I found a quote that really caught my attention A good teacher, like a good entertainer first must hold his audience's attention, then he can teach his lesson.
by: John Henrik Clarke
Being an online tutor is not as easy as most people think it is. Many online tutors also say, that they love their stress-free job. Long breaks, short classes, and free-talking classes might sound a bit very lenient and relax; however, these are the silver linings of online teaching.
Handling over 20 students in 8 hours is not a joke. Imagine 20 different students, with different personalities, levels and ages to be tutored 3-5 times a week; it's not as simple as ABC.
This article is written to help you gain ideas on how to be a qualified online teacher, just in case you're planning to walk into this field.
1. Patience
This job isn't for hot-headed and short-tempered people. For instance, a student who is 50 years old with businessman with Level-0 English. You have to prepare yourself for what's coming. Everyday review of sentence patterns and 3 weeks of memorizing, "What's your name? and How are you?" Another example is a very distracted student who is uninterested in studying. And they only study due to their pushy parents. You have to manage your class well, even though the student is doing unnecessary actions in class, especially disturbing anything you do on the virtual board.
2. Energy
Teaching in a regular school might be burdensome and exhausting, but who said that online classes are not? Handling over 20 students and talking for 3-4 consecutive hours is exhausting too. Some companies don't allow 5-10 seconds of dead-air on a teacher's audio recording. Good luck in handling naughty kids in 3-4 hours.
3. Passion
It's a given fact that employees must be committed to their job, but having the passion for your job is different. Passion keeps you driven. It also drives you to perform well, because you love what you do. You'll know that you're a passionate teacher when you feel frustrated whenever a student doesn't learn every time you have a class. You feel drain when you need to repeat several times and not stop until your message is understood by the student. You feel happy and uplifted when your student learned even a single word and is able to use them in sentences.
4. Positive
Good things happen to optimistic people. If a teacher has a positive atmosphere in class, the students on the other side will feel that aura too. This will make them very comfortable and participate well in class.
5. Experience
Having an experience in teaching is an advantage. As many online academies would say, "Only few are chosen." I've had trained a lot of aspiring online teachers in our company; however, most of them gave up, because it's their first time and they feel intimidated and weak. If you are someone who doesn't have any experiences in this field, make sure that you are brave enough to be corrected and willing to learn everything in a nick of time.
6. English Skills
There are many categories of English, such as Grammar, Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Reading and Conversation. Which we actually learned in school. In online teaching, you'll be surprise on how many sub-branches, these major categories have. That's why online academies need teachers who can also teach, Business English, Medical English Terms, OPIC and etc... to be a Grammarian is not the only important factor of being an online teacher. You must be able to speak well and sound good.
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