After being accepted to become an Italki teacher, I started straight away with opening my schedule up for following two months. This month I complete my second month and wanted to share the good, the bad and the alright. This is an honest review of the platform, schedule, pay, and is not sponsored by Italki.
The Good:
- You create your own schedule
You are 100% flexible to create your own schedule. There are no minimum amount of hours and no required set schedule. This is a huge plus for those who are taking this on as a side job as the majority of teaching websites require at least 4 hours of your time. - You can decide your students
Unlike some platforms that require you to accept all students, you have the option to decline a student for whatever reason and they are not able to give you a poor score because of it. This was an important point for me as for some platforms you are forced to answer an hour long call with anyone that were to chose you as a teacher. - Easy to navigate platform
It is very easy to use their platform. I felt like it was very straightforward to figure out when your upcoming classes are, your monthly schedule and your pay.
The Bad:
- The unexpected class for a child
As I was previously teaching children on children specific platform I joined Italki with the full intention of teaching min. B1 level teenagers and adults. Despite having it in my profile and in my Italki video, I still have the occasional adult that books me for his or her child and does not warn me in advance. This is a con for me because if I had known it was a child beforehand I would politely decline and refund them. So make sure when you are taking on a new student that the class is for them if you are not interested in teaching children. - Reviews
Sometimes as you can imagine, there is no connection between you and your student and despite as much as you try, your personality is not their cup of tea. While you are beginning with a few reviews this can tank your teacher star rating and cause considerable damage in bookings. - Few methods to withdraw payment and only on the 15th and 30th
This was something that shocked me. Is that there were very few ways to withdraw money and also some payment provider fees. The only two options are through Payoneer and Paypal. Payoneer offers a flat fee of $1.5 for ACH accounts, higher for other types of accounts whereas Paypal collects 3-3.5% fee to transfer your money. The worst part of it all is that you can’t even take it out when you want! It has to be processed (not paid out) the 15th or the 30th. - 24/7 teaching availability (not specific to Italki)
This I believe you can find on the majority of platforms that students reach out to open up a class on any given time or day. For some full-time teachers this may be okay however in my case I felt it was quite frustrating trying to accommodate students at all these odd hours. I ultimately found it was best to stick to my set schedule and not accept any additional requests.
The Alright:
- The fees
Italki takes a 15% commission on all classes except for trial classes. This may not sound like a lot but for US citizens who get taxes both federal (15.4%) and state income tax (varying by state) you may want to think twice when deciding on your rates. I found that for me, a min of 22 dollars an hour would make it worth it to teach with the italki fee and federal tax.
- Community vs Professional Teachers
I have taught in a public elementary school here in Spain and also have an extensive background in teaching English as a second language. That doesn’t stop students from asking for a bargain or not understanding why your classes are priced at 20 dollars and Betty Sue’s at 8 dollars. If you do apply to become a professional teacher the minimum you can charge is 8 USD for 30 minutes, that already takes you out of the league for many students who can find a community teacher for 8USD an hour. - Time Commitment
The majority of my students were free to have classes on the weekends as they were full time professionals. Doing this as a side job, I knew that I would have to have availability at least one day of the weekend. It is something to consider when signing up as it does take away from your social life. Usually students like to book two weeks in advance however that means random last minute weekend trips or hiking in the morning – adios.
Have you taught on Italki? Are you teaching on any other english teaching platform? Let me know!