Top tips to make it teaching online while you travel
So, you’re planning on teaching online while you travel. Fantastic! This is the way to do it. Use that newfound freedom and location independence to see the world. The only thing to think about is where you’re going to explore first, the jungle-clad hills of northern Thailand or the wave-bashed shores of the Mexican Pacific?
Or is it?
Actually, you’re going to need to consider a few extras if you’re looking to work as you globetrot. Things like planning ahead to check you’ll have decent enough internet and making sure you don’t burnout while hopping from country to country are top of the list. Let’s take a look…
Keep on top of your schedule
We’d say that being organized is one of the central pillars of being a successful digital nomad TEFL teacher. Customers – and your students are customers – won’t be happy if you’re a bad teacher, that’s true. But you can rest assured that they’ll be a whole load more annoyed if you simply fail to turn up for lessons at the right time.
The good news is that there’s now myriad tools that you can use to keep track of when you’re due to be teaching. Most folks use a combo of Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook. All of those have diary features with auto reminders built in. We also like Trello, where you check off completed lessons and list all the students you’re supposed to be teaching on a specific day of the week.
Know your time zones
One of the biggest pitfalls of teaching online while you travel is keeping on top of the regular changes in times zones. In a world where you can whiz from London to Bangkok in 13 hours, or hop from LA to Auckland in the same, there’s sure to be some pretty complex calculations when you try to offset lesson times with how far off GMT you’ve gone.
Thankfully, there are some nifty apps that can help you track it all. Find one that auto updates the time in line with your smart device. That should immediately calculate when your next lesson is due to start the moment you walk off the plane. Simple.
It can also be helpful to try and join-up all your teaching. Basically, you don’t want to be applying for jobs with online TEFL schools who teach Colombian kids when most of your lessons are with Chinese students. They’ll be at either end of the day!
Pick your accommodation wisely
Let’s get one thing straight: Teaching online while you travel probably won’t mean you can carry on with that caution-to-the-wind, budget-backpacker lifestyle. You might see pictures of folk working from a hammock somewhere on a tropical beach, but that’s about as close to the truth as someone saying they like Vietnamese egg coffee. (No they don’t. No one does! Surely?).
As an online teacher and a digital nomad, you’re probably going to be using a lot of short-term accommodation finders like Airbnb and NomadX. They offer some of the best places to stay around the globe for relatively low prices. Our advice?
Don’t just fall for the first luxurious beachside pad in Mexico that pops up. Do your due diligence. Message the host to ask for a screenshot of the internet speed. Check the reviews to see what the internet and electricity situation is like. Knowing that your pad is all set up for online teaching before you get there is worth oodles of reassurance.
Time your travels right
There might have been a time when you’d plump for that three-leg flight across the Pacific to get to Nepal for $40 less than you would on a direct link. That’s good and all, but it’s exhausting. You’re now going to be teaching English online while you travel. You might have to be ready to work, teach grammar, detailed vocabulary trees, and more from the very moment you touchdown in that new destination.
We’d steer clear of overnight buses (especially in Vietnam. Yikes!) and nocturnal layovers in uncomfortable airports. Think about paying a touch more for the connections and transportation that gets you to where you’re going with enough energy to discuss past participles and verbs the moment you arrive!
Always get a SIM
We’ll let you into a secret: A local SIM is a godsend for TEFL. They’ve been a backup for us in all sorts of destinations. There was that mega storm that knocked the electricity out in Greece. There was that snail-slow internet in the Philippines. Ah, and then that time we had to do an emergency trial lesson for a VIP student while waiting in an international departure lounge.
4G and even 5G coverage is now becoming more and more common all around the globe. What’s more, SIM cards with local data are now usually sold inside arrival halls at airports, so it’s just a case of hanging around for a little after you land to get connected. They’re really cheap in Central America and South America, but more expensive in Europe and Asia.
Can you think of any more tips for TEFL graduates thinking of going digital nomad this year? If so, we’d love to hear them in the comments below. Alternatively, if you’ve been excited by this list of thoughts on teaching online while you travel, head over to our online TEFL page for extra info.