Tutoring English Online with Preply

Teaching English online has become a massive industry. The growth was already rapid over the 2010s, but with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic forcing students of all kinds to study from home, it’s never been easier or more practical to pick up language skills from the comfort of your own home.

If you know anything about language tutoring online, there’ll be a few names you’re more than familiar with. Most likely, you’ll know Preply - and with very good reason. Founded in Ukraine in 2012, Preply has grown exponentially, along with the entire online teaching industry in recent years. 

Preply has expanded significantly, now offering Russian, English, French, German, Spanish and Italian lessons, and connecting online tutors with over 800,000 students. To serve those students, some 185,000 tutors have signed up to teach, with competitive pay rates and the ability to set one’s own hours. 

There’s good reason, then, for so many tutors signing up to use Preply. A big factor in the platform’s popularity is the ease with which a tutor can sign up, have a verified profile and, in no time, start teaching. For students, the ease of access is a major plus, and with reviews and profiles being a significant part of the experience, it’s easy to pick the right tutor for them.

One of the more accessible platforms for online tutoring jobs, we’ll get into the specifics with Preply before long, but the headlines are: you don’t need to be a native English speaker, you don’t need teaching experience, and you can even do it without a degree. The real proof of your value as a tutor comes in the form of reviews, how you set your fees, and whether or not you’re actually engaging with your students.

So, Preply: one of the biggest online tutoring platforms worldwide - what can it do for you and your TEFL career?

What are the requirements to teach with Preply? 

If you’re computer literate, and you have the skills to teach English online, the chances are you’re already more than capable of tutoring on Preply.

Compared to other online teaching companies, the requirements to teach through Preply are considerably less strict. We’ll get into specifics, but it’s a service that definitely benefits the newer TEFL teacher, or even those who are perhaps testing the waters for a career move.

Let’s get into the specific requirements you’ll need to teach on Preply.

Degree

You do not need a degree of any kind to become an online tutor on Preply. This means that students can earn extra income through teaching on the platform, as well as those who are considering career moves into teaching later in life. 

Of course, if you do have a degree - especially in a language or teaching-related context - you can put it on your profile and, inarguably, it’ll be attractive to potential clients. Do you need a degree to teach English with Preply, though? No, you don’t.

TEFL certification

This might be surprising, but just as you don’t need a degree, you don’t need to have TEFL certification either. Again, anyone can sign up to be a tutor through Preply. 

Just like with a degree, though, it’s all about having a profile on Preply that inspires excitement and confidence in potential clients. Having a TEFL certificate with at least 120 hours of training - the industry standard - is unquestionably going to attract tutees, because they’ll be confident in your abilities as a TEFL teacher.

To really make the most of Preply, and build the client base you want, having a TEFL certificate makes a considerable difference. Put yourself in the shoes of clients who are on your profile; a TEFL qualification looks better than nothing.

You may not need a TEFL certificate to get started, but we’d certainly recommend it.

Experience

So, no degree? No TEFL course on your CV? Surely you need some teaching experience to get started on Preply and attract students?

Well, interestingly, no: you don’t need teaching experience to teach English online with Preply. In fact, the online English teaching sphere is a great place to gain experience, and there are other online teaching platforms that don’t require a lengthy curriculum vitae full of schools.

As ever, though, experience does help. Just like a degree and a TEFL certificate, having some experience on your Preply profile is going to draw more clients in. It’s just that simple. That said, however, there are plenty of examples of inexperienced teachers setting up profiles on Preply and other tutoring services and quickly becoming popular and sought-after English teachers. 

We’ve heard cases of English teachers using online platforms to get to grips with lessons before embarking on in-person teaching. For example, ‘I Taught English Abroad’ guest Ellie Rayner used Covid-enforced waiting times before moving to Japan to her advantage, by teaching online. Though she had no experience beforehand, the opportunity of using online platforms was a major advantage when in-person classes began.

Can non-natives teach English with Preply?

One of the most frustrating barriers we see in English teaching is when, online or ‘IRL’, non-native English teachers with all the requisite skills and qualifications can’t find work because they aren’t from English-speaking countries.

Preply isn’t like this. It doesn’t matter where you’re from; if you can teach English to a high standard, build a client base and get paid to teach, you could be from anywhere. Language students who use Preply might have preferences, but broadly speaking, you can teach English online whether you’re from an English-speaking country or not.

Other Preply tutor requirements

You will need a level of computer literacy. To set up a profile with Preply, you’ll need to be able to upload a picture of yourself, as well as a 2-minute video that covers some of the content of your lessons. This is a chance to sell yourself as a viable tutor, and win over clients. After five days, your profile should’ve been checked over by Preply staffers, and you’ll be able to set up lessons.

Of course, you’ll need outstanding communication skills to truly make the most of the Preply classroom environment. This stands to reason, as it’ll be on you to interact with potential clients, arrange lessons, maintain relationships with students and present yourself well to the rest of the Preply community. Communicating well leads to income.

In terms of equipment, you’ll need a computer (obviously), a microphone, headphones, a stable internet connection and, of course, a webcam. You’ll also need to keep your computer up-to-date with software, and an environment free of distracting noises or images.

Finally, you need time. Availability is everything for Preply teachers, so make sure to commit to what works for you. If you’re wanting a part-time tutoring experience, make sure to mark your availability as such. If it’s more full-time work you’re after, then give yourself time to build up a client base, spend some of your downtime studying teaching techniques or sharpening your skill set in some other way, and be patient. 

The Application Process for Preply 

Sign Up and Create Your Profile

Start by signing up on the Preply website. Ensure your profile is complete and meets Preply’s guidelines. This includes a professional profile picture and a well-written description of your qualifications and teaching style. 

Record and Submit an Introduction Video 

You must record an introduction video lasting between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. The video should highlight your teaching experience, skills, and personality. Make sure to record in a quiet, well-lit environment and speak clearly.

Review Process

This process typically takes around five business days. The most common reasons for rejection are incomplete profiles or videos that do not meet the required standards.

Verification and Payment Setup

Once your profile is approved, you need to verify your identity by uploading a scan of your passport, government ID, or residency permit. Then you can set up your payment details to receive earnings. Preply uses services like PayPal, Payoneer, and Skrill for payments. 

What to Consider Before You Start

There are some key things to consider before you get started tutoring on Preply. Here, we’ll break it down into individual issues, and how you might address them:

Do I have the right tech?

Making sure you have a webcam, a reliable computer and wifi connection, headphones and a microphone is imperative. Ensure your computer allows regular software updates and has plenty of memory.

Do I have enough time to tutor?

Really think about your availability. Lesson plans are booked in blocks of 5, 10, 15 and 20, though students can ask for shorter sessions. It’s a commitment, so be absolutely sure you can definitely carry out all the language lessons you're promising.

What should I charge per hour?

Be realistic about your fees for language lessons. You set them, so ask yourself: if I was a student, what would I consider to be reasonable? Again, qualifications and experience count here. Don’t be afraid to charge more if you’ve got good reason to do so. However, underselling yourself can cause a ripple effect with other tutors, while over-charging can obviously turn students off.

Once you have a profile set up, see what other English tutors charge, and calculate an average hourly rate. That’s surely the best way of knowing what your lessons are worth within that particular marketplace.

Preply: pros and cons 

So, now we know how it works, and how easy it is to get started tutoring through Preply, what are the pros and cons of the international tutoring giant? Is Preply legit, do online tutors get a fair deal, and do new students get the best experience for learning a foreign language?

Pros of Preply

The joy of Preply is that you don’t need qualifications or teaching experience to get started. Fine, you might not be charging a great amount at the start, but as a way of getting into teaching English, specifically teaching English online, it’s hard to beat. Simply making yourself available and attractive to clients means there’s regular work to be had, degree or no degree.

Working from home is, obviously, a major boost. One of the joys of teaching online is that, regardless of age or physical ability, you can make a living from the comfort of your own home. Native speakers and non-native English speakers alike can find work from home, and charge as much money as they deem to be fair. Additionally, the flexibility of setting your own hours means you can set your life up around your work on the Preply platform - not the other way around!

The demand for tutors online is enormous, and Preply is one of the big hitters. Provided your profile looks right, you will find students who need your teaching skills. That means regular work, and there’s an excellent infrastructure in place to ensure payments go through, you’re being advertised effectively, and there’s a steady stream of students for you to work with.

Cons of Preply

Lots of international students and lots of teachers - native speakers or non-native speakers - is surely a good thing, but the competition can be fierce on Preply. According to some reviews, teachers found it took time to build a client base of Preply students, and with the company taking 100% of the first commission, there’s real pressure to impress from the off. Some reports suggest that it takes as many as 400 lessons to bring the commission down to around 18%. That's a lot of future lessons and much more tutoring to think about from the off, if you want this to be a career.

Secondly, the idea of “just anyone” being able to teach on Preply can seem like a good thing, but it isn’t always. From a student’s perspective, any tutor can say they’re “certified” without having to prove it. If you’re a tutor, and you have qualifications, you can just say that - but you don’t need to actually upload a degree certificate or relevant qualification. This means there’s competition from teachers who dictate their own lesson plans and claim to have qualifications that they just don’t have. Is that entirely fair? You decide.

About lesson plans - Preply won’t provide lesson plans for you, and while that allows a degree of freedom (and can be seen as a tick in the ‘pro’ column), it does remove something of a safety net if you’ve got lots of clients and you’re new to teaching. 

While you can earn extra through the Affiliate Programme, and bring new tutors to the platform, that has some very clear negatives. For students, it means potentially more unqualified or underqualified tutors to the service, and for tutors, it might mean extra income in the short-term, but more competition overall.

Finally, the block booking system means that while yes, there is the normal flexibility of an online tutoring job, it can be hard to get out of your obligations on Preply.