By Bryan

So you have decided that you want to be an English Teacher. The next question you should ask yourself is whether you want to teach online or teach in a classroom. What’s the difference between the two? Which is better? Read on to learn the differences between them to help you make a sound decision for your Teaching career. 

Generally, when we think of a teacher, we imagine a professional in the classroom facing a bunch of students raising hands for their recitation.- well, it is no longer just the picture as we embrace innovation! For a while now, online classes have been widely used to reach a wider range of clientele and also due to the need for social distancing. Many schools and teachers have now been trying to expand their careers into online teaching. Hence, teaching English online is no longer just a second option but a big thing to consider. 

Here are some of the differences between online teaching and classroom teaching:

Work Environment

One significant difference between teaching in a classroom and teaching online is the work environment. The former follows a traditional face-to-face classroom setting whereas the latter adapts a virtual classroom where a teacher can work anywhere, for as long as he/she has access to the internet and in a quiet place to conduct a class. More often than not, teaching in a classroom caters to more students in each session while online classes usually have fewer students and shorter class time. It is because students’ attention span is shorter in online class than in the classroom. Undeniably, when it comes to comfort and convenience, online teaching is better. Who wouldn’t want to work from the comfort of their home?

Schedule

Usually, classroom teachers follow a fixed pattern of class schedule. Because they cater to young learners, schedules are often around 9am-5pm. Not to mention that you may have to render overtime work due to paperworks and other stuff essential to your work. On the other hand, online teaching is more flexible. It actually all depends on you and the students. You have the option to work on your preferred schedule. You can work as much time as you want! 

Salary

Classroom-based English Teachers usually received a fixed salary set by the contract they had with the school. On the other hand, the pay of online English teachers is usually based on the number of hours they rendered. Most freelance Online English teachers can have the liberty to set their own rates, schedules or even work for a variety of clients. In most cases, these are teachers who have years of experience in online ESL and invested in their Online TEFL courses to get their certificates. 

Salary can be one of the cons of Teaching English online as it will take some time to grow your classes and increase your rate. But with the help of TEFL Certificate, which most students recognize to be a parameter of teacher’s competence, your schedule will be filled with students in no time. 

Visit https://topteflcourses.org/ to inquire how to get an online TEFL Certificate. 

CONCLUSION

When I first started teaching English 8 years ago. I taught Korean students who came to the Philippines to study English. Although I was confident enough about my knowledge in English, I barely knew anything about class handling as I am not a teacher by profession so the progress took a while. I wished I knew about Online TEFL Courses during that time.

After working as a classroom teacher for almost 2 years I decided to shift to online teaching. Online teaching has significantly helped me improve my teaching skills as I had to deal with each class independently. I had the freedom to maximize my time and work as much as I want. While it is true that it will take some time, and you have to work your way up, my 6 years of online teaching job has given me great experience and has paid me well. 

Moreover, online teaching allows me to work wherever I am. While the world is currently facing a pandemic that has affected the global economy and closed many businesses including schools, online classes remain stable and continue to increase their demand for English teachers.