Teach English Online – No Degree Required
If you’re a current university student and seeking employment with some of the most popular online English teaching companies, you may have found yourself frustrated that many of these companies require a college degree.
You want to gain teaching experience that will help you get a better job later on, but how are you supposed to do that if you have to have a bachelor’s degree or teaching certificate just to apply?
Fortunately, there are many online English teaching companies that require no college degree – sometimes, just some reliable technology is all you need to meet the basic requirements on an application.
So, want to teach English online (no degree required)? We’ve got all the details you need to find the right job. Let’s get started!
What are the Qualifications to Teach English Online?
Online jobs are becoming all the rage, and online teaching and tutoring jobs teaching English are no different. If you want to start online English teaching, consider these qualifications. These will help you figure out whether you have what it takes or if there are certain qualifications you may need to prepare for.
Native Speaker
Are you a native English speaker? If so, that might be all it takes to teach English online without a degree.
Most online teaching jobs just like to see that you have fluency in the language. You must be a native speaker in order to teach individual and group classes.
After all, the best way to learn a new language is to be able to speak it with a native speaker, particularly one who is an amazing talker. Many online English teaching platforms offer classes that consist solely of you talking back and forth with your students – it’s more of a conversation than an actual class.
Therefore, native English speakers are highly sought after individuals when it comes to online English classes.
Experience
Although teaching experience or experience tutoring isn’t required for all of these online teaching opportunities, it can be helpful to have some teaching experience under your belt. That’s especially true if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree quite yet.
With a little bit of experience, even if it’s not a formal teaching job but instead just working with students in another capacity (such as tutoring, working at a summer camp, or serving as a counselor), you may find that you meet just enough requirements to land a job at a teaching company.
A Passion for Teaching
As with most teaching jobs, a job teaching English online with no degree requires that you have a passion for being a teacher. This sounds pretty basic (and perhaps quite obvious, too) but the best teachers aren’t necessarily those with a bachelor’s degree – they are teachers who love what they do and care deeply about their students.
If that sounds like you, that it might fully be possible for you to teach online with no degree – even if you have zero teaching experience!
Hardware Requirements
Do you have a realiable internet connection? If so, this will be a serious boost to your profile. In fact, there are many online English jobs that require nothing more than technological reliability.
Availability
Many online English teaching companies are desperate for teachers who are able to teach online in the middle of the night – after all, you will be working with students in other countries, perhaps those many time zones away.
If you have high speed Internet and meet no other requirements, don’t think you’re out of luck. You still might be able to teach English online in many cases!
TEFL Certificate
TEFL certification, or Teaching English as a Foreign Language, can be super helpful when it comes to teaching English online. Even if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree (or are still working on finishing up your degree), getting TEFL certification may help qualify you to teach online with no degree.
You can often find TEFL certification programs for free or minimal cost, allowing you to boost your potential pay rate without having to finish up your BA degree in its entirety.
College Degree (Sometimes!)
Although a bachelor’s degree is rarely required, you may be able to earn more money per hour if you have a degree or teaching certification. This shows that you’ve put the time into learning how to be a better instructor and that you have the credentials necessary to back your application up.
Sometimes an associate’s degree will fit the bill, too, and even qualify you for a higher per hour rate. Be sure to apply even if it’s just a two-year degree on your resume so far.
Teach English Online – No Degree Necessary for These 17 Companies
Here are some of the best places to submit an application if you are looking for online English teaching jobs – no degree (or teaching experience, in many cases!) required.
1. Magic Ears
Magic Ears is one of the best companies to consider if you want to teach English online. This platform is one of the best options for the aspiring online English teacher with no degree.
With Magic Ears, your students will learn in a one-on-four class setting. Everything is conversational and relaxed, with most classes only lasting 25 minutes. The course schedules are already designed and if your students are satisfied, they can come back and request you as your teacher later on – meaning you’ll keep getting more work!
For just one 25 minute class, you’ll earn around $20. That can add up for sure! You’ll need to be passionate about teaching and be friendly. While one year or more of official teaching work can improve your chances of getting hired, you can easily land a job with no degree or an unfinished degree.
Click Here To Get Started2. PalFish
PalFish is another excellent opportunity you can pursue if you want to teach English online without a degree. PalFish is an app-based platform that means you will need to have a cell phone or tablet in order for it to work. You’ll be able to teach both one-on-one classes to a single student or work with larger groups of students as you teach them English.
Whatever the case may be, the benefit of working with PalFish if you want to break into teaching English online is that you don’t have to be a native speaker. You also don’t need to have a college degree for PalFish, although you will be required to have a valid teaching certification or TEFL certification in order to apply.
When teaching English online with PalFish, you can set your own rates. You can earn up to $30 per hour or more and you don’t have to meet a certain time commitment, either – it’s all about what time you have available.
Click Here To Get Started3. SayABC
Want to teach English online in your spare time? If so, you might want to consider SayABC.
This online English teaching company offers some of the best rates for its teachers. You’ll earn around $20 or more per class and you can teach one to four kids at once, with each student generally aged around 5 to 12. You can fit your classes into your own lifestyle and the best part about teaching English with SayABC is that you don’t have to have a degree.
Although your odds of getting a job are higher if you hold a degree, you can use teaching experience or TEFL certification to make up for the deficit. You don’t even need to be a native English speaker, though native speakers are, of course, preferred.
Click Here To Get Started4. Cambly
Cambly is a platform that will allow you to engage in quick chat sessions with students from around the world. There’s no teaching experience required – you just need to be an amazing talker!
You’ll often talk to students who are adults rather than children. You’ll receive around $0.17 per hour with earnings delivered weekly via PayPal. You’ll be able to set your own hours while teaching English online and you can work as little or as much as you’d like. You can just log on whenever you have a moment and make money simply by talking to students whose first language is not English.
Of course, you’ll need to have a reliable Internet connection to work on Cambly, too.
Click Here To Get Started5. Preply
Preply offers another great way for motivated aspiring teachers to teach English online without a degree. This is one of the many online teaching companies that has relaxed requirements for its teachers. You’ll just need a stable Internet connection – that’s it!
The pay rate on Preply varies among its teachers, with some teachers earning up to $550 per week. Though Preply has limited requirements, that benefit does come at a cost – you’ll pay 100% of your first lesson earnings back to Preply with your first online teaching experience here. Of course, you should be able to quickly make up for that by teaching English classes multiple times per week.
Click Here To Get Started6. SkimaTalk
If you want to teach English online without a degree, SkimaTalk is the way to go. This website is constantly seeking native English speakers who have American, Canadian, New Zealand, British, Irish, or Australian dialects.
You do not have to have a teaching certificate with SkimaTalk, though some TEFL experience is preferred on an application. Of course, you must have a passion for teaching and for the English language – and a valid Internet connection, of course.
Click Here To Get Started7. Tutlo
Tutlo is another great platform that will allow you to find teaching jobs so you can teach English online without having to pursue a lengthy college education. To submit an application at this company, you will need to have TEFL certification and around six months of experience in being an online English teacher.
Though these requirements are a bit more stringent, you’ll be rewarded with a higher pay rate. You can earn more than $11 per hour with classes just 20 minutes in length. Classes are also offered on-demand so you can work just whenever you have the time to do so.
Click Here To Get Started8. Lingoda
Perfect for stay-at-home workers who want to teach online without a degree, Lingoda is a platform that is constantly looking for teachers.
Lingoda teaches more than 6,000 adult students each week, with classes happening 24 hours a day. You can learn just about any language you want, from German to English, French to Spanish, and much more. Each member of this official kids course has the opportunity to sign up for one-on-one classes or for group sessions when they register. The leading online language school in Europe, Lingoda does require that its teachers have a bit of teaching experience and hold ESL teaching certifications.
Click Here To Get Started9. iTalki
Another one of the best online English teaching sites that requires no degree is iTalki.
You aren’t limited to just teaching online English with iTalki, either. With this company, you will have the opportunity to teach any language that you happen to speak fluently with no degree required.
You can work with students of all ability levels and ages, with students choosing teachers based on their profile, video introduction, and past student reviews. You can even work at proofreading other people’s writing if you want to branch out from just online teaching work!
Click Here To Get Started10. Open English
Want to teach English online whenever you have a spare moment? Open English will connect you with students and teaching jobs all over the world, especially if you want to work with students in Latin America.
You’ll be able to teach 24/7 classes and there are few requirements you will need to meet. As long as you are authorized to work in the United States and are a native English speaker, you have the qualifications required by this platform. You will earn an average of $12 per class.
Click Here To Get Started11. Verbling
Verbling is another excellent platform to consider for online English teaching. This online language learning platform will connect foreign language learners to qualified teachers for private sessions that take place over live video chat.
When you start teaching English online with Verbling, you can work from anywhere in the world. As long as you have some teaching experience or a formal teaching certificate (or a TEFL certification) you shouldn’t have a hard time getting hired. You also need to be a native English speaker.
The benefit of teaching English online with Verbling is that you can set your own hourly tutoring rates. You’ll earn 85% of what you charge with the rest serving as a commission to Verbling.
Click Here To Get Started12. LatinHire
You can teach English online without a degree with LatinHire, too. To get started teaching English online with LatinHire, you’ll need to submit an application form online. You’ll be contacted if you meet the requirements for the specific tutoring subject. Essentially, LatinHire serves as an agency that will connect you with available teaching jobs.
Your pay can vary widely when you decide to start teaching English online with LatinHire. The pay depends on the specific type of teaching position. English isn’t the only subject you can teach on LatinHire, as the company often hires teachers who are proficient in subjects like accounting, geometry, calculus, physics, economics, and more.
Click Here To Get Started13. Acadsoc
If you want to teach English online with Acadsoc, you will need to have a TEFL certificate or college degree in any subject. So while you don’t have to have a formal bachelor’s degree to teach English online with this company, you will need to put in a little bit of work ahead of time to make sure you meet the requirements.
You can earn up to $1200 per month as you teach English online to students in China. The company is based out of the Philippines and allows you to use technologies like Skype to reach and instruct each student.
Click Here To Get Started14. Amazing Talker
Amazing Talker will allow you to teach English online to just about any kind of student.
This company hires teachers for languages besides just English and although it does require at least a TEFL certification and some past experience as a teacher, you don’t have to provide much else in order to meet the base qualifications. You could earn more than $25 per class!
Click Here To Get Started15. ABC360
If you’re a native English speaker with minimal teaching experience, ABC360 is another website you might turn to that will allow you to teach English online.
ABC360 is a China-based company that has offices in both the Philippines and in China. The company hires in-house teachers to teach English to Chinese students. You’ll earn a base salary of at least $200 per month but most students earn much more. You’ll be required to work at least eight hours per day but you can set your own hours, working between 6 am and 12 am.
When it comes to technology requirements, you’ll need a strong web connection along with a webcam The company doesn’t list too many other requirements on its website but does state that native speakers with American or British accents are highly sought-after candidates.
Click Here To Get Started16. Berlitz
No degree? No problem – at least, not with Berlitz. This large American company is another one of the many companies that do not require a background in teaching or a formal degree in order to apply.
You don’t even have to have a computer – you can teach classes via your smartphone! You’ll earn around $10 per hour with this platform.
Click Here To Get StartedFinal Thoughts: Teaching English Online Without a Degree
Can you become a TEFL teacher without a degree teaching English? Nine times out of ten, the answer to that question is a resounding yes.
Of course, you’ll likely need to meet other requirements on the application. Many companies look for teachers who have had a teaching job before, while others want to see a TEFL certification in your profile. Sometimes, the only information you will need to submit to start teaching lessons is an answer to questions about whether you are a native English speaker or have reliable Internet access.
Becoming a teacher online is easier than ever before. Consider applying to some of these companies and you’ll be able to pursue a lucrative side gig – even without any formal qualifications.