Looking for a Flexible Source of Income? Teach Japanese Online!
Work. It can be your best friend or your worst nightmare.
Some jobs offer you the opportunity to see the world and do fulfilling work.
Other jobs offer the dehumanizing experience of cleaning up after filthy, filthy humans and their increasingly innovative bathroom usage techniques.
But there’s one job unlike any other that spares you from the workplace horrors: teaching Japanese online. Sure, there are plenty of Japanese learning websites that can assist students, but a lot of students still need a skilled teacher to help them learn all the tricky grammar and complicated vocabulary, and that teacher might as well be you.
If you are looking for a flexible and fun job teaching Japanese online, check out these awesome websites.
Why Teach Japanese Online?
Teaching Japanese online is often location independent, so it’s perfect if you’re traveling or if you live in an area without much demand for Japanese teachers. Most online Japanese courses allow teachers to work anywhere, so you’re not stuck going to an office every day or needing to move to a big city to find work.
Plus, teaching Japanese online usually offers flexible scheduling. A lot of students that learn Japanese online do it on their own time, which means your hours are often be flexible too. This is perfect if you’re teaching Japanese as a supplemental income or just don’t like to be forced into living by someone else’s schedule.
Finally, teaching Japanese online can be a super fun way to use your skills. You’ve worked hard to perfect your skills, so you might as well use them! Even if you really don’t care about the income, teaching can be a good way to keep your Japanese skills fresh.
And if you’re thinking of teaching online, try FluentU.
FluentU is an innovative resource that turns videos, like movie trailers, music videos and news, into powerful learning tools. Each video is captioned and the captions are annotated, giving you easy access to any word’s definition, an associated image and example sentences.
While FluentU is fun for students, it is also a terrific resource for teachers. You can use it to create curriculum, assign homework or supplement your existing teaching material.
For online Japanese teachers, it works particularly well since your students can use FluentU online with your desktop computer, or download the iOS app and Android app and bring FluentU’s language curriculum to your mobile devices.
FluentU is also an amazing company to work with!
FluentU hires paid freelancers with foreign language skills to work on everything from writing blog posts (like the one you’re currently reading) to creating and voicing YouTube content (perfect for experienced tutors and teachers). Joining our team is an amazing opportunity to maintain a completely flexible work schedule in a calm, supportive and collaborative environment.
Check our “Jobs at FluentU” page to see what positions we’re currently hiring for.
Be Your Own Boss: 7 Ways You Can Teach Japanese Online
Cafetalk
Cafetalk is a fun, flexible teaching option with plenty of support to help you along.
With Cafetalk, you choose your hours. Since Cafetalk also adjusts for timezone differences, you don’t even have to do the math yourself.
If you’re not yet confident teaching Japanese online, Cafetalk even offers simulations and test calls to help you practice. Plus, after lessons, you get feedback from students to help you further build your skills. Still want a little more help? Cafetalk also offers free tutor counseling, which is basically like getting tutored in how to tutor.
To qualify, tutors must be over 20 and have permission to work in both their home country and country of residence.
Tutors earn a percentage of total lesson sales, which can increase based on sales.
Live Lingua
If you’re a native Japanese speaker, Live Lingua can be a great place to teach online.
Live Lingua’s requirements are more stringent than many websites. Not only must you be a native speaker, you must also have at least intermediate English skills, two years of experience teaching Japanese to non-native speakers and a university degree with education in teaching Japanese.
However, if you meet the qualifications, Live Lingua can be a fulfilling place to work. It is an online immersion school, so it is more intense than most online programs.
Preply
Preply operates much like a private business. You set your hours and rates, while Preply helps you connect with students and get paid.
Preply is a very flexible option. You load your calendar into Preply, so you can select when you are willing to work. You can also select whether you want to teach online, in person or both.
Preply is also flexible when it comes to finding students. You can search for them or they can search for you, so you never know when you’ll get new work.
While experience is encouraged, Preply doesn’t require it, so it is perfect for teachers just starting out.
Meanwhile, for Preply’s part, it takes a commission on your lessons, so be sure to take that into account when setting your rates.
italki
italki bills itself as “the world’s largest marketplace for online language teachers,” so it should come as no surprise that they have work for Japanese teachers.
italki allows you to work from home on your own schedule. Meanwhile, italki takes care a lot of the annoying details you’d rather not handle, like processing international payments and ensuring you get paid.
To teach on italki, you need advanced- to native-level proficiency, appropriate equipment and a strong internet connection.
While you get to set your rate, having more experience, special skills and/or a strong reputation on the site can make it easier to find students.
Verbling
Verbling wants to help you teach Japanese anytime, anywhere—how could you resist that offer?
If you are a native Japanese speaker and have experience teaching Japanese to non-native speakers, you can be considered for a position with Verbling. While you don’t have to have a teaching certificate, it is helpful.
Whether you hope to work occasionally, part-time or even full time, Verbling can hook you up. You set your own rates and build your personal brand, providing you with plenty of flexibility. Meanwhile, Verbling takes care of the administrative stuff and helps you connect with students.
Udemy
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just teach Japanese once and continue to earn income from it indefinitely? With Udemy, you can do just that.
Udemy allows users to create their own online courses, including crafting your own Japanese course. It’s a super flexible option and can provide you with an ongoing income for as long as students choose to take your lessons.
With Udemy, you don’t have to have any particular qualifications. You can do it whenever you want. You can even choose your course’s unique focus, meaning you can go as fun or serious as you want.
Udemy courses are based around video lessons, so you might have to brush up on your skills a bit, but once you’ve put together your course, it can keep making you money for years to come.
YouTube
It might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you consider teaching Japanese online, but YouTube can be a great place to teach.
You can start your own learning channel and teach the material you think Japanese learners need most. There is nearly limitless room for creativity and flexibility. As long as you have a good angle and captivating material, it doesn’t even matter how much experience you have with teaching or the Japanese language.
Plus, if you get enough followers, you may eventually be able to monetize your channel, which means you can earn an income from people watching the videos you’ve produced. Best of all, if you’re monetized, the income can keep rolling in as long as people click on your videos.
So if you are looking for a fun, rewarding job that will make you happy to get out of bed each morning, try teaching Japanese online through one of these websites.
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