While I was browsing through this latest Caffeinated Blogsite, I came across this post entitled, “Letting Students Know Who Our Most Reliable Tutors Are.”

As an intrigued tutor, I clicked on the link. This is what I have found out.

Surprisingly, I am one of those tutors who is on the list!

Congratulate me!!!!**clap,clap,clap**

Thanks to my dear students for appreciating me as your teacher.

One simple reason I am listed there:

I respond to lesson requests within 24 hours.

If tutors confirm promptly, most often than not Cafetalk does not loose the student’s trust. I never really had a bulk of students in Cafetalk but being committed to what I have posted on my profile, I should say, earned a reward.

Soon, Cafetalk will also post tutors who offer unique lessons to students.

Good job Cafetalk! What a good way to reinforce teachers.

I was just in time to log in for my Online Class without a prepared lesson for the today. With my few minutes left before my first student comes in, I searched the web and found this. (Click for ESLGOLD) What a great help for a teacher!

From the site, I found a very nice topic for my week’s conversation topic. It wasn’t a tedious preparation thinking and looking for topic that suits my students’ needs and interests. I have everything that I need for my speaking lessons. They’ve got pictures, list of questions for the flow, articles, videos and many more.

ESLGOLD really made my day easy!

In SLP Academy, we are not given any materials for our ESL students. There are no strict rules or guidelines that we follow. Though, we, teachers, were encouraged to teach students answer in complete sentences.

Furthermore, as an ESL Teacher who is assigned to just converse with students may not always be that easy. We have to remember that each student is a unique individual with different interests and their levels vary (others may be beginners, intermediate or advanced). Some like reading texts, using picture books and many more.

Within my first three weeks, I have learned to deal with my different students’ needs and interests. Since my students’ age range from 8 to 16 years old and some are beginners while others are advanced (though advanced may only be few) and I only get to meet my student once a week for 15 mins. so it’s very important to take note of each student’s name, what has been talked about and how is the student like during conversations.

Here are some topics, I have started with the following:

• Week1 (Day 1) Getting to know you. Knowing the student’s name, age, interests and hobbies.
• Week2 (Day 2) What day it is? What’s the weather like today? Days of the Week.
• Week 3(Day 3) Given choices, talk about a place the student wants to go to.

For some intermediate and advanced students, I used the story that was shared to me by one of my students. It’s an Aesop’s Fable entitled, “The Golden Ax and The Silver Ax”. For very young children or for a few beginners who really doesn’t want to talk, I show them a picture book found on Genki English Site.

Of course, being an ESL conversationalist is not limited to the topics I have listed above, one can go a long way from what was started. 15-mins is a lot of time and there are lots of things that a teacher and a student can talk and share about. What else can you share? Can you share them with us? : )

Minimum Requirements

(but some Korean Schools may ask for more than the list below):

Male/Female, not more than 40 years old

Must be willing to work from Mondays to Fridays

Has at least 6 months of online teaching experience, preferably to Koreans or to foreign students

Must have a neutral American accent

Must have a strong sense of responsibility and commitment

Other Reqirements:
Must have a WIRED internet connection (DSL, Broadband, Cable, etc) plan of at least 512 Kbps, a good working headset with a noise cancellation function and a web cam
Computer/Laptop used must be at least a Pentium IV or higher, and with at least a 512 MB memory or higher
Must be situated in a quiet environment.

Due to a number of people asking me about my current part-time job as an ESL Online tutor (Home-based) and how I got it, I had to rant about this one. This site was the one in charge of it all. Please read on…

OnTue.Com is an online site that helps ESL teachers and students find each other. Most of the clients here are Koreans while many teachers are Filipinos.

At first, I find this hard to manage as there are many requirements before one can completely enjoy its features but their posting requirements though tedious, I should say, made sense after all.

Thru this site, teachers can create their own profile with their resume and pictures, sample videos and audios, class schedules, blogs about online teaching so that students and employers can easily find them. Teachers can also exchange ideas about their teaching strategies and experiences. By using their sections, a teacher will have greater chances of getting students or employers whichever is desired. It’s a good way of marketing oneself for FREE!!! Students and employers can also place ads for their needs for FREE. Teachers can see the section, “TEACHERS WANTED”. This section is a listing of current students or employers seeking for teachers. While in the “STUDENTS WANTED” , teachers can post their schedule and rate so that students can get in touch with the teachers.

What’s good about OnTue.Com is that the statistics of teachers, students and employers who use this are so high that it is very easy to find what you are looking for. The statistics alone can tell you if this is a working site or not.

As of today, June 16, 2009, there are 6803 teachers. Because there are many qualified teachers on the site, more students and employers look and place their ads on this site. Some sites have a few teachers and a few students but chances are slim for outsourcing ones needs.

Of all my internet surfing for an ESL job, this is the site that produced result in me! Visit the site, learn more about it, post your curriculum vitae and get an ESL job that you’ve been searching for.