With the rise of remote video services and the collapse of many China-based ESL teaching platforms over the last few years, there is a new market emerging: online ESL teachers who develop their own classes.

Teaching independently presents a number of new problems, however. Teachers need to not only find their own students and arrange the schedules, but they also need to find a suitable curriculum, decide on the right platform for interacting with students, and handle payments.

Complicating the matter further, the largest market for students is in China, and it can be difficult for teachers to navigate the China-specific social media platforms to actually find students, while transferring money to international accounts can be equally cumbersome and tedious.

That’s why we’ve reached out to Teacher Savannah, one of the longest-tenured online ESL teachers in the industry, who has recently transitioned to independent classes, to get her insights and advice on how teachers can successfully make this jump.

How long have you been teaching ESL online?

I have taught ESL online for almost nine years now.

What made you decide to switch to independent teaching?

The Double-Reduction policy in China definitely changed the online ESL teaching world for all teachers in 2021. I had thought of going independent for a long time, but when everything started to change at the end of 2021 it was the push I needed to finally take the leap and go independent.

Now for the main questions:

How can teachers find their own students (especially when the Chinese social media environment can be so hard for foreigners to access)?

First, a teacher needs to decide who they want their students to be.

LinkedIn is a very useful platform to advertise yourself on if you want to teach adult students.

I personally prefer teaching younger students, and I focus on the Chinese market. The best platform I have found to market myself on to Chinese parents and students is: Little Red Book or 小红书 (Xiǎo hóng shū). This is one of the few Chinese social media platforms that a foreigner can sign up with using a phone number from anywhere in the world, as other platforms such as DouYin require you to have a Chinese Sim Card.

There are a few restrictions for foreign Little Red Book accounts without Chinese Identity Verification, such as not being able to go live. However, when I decided I needed to find more students than the ones I had originally brought with me I went on Little Red Book and posted little learning videos, and within two weeks got seven additional weekly class times arranged with students.

If you also want to focus on the Chinese market, you will also need to set up a WeChat account, and as the verification process can be difficult I recommend hiring someone from China to verify your account so you can start using it. (There are many people who offer these services on freelance platforms such as FIVER.com.) 

What interactive video platforms do you find work best for independent teaching?

After trying pretty much every platform out there, I chose to use the ClassIn teaching platform.

I highly recommend ClassIn to teachers who are looking to go independent over more commonly used platforms such as Zoom or Voov, as ClassIn was actually designed to be used in classrooms, and the fuctionality and interactivity of ClassIn proves that. Both teachers and students can interact with .edb (interactive draggable files), .pdf, pptx, .mov, .mp3, and more file types.

In addition to that, the ClassIn platform offers a Freemium version that teachers can use without paying anything, a Pro version meant for single independent teachers that allows for lesson recordings and storage, and a School version intended for independent schools where the owner needs to be able to control and audit lessons and provide materials for teachers, etc.

What kind of curriculum options are available for independent teaching?

There are multiple curriculum options available to teachers, but I urge teachers to consider what each curriculum provides in regards to before- and after-class preparation such as summaries and homework.

When I first started, I was using curricula that I had to heavily supplement with materials that I would spend hours making, and it was taking up way too much of my time. I highly recommend the NoPrep Curriculum from ESLedb.com, as they provide pre-made summaries, homework, and I do not have to create anything to supplement the materials there.

I’ve been helping with the development of this NoPrep curriculum, and as I try it out with my own students I find that it is by far the best, most user-friendly online ESL curriculum out there.

How do you handle payments from parents? And have you had difficulty transferring the payments internationally?

When it comes to accepting payments from China let me first say: DO NOT accept any payment via WeChat or Alipay! You cannot get it out without having a Chinese bank account, and that money is just going to sit there with no way to get it!

I use Stripe.com to receive payments from parents. You first have to create your Stripe account on a computer, and after that (as the site is a bit complex) I recommend just using the Stripe app.

I personally choose to have parents pay class-by-class, and they have to pay me before the start of each lesson. With the Stripe app, you just have to create a customer for each student and get the parent’s email address. Then, you create a payment and it is sent to their email. They pay, and Stripe converts the payment from their currency to yours and deposits it automatically to your bank account within 2-5 business days.

Many teachers choose to have their students pay for packages. I choose not to do this because, first off, when many Chinese companies shut down at the end of 2021, many parents never received a refund for large packages that they had purchased at those companies, and it left a bad taste in many parents’ mouths. Also, if you sell a package, either have the parent sign a no-refund document, or don’t spend the money until the student has completed all of the classes, as you may risk having to pay back money that you no longer have if they request a refund.

I also recommend teachers incorporate transaction fees into their class fee so the parent takes care of the transaction fee and not the teacher.

What has been the most difficult part of switching to independent teaching?

I would have to say my personal fears and the unknown was the hardest part of going independent. Once I just did it and had confidence in myself, everything went much smoother.

The other big difficulty was finding a curriculum that I did not have to supplement as I mentioned before, and I recommend that teachers who are looking for a curriculum check out the NoPrep curriculum on ESLedb.com.

What has been the most rewarding part of switching to independent teaching?

Teaching students independently is so much more rewarding than teaching for a big company for the following reasons:

1. You don’t HAVE to complete a certain amount of pages in each class and rush through content sacrificing the student’s learning, as you may have to for many large companies.
2. You get to choose what you study with your student and focus directly on their English learning needs!
3. This has to do with the first two points, but many times at large companies you would get a student who was four or five years old on a lesson designed for a student who is at the English level of, say, a twelve year old. I always dreaded classes like that and they caused me a lot of stress, I never have to deal with that anymore.
4. You can make WAY more money teaching independently! Who doesn’t like more money?
5. You get to build up real relationships with students that aren’t censored by a company! And as you get to know your students better and develop that teacher-student relationship, classes become much more enjoyable for you as the teacher, they are less stressful, and students are happier!

Any other advice for teachers looking to start their own independent classes?

I know the process of transitioning from working for a big company to independent is stressful and confusing at times, but don’t give up!

First, set up a Stripe account so you can recieve payments from anywhere in the world. Then, spend some time on ClassIn or another platform you’re thinking of using, and practice by yourself on the platform so you can feel confident once you onboard your first student and have class with them. Many platforms such as ClassIn offer a free demo where platform workers will walk you through everything you need to know to start teaching, so book a demo!

Here is the link to book a ClassIn demo: https://www.classin.com/en/request.html?channel=home.

One thing that can be super helpful is making the effort to connect with other independent teachers. I have helped many other teachers make the transition to independent teaching, and I know that myself and other teachers will be happy to answer whatever questions you have or help you put your fears and concerns to rest.

Finally, just go for it! I promise it isn’t as hard as it seems when you first peer into the online independent teaching world. I did it, others have done it, and you can too!

Really appreciate all of your insights on these matters. Happy teaching!

Thanks, and happy to help!