How to Make Money Easily by Speaking Your Native Language
No professional qualification required.
Gone are the days when you would have to attend a course at an institution to learn a new language. Sitting in a classroom and completing exercises in a textbook is a thing of the past.
Many people still struggle with 21st-century learning. However, there is another group that has embraced it wholeheartedly. And they are the key to increasing your income by doing nothing more than speaking your native language.
I discovered italki a few years ago, but only recently started to take it seriously. It is a language learning website that connects people who want to learn a language with people who can help them with it.
The best part is that you don’t need to have any professional qualifications, nor are you required to teach grammar. All you are required to do is to speak with someone over video call in your native language. However, if you speak another language at a C2 level, you can offer your services for that language as well.
For example, if you were born in Spain and have spoken Spanish your whole life, you can offer conversational practice to people who are learning Spanish.
The reason why this works is there is an increasing number of people learning a new language to communicate more than to pass an exam. Skills such as listening and speaking are of more importance to them than writing and reading.
The majority of the students on italki are looking for something they aren’t able to find in their home country, and that is a native speaker of the language they are learning. The only thing they want is to have a conversation. It truly is that simple.
In a lesson, besides speaking to them about anything under the sky, you may be asked questions about grammar. It is the one thing we all struggle with, sometimes even in our mother tongue. However, the students are completely aware that you are not a professional teacher, and you don’t have to feel pressured for not being able to answer.
Anything anyone wants to know is available online, and that too usually for free. Most students on italki are aware of this. Therefore, they don’t bother to waste their money, paying someone to explain to them information that is a click away. It plays to our advantage as it reduces the amount of work we have to do.
I have been teaching English on italki for the past seven months, and it has been an enriching experience. Having taught 125 students in total, I can safely say it is a fantastic way to work from home and earn money easily.
Once accepted, you will be able to set your hours and decide your price. The minimum you can charge for an hour lesson is $4, and the maximum is $80. Community tutors charge a lower hourly fee than professional teachers as the amount of work we do is much less as well.
If you think this is the perfect job for you, then let’s get into how you would go about it.
- The first thing is that there are two types of teachers on italki, namely Community tutors and Professional teachers. If you intend to provide conversational practice, then you will fall into the Community tutor category.
- You would need a stable internet connection as well as a device with a video camera where you can have the lessons on.
- Type “italki” into your Google search bar and create a free profile on the website. You will have to create a student profile first before you apply to be a teacher.
- Before you apply, you need to write yourself an introduction and take an introductory video of you that will both appear on your tutor profile. The video has to show you speaking about yourself in the language you intend to teach. Nothing fancy.
- Think of a display name which could be your name, find an appropriate profile picture that shows your face and your application is ready to be submitted.
The aspect of this job that I love the most is that you can choose when you would like to have lessons, and you can do it all from the comfort of your home.
It may be difficult to believe that you can make money from doing nothing but speaking to someone from the other side of the world in your native language. However, thousands of people are doing it today and have been doing it for years.
It’s your turn now.