Online ESL Teacher for italki

A person who is certified to teach or is already teaching a language professionally may qualify for a professional teaching profile on italki.

If you apply for a professional teaching profile on italki, we will ask for documentation that proves your training or experience in:

• Education

• Language expertise

Since different countries offer different certification for education and languages, we review each application personally and make our decisions based on all of the information you provide.

Professional teaching profiles on italki must be able to demonstrate both skills.

• If you have a teaching certification in non-language subjects, then you must also provide documentation that shows your expertise or training in languages.

• If you have certification as an expert in some aspect of language (linguist, translator, etc), then you must also provide documentation that shows your ability or training as an educator.

This way, we can confidently recommend you to new students who want professional assistance with their language learning.

Background

Native or near-native speaker who is professionally certified or experienced in teaching a language as a foreign or second language. 18 years or older.

What you need to teach on italki:

1. "Native" or Advanced (C2) language proficiency

italki currently requires language proficiency of Advanced (C2) or "Native" level in order to create courses and teach a language. italki uses the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages for reporting language proficiency. You can read more about language requirements here.

2. Reliable access to an internet connection

italki teachers teach online. You will need regular access to the internet to:

• Give your lessons online.

• Accept lesson requests from students. Requests will expire if you do not respond within 48 hours.

• Communicate with your students and manage your teaching profile.

You should have reliable access to an internet connection with a speed of at least 2 MB per second.

You can test your connection speed here and improve your connection speed here.

3. VOIP software (Skype, Hangouts, Facetime, or QQ)

italki currently supports Skype, Google Hangouts, Facetime, and QQ. You must download, install, and create an account using one of these options before your first lesson. All are free to use for calling between computers. Most students and teachers use Skype.

Individual lessons have a duration of 30, 45, 60 and 90 minutes.

About italki

We launched italki at the end of 2006 as a social network for language exchange. We wanted to connect people around the world to learn from each other. We thought a bright pink logo would help.

We expanded italki into a "community marketplace" where learners could pay money to online teachers for personal lessons. It was a new idea, and many people were skeptical it could work as a platform.

We expanded our marketplace with more languages, more learners, and more teachers. In 2012 we completed our angel financing round.

We relaunched our mobile apps and website, and rebranded to our "neon salmon" logo. We completed a financing round in 2016 with Hujiang, a Chinese online education company.

We moved into our own office, and began expanding our team internationally. Our first acquisition was Lingbe, which is based in Spain.

Just like how you’re never done learning a language, we’ll never be done improving the experience on italki. It’s been an exciting journey, and we're looking forward to more challenges, opportunities, and successes in the future!