etc.). Adapt this game based on language level.
