Teaching via Skype

Hi there

I’m an English teacher thinking of branching out (what oaks do ;-)) into teaching online. I’ve only ever taught face to face, so I really am new to the idea.

I’m looking for advice regarding what technology I’d need, how to use it, what material there is and then anything else you can think of.

Thanks

Skype and Google Docs can be a good combination.

I just use Skype. I mainly teach conversational French, so this works well for me and my students - we talk, I type out words using the chat feature, and then I send them an overview afterwards with some points to keep in mind. If I want to show them images, I just copy and paste the link into the chat feature on Skype.

I might use an online shared screen like the one on http://vyew.com if we want to work on a text together.

The students that I work with online are generally using other resources to self-study, or else they're already at an upper intermediate/advanced level and are using our sessions for maintenance.

My goals as an online teacher are:

• to provide my students with useful resources and a study plan if desired
• to answer any questions they have about what they're learning via self-study
• to provide them with the opportunity to practice speaking (more or less structured conversation, based on their needs and wants)
• to provide them with useful, targeted feedback so that they can keep improving

With that in mind, I don't use a set series of lesson plans. Every student needs something different, so each session is individualized.

I hope it's ok to link to some blog posts that I've written about working with a tutor from a student's perspective. I use a lot of the same strategies as a teacher:

• conversation cards (conversation for absolute beginners): http://bit.ly/ZafKo8
• topics for language exchange (thematic questions for learners at a conversational level): http://bit.ly/1qBFjaB
• working with a language tutor when you're an absolute beginner: http://bit.ly/1jPX85L
• how to improve your foreign language immediately (communication strategies from the book by Boris Shekhtman): http://bit.ly/1pkmmZu

edited because typos hurt my eyes

My advice: keep your expectations low. While there's a huge demand for English teaching worldwide, there's also a huge supply of teachers. Without the targeted geography you have as a face-to-face teacher, you're suddenly a very tiny fish in a near-infinite pond, and not only does that make you difficult to find in the first place, but it also means your prices are going to be compared to native English speakers in a great many parts of the world where British or US colonisation brought the language and where prices (and therefore wages) are lower than where you are....

Thanks for the tip. How do you use Google Docs?

Thanks for the warning. I’ve been offered some students, so although there wouldn’t be loads, I will have got a few to start with. I was hoping it might grow from there.

I realise I’d be a very tiny fish in a near-infinite pond, but I am experienced and pretty well qualified. Do you think it’d still be very difficult?

What I need to know for now is more how to go about teaching via Skype, not so much how to find students. I’m a trained English teacher (secondary and adult) but didn’t learn about teaching online, only in the classroom.

Many thanks for this extremely helpful reply!

You make a Google doc and share it with your pupil. Both can read and write in it.

Well, just as in the face-to-face world, word-of-mouth is your best marketing tool, so that's a good start.

I think qualifications and experience are largely irrelevant, as everyone else will be saying they are too.

First tip -- learn to slow down your gestures. Over a webcam, a nod or shake of the head can be blurred away to nothing and your message is lost.

A slow single nod is also often your best manner of giving "please continue -- I'm listening" type feedback, as depending on how the student's PC is set up, you saying "uh-huh" or similar might mute their microphone.

Don't be afraid to bring your hands up nearer your face (no matter how weird it feels) so that your hand gestures are visible without meaning that you have to sit so far from the webcam that your facial gestures are obscured.

Cainntear and everyone who replied,

Many thanks! That is all extremely useful.

With qualifications, you can prove them, can’t you? Obviously, some people might exaggerate or even lie, but if a person really has got what they claim, then they can presumably prove it by providing documentation. Whether people really care or not is another matter of course.

The tips regarding body language are really very helpful for me as a Skype newbie.

I’m assuming my students will be intermediate upwards. That’s because I’m probably going to be teaching Business English, although lower levels would be fine too. What concerns me more is how to do varied speaking activities. In my classrooms, my students are used to pair and group work, then I listen in and cover feedback at an appropriate moment - I jot things down while they are talking. If it’s just the student and me, I’d have to be speaking too, in any sort of dialogue or role play etc, so I’d have to remember everything (except for the things where I felt immediate feedback was best).

I’ve done two interviews via Skype, and that’s more or less my entire experience of using it. Giving written information is something I haven’t done that way yet, but Stelle’s tips are helpful for that. I will try Vyew. I’ve got as far as registering there, and now need to choose which subscription.

Thanks again

Oak