Teach English Online: 5 Steps to Build a Community & Earn Income
The demand for English language learning is increasing, and online courses are leading the charge.
If you're a native English speaker or a passionate English expert with a knack for explaining complex concepts, then teaching English online might be the perfect path for you. In this blog, get ready to:
- Learn how to build your online presence
- Master the art of nurturing your leads
- Build a thriving community of English language learners
And most importantly, empower your students to achieve their English language goals! So let’s get started now.
Why Teach English Online?
If you’ve ever considered teaching English online, here are some reasons why it might be a perfect fit for you!
1. Gain Audience Insights
When you teach English online, you get a chance to interact with students from all over the world, with varying learning styles, goals, and challenges.
This experience will allow you to gather valuable insights into what your target audience needs and struggles with.
You can then use this information to tailor your courses to be more effective and address the specific pain points of your learners.
2. Refine Course Material
The interactive nature of online teaching allows you to see how your course material plays out in real-time.
So, it’s a great chance for you to witness firsthand which explanations resonate and which ones need improvement.
This ongoing feedback loop helps you refine your course content and delivery style to maximize student engagement and learning outcomes.
3. Build Credibility
By actively teaching English online, you establish yourself as an expert in the field. This can build trust and credibility with potential students who are looking for high-quality English language courses.
Having a proven track record of success in online teaching can give your courses a significant edge.
Passive Income Potential: Some online platforms allow you to create pre-recorded English courses in addition to live lessons.
This can create a source of passive income, as students can enroll and learn from your materials at their own pace, even while you're not actively teaching.
How To Start Your Own English Class?
As an English expert, launching your own online English class can be a fulfilling experience. Here's a roadmap to get you started:
1. Build Your Online Presence
In the digital era, building an online presence is super necessary. Imagine having an online class without a strong online presence. How will your potential students ever find you?
So, let’s look at some ways on how you can build your online presence using social media and website:
a. Social Media
To build a strong online presence for teaching English, especially if you want to engage with your audience using both voice and face, YouTube is an excellent choice.
The key is to attract students with valuable lessons. To do this, break down grammar concepts, vocabulary lists, or pronunciation tips into short, engaging lessons.
You can also host live Q&A sessions to offer personalized feedback. To make it more interactive, you can add polls and quizzes
And hey, why limit your content to just Youtube? You can utilize the same video content and make bite-sized reels for Instagram as well.
b. Website
Your website is a place where you can showcase your skills, connect with your students, and establish yourself as a trusted teacher for their professional development. To start with, you can build a simple one-page website. This can become your hub to attract potential students.
Give a clear and concise headline to grab attention, stating what you offer (e.g., "Learn English Online with [Your Name]").
Follow it with a compelling statement highlighting the benefits students gain by learning with you (e.g., "Become confident and fluent in English for business or travel").
Next, introduce yourself! Briefly explain your background, qualifications, and teaching style. Let your personality shine through to build trust and connection with your future students.
Don't forget to outline the specific English language courses or tutoring options you provide. Consider catering to different learning needs (e.g., conversation practice, business English, exam preparation).
Testimonials from satisfied students or logos from any platforms you use for teaching can add credibility. Finally, tell visitors what to do next with a prominent "Waitlist Sign Up" or "Subscribe" form. This is where the magic happens!
2. Create Digital Products: Different Teaching Styles
Any foreign language or English class can be boosted by creating valuable digital products. These different types of teaching styles can offer a well-rounded learning experience for your students.
Let us now explore the different types of digital products that you can use.
a. Recorded courses
Recorded courses are a great way to teach English online. You can pre-record your lessons on specific grammar points, vocabulary sets, or even cultural topics. This way you can free your time and use it for planning more engaging activities for your next session.
Pre-recorded courses also ensure that your students get more clear explanations, and also they can always refer back to the videos for clearing any doubts.
Plus, the best part is you can break down longer courses into smaller segments so that you can target specific learning objectives within your own lesson plan.
b. Live cohorts
Imagine you’re in a virtual classroom where your students not only learn from you but from each other as well. This type of learning is what live cohorts are all about.
Cohort-based learning allows for real-time feedback, building a collaborative spirit among your students.
Platforms like Freshlearn allow you to create live cohorts to deliver engaging live lessons. Here are some features that help you streamline the process:
- Just drag and drop your English lesson content, images, and videos - no coding needed! Freshlearn integrates with popular tools like Google Meets and Zoom for seamless live classes.
- Keep your students engaged with interactive features. Freshlearn lets you manage the entire class and track individual student progress, ensuring everyone stays motivated.
- Customize your courses with your own branding. From course themes to pricing plans, Freshlearn empowers you to create unique live English learning experiences.
c. Short Workshops
Next, let’s check out how workshops can be a game changer for online English classes. As an English instructor, you know that there are many topics that need a larger focus. So, this is where short workshops come in.
By dedicating your time to creating a workshop about a specific topic, you can create a deeper understanding without overwhelming students with longer lessons.
This targeted approach will keep your students interested and engaged and can effectively break down complicated topics into manageable chunks.
Creating workshops isn’t tough, you just have to choose a platform that can offer you features to simplify your workshop creation process, and that’s it, you’ll have a mini-workshop in no time.
3. Convert Followers into an Email List
Email lists are powerful tools when you want to teach English online. It helps you to stay connected with your students by sending them valuable resources like practice exercises or bonus learning materials.
But how do you convert your followers into an email list? Here are some ways how you can do it:
a. Interactive Quizzes
Quizzes can be a fun way to build your email list in a more personalized way. You can create quizzes that target specific grammar points or vocabulary themes. And, you can offer personalized feedback and recommendations at the end based on their results.
In exchange, you get their email address which you can use to grow your list for future class updates, resource sharing, or even exclusive content.
With Freshlearn you can create interactive quizzes and keep your students engaged in your content. The platform supports various question types, including multi-select and multiple-choice, with the option to add images, audio, and video.
This multimedia integration enhances learning by catering to different styles. Additionally, educators can set minimum passing percentages and assign scores to questions, ensuring assessments are tailored to course objectives.
b. Digital Downloads
When you teach English online, offering valuable resources like printable grammar guides, and vocabulary lists, can help build your email list.
By providing digital downloads, your students can gain access to helpful materials and in exchange, you get their email addresses.
This not only adds value to your online presence but also allows you to nurture leads and build a community of engaged students directly through email.
c. Subscribe forms
Subscribe forms are another powerful tool to build your email list. By offering a clear and easy signup option, you provide a direct path for followers to join your email list.
This allows you to nurture potential students with valuable content like free resources, class announcements, or exclusive tips.
This personalized communication builds trust and keeps your teaching at the forefront of their minds, making them more likely to convert from a casual follower to a paying student in your online English class.
4. Nurture Email list into paying customers
Your email list holds the potential for a loyal base of paying students. By nurturing this list, you can build trust and showcase your expertise as an English teacher. So, let’s look at some of the strategies that you can use to nurture your email list:
a. Email campaigns
Email marketing is an incredibly powerful tool for nurturing your email list into paying students for your online English teaching business.
Its beauty lies in its ability to segment the audience, so you can use it to categorize potential students based on their current English proficiency, interests, or specific learning goals.
So, when you are teaching English online, effective communication with your students is important. Now, with Freshlearn's email marketing tool, you can create impactful email campaigns.
Here's how it can help you achieve your goals:
- Design beautiful, mobile-responsive emails in minutes with FreshLearn's intuitive templates—no HTML skills needed. Just select a template, add your content, and send.
- With FreshLearn's professionally designed email templates, you can deliver your message with style and make your brand memorable
- Reach your learners on any device and boost engagement with targeted emails. Increased engagement translates to a more active learner base and better business results.
- FreshLearn's templates include built-in calls-to-action and lead capture forms, making it easy to drive conversions and grow your course enrollments and revenue.
b. Workflows
In simple words, workflows are in auto-pilot mode for nurturing your email list. Based on the interests of your students, you can send targeted emails, which is a very personalized approach. And, you should definitely use it in your email marketing!
Workflows can also be timed to deliver special promotions or discounts when a potential student shows interest.
For example, if someone clicks on a link about your conversation course, you might send an email with a limited-time offer on a trial lesson.
c. Online Workshops
By hosting online workshops, you can easily establish yourself as an expert in the online English learning space. You can also provide value to your learners before doing the actual sales.
For example: You can offer free Grammar content where you can demonstrate your commitment to teaching effective grammar. This in turn builds trust making your students more receptive to opt for your paid services later.
d. Community
Building a community around your email list is key for turning subscribers into paying students.
It acts as a welcoming space where people can connect, learn, and see your expertise. This builds trust, which is essential for students to commit to paid lessons.
Plus, the community fosters connections between subscribers, creating a sense of belonging and value.
By strategically linking your emails to the community, you can highlight success stories and offer exclusive deals, ultimately converting subscribers into loyal customers.
Here’s how Freshlearn empowers this process by offering features like:
Collaborative learning: Students can connect and learn from each other's experiences, fostering a sense of belonging and mutual support.
Flexible communities: Launch paid or free communities to cater to different needs and attract a wider audience.
Automated moderation: Save time by automating tasks while maintaining control over the community environment.
Increased engagement: Interact with your students directly, boosting retention and nurturing them towards becoming paying customers.
Free Chapters of the course:
Free chapters of your online English course are lead magnets that attract potential students. They get a taste of your teaching style and expertise, building trust.
By collecting emails during signup, you can nurture this interest with targeted content. Highlight gaps in their learning with the free chapters, creating a desire for the full solution offered in your paid course.
It's a win-win: students get value, and you build a targeted audience.
5. Convert Paying Customers Into Brand Ambassadors
Transforming satisfied students into vocal advocates for your online English teaching platform is a powerful strategy. Here's how to nurture that brand loyalty:
a. Testimonials
Testimonials are glowing endorsements from satisfied students – a powerful tool for online English teachers. They act as social proof, convincing potential students that your teaching methods are effective and that you can deliver real results.
But testimonials go beyond simply increasing conversions; they have the potential to turn satisfied students into your biggest brand ambassadors
Collecting and displaying member testimonials on your website is essential but often seems daunting. FreshLearn simplifies this with its 'Get Testimonial' block, allowing you to gather and showcase testimonials in minutes, without any coding.
You can also customize it with your logo, a catchy headline, and engaging content, including a personalized CTA button and a Thank You message.
FreshLearn makes the entire process effortless, letting you focus on connecting with your audience and enhancing your online presence.
b. Referrals
Referrals are indeed another powerful tool for any business, and they are equally important in the realm of online English teaching.
When a student has a positive experience with a particular online English teacher or platform, they are more likely to recommend it to their friends and family. This word-of-mouth marketing can be incredibly effective, as people are more likely to trust recommendations from those they know than traditional advertising.
Freshlearn is in fact a platform that can help you convert your learners into active course promoters.
- You can attract leads for your courses by offering commissions.
- You get to set your own commission rates and ensure that your promoters are incentivized for maximum conversions
- You can also control the number of affiliates you work with to ensure quality leads
c. Community
Building a supportive and engaging community is all about creating an environment where your students feel valued and empowered.
Your community should provide a safe space for students to ask questions, get feedback from peers, and find solutions to common problems.
Your community should also be a platform to recognize student achievements and contributions.
This can be done through leaderboards, badges, or even featuring successful learners in community forums.
Public recognition fosters a sense of pride and motivates students to become advocates for the platform.
Challenges and solutions
While teaching English online offers flexibility and convenience, it also presents unique challenges for educators. Here are some of the challenges that English course creators face along with effective solutions:
1. Time Zone Differences
Juggling lessons with international students in vastly different time zones can be challenging for scheduling consistency and maintaining a healthy work-life balance for the teacher.
Solution:
- Pre-record lectures or materials for students in different time zones.
- Offer flexible scheduling options for live sessions.
- Utilize asynchronous communication tools for discussions and feedback.
2. Student Diversity
In any online English teaching job, catering to students with varying cultural backgrounds, learning styles, and levels of English proficiency can require extra planning and differentiated instruction.
Solution:
- Conduct needs assessments to understand student backgrounds and learning styles.
- Utilize differentiated instruction with various activities and resources to cater to different levels.
- Offer additional support or enrichment opportunities for students who need them.
3. Motivation and Self-Discipline
It can be harder for students to stay motivated and manage their time effectively in a self-paced online learning environment.
Solution:
- Set clear learning goals and expectations.
- Break down lessons into manageable chunks with regular deadlines.
- Offer rewards and recognition for participation and progress.
- Integrate gamification elements like points or badges to boost engagement.
Wrapping Up
Teaching English online is a rewarding way to share your language skills and connect with students worldwide.
By following the steps outlined in this blog, you can gain the qualifications, resources, and confidence to embark on this exciting journey.
Remember, the most important qualities are a passion for language learning and a commitment to fostering a positive and engaging online learning environment.
Now, to make your online teaching journey even smoother, consider using FreshLearn! This all-in-one platform provides everything you need to easily create and sell your English language course.
From building interactive content to managing student enrollment and payments, FreshLearn streamlines the process so you can focus on what matters most – your students' success.
So, sign up now and start your online teaching journey!
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