I love helping teachers create their own online platform. There are so many ideas and creative elements that we as teachers want to showcase, and building a site using WordPress (WordPress.org not WordPress.com) allows anyone to realize those ambitions without having to learn how to code. Sometimes ... The post Six Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Up Your Teaching Website or Blog appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

One piece of advice that I give to teachers starting out in this online world of teaching is to create true connections with English learners, students, and fellow teachers. My approach to reaching out and connecting with others online has changed dramatically over the past couple of years, and it&#... The post Why Connecting With Others Brings You More Students and Makes You a Better Teacher appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

Today we welcome our second guest poster to the blog: Jason R Levine. Jason and I have been collaborating on a few things recently, and I really wanted him to share his knowledge of online teaching here at TeachingESLOnline. So, below you’ll find a video that he kindly put together that gives ... The post Online Learning and Group Lessons (Guest Vlog by Jason R Levine) appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

We love to feature people who are making a mark in the online world, and today I have another guest vlog from Mau Buchler. Mau recently launched his unique English learning platform Tripppin. To give you a taste of what this is like, take a look at the introductory video: Speaking with Mau, I know h... The post Mau Buchler of Tripppin Drops In to Give Advice on Teaching Online appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

I’ve mentioned many times how important it is to have an email list if you teach online or have a website. But, what if you don’t teach online? Well, if you currently teach in a traditional setting, you should seriously consider getting in on the online action and start an email list. No... The post Using Email to Bridge the Gap Between Offline and Online and to Grow a Following appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." - William Arthur Ward. One of my students recently passed her IELTS exam on the first attempt. When she first came to me, she was nervous about speaking and had quite a low l... The post When a Language Teacher Becomes a Language Coach appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

First of all, Happy (belated) New Year to all my wonderful readers! I receive many emails from fellow teachers each day, and love hearing about your situation, what you want to achieve, and your successes. Keep the emails coming! 2013 was a great year for me. On a personal note, our son Thomas was b... The post What I Achieved in 2013, Projects in 2014, the Baby Effect, and Bill Gates appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

When talking with Drew Badger, it is soon obvious just how knowledgeable he is about marketing. He has built a successful online course that solves a big problem for English learners: becoming conversationally fluent. He also has a very successful Youtube channel with over 200 videos. In this post h... The post Get Sold (Guest Post by Drew Badger from EnglishAnyone.com) appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

I had my first experience using Google Hangouts on Air this week. I’m happy to say that it was successful both in terms of the presentation I gave and the technical side of things. I did A LOT of research and testing to ensure that everything went smoothly. There are a lot of ways that you can... The post Using Google Hangouts on Air for Teaching English appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

In my last post, I talked about how to use Google Hangouts on Air to teach live language lessons to an unlimited amount of people. Since then, I have received a lot of questions from people in my community about what platform is best to use when teaching one-to-one or small group lessons. Most peopl... The post Want to Teach Online? Here Are Four Platforms that You Can Use appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

In January, I wrote a post looking back on 2013 and also talked about my English teaching goals for 2014. Writing down this helped me process what I wanted to achieve and created some accountability. I also hoped that it would inspire others to get into the world of online teaching. In the post, I s... The post My 2014 Goal Update + 80/20, Batching, and Focus appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

I love featuring teachers who are doing their own thing online, giving others an opportunity to share their story and and their ideas, inspiring us all as we strive to succeed. Today I bring you Stephen Mayeux from ESLhiphop. I’ve known Steve for around a year now, and in that time we have con... The post Three Ways to Use Hip Hop in Your Next English Lesson appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

    Wednesday, 25th April was a strange day for me. And for countless other people too. When I checked my website analytics I thought there was a mistake. I was used to getting 500+ visits a day to my website, the vast majority of these coming through Google search. But only 98 visited. Wh... The post SEO for Teachers: How to Get Your Website Ranked Highly in the Search Engines appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

Rich Kiker was one of the presenters at the Teachers Teaching Online MOOC hosted over at WizIQ. I learned a lot watching his presentation, and as the number one voted Google Apps Trainer in the world, I was eager to interview him so he could share his knowledge and experience with us online English ... The post Using Google Products and Apps to Teach Online: An Interview with Rich Kiker appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

There was an article popping up in my various social media feeds the other day called, "Why Everyone Should Be On Twitter." I then realized it was by Mark Barnes, another fellow presenter in the TTO MOOC. I then read some more of his stuff, asked him for an interview, and a couple of day... The post Student Centered Learning, Social Learning, and Twitter: An Interview with Mark Barnes appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

I connected with James and his business partner Kris around a year ago, and if you are a regular reader of this blog, you will remember that Kris wrote a guest post last year (click here to read it). I was excited to get one of the guys back to talk about their new creation for English teachers, and... The post Teaching Young Learners Online, Getting Students, and Lesson Planning: An Interview With James Heywood appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

I’ve got a great interview for you below: Michael has been making videos for English learners (you’ll find out who he is specifically targeting later) since the 70s! He’s the perfect example of someone who has adapted to change, and has managed to build a very big audience of Engli... The post Making Videos, Solving Specific Problems, and Adapting: An Interview With Michael Marzio appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

I receive A LOT of emails from online teachers (and online teachers to be) about planning; namely, what they should include in their lessons and what resources they should use. As there are many areas of English and different teaching methods, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. What I do and wh... The post 19 Successful Online English Teachers Share Their Tips and Resources for Planning Online Lessons appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

Last month, I went app crazy. I signed up to take free trials for different CRM (client relationship management) software, email tools, and a host of other applications. Some of those turned out to be not that useful, but others stuck. And below, I share with you three tools that will help with your... The post Three Tools to Help You Be More Productive in Your Teaching Business appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

When I first talked about starting my own thing online to my friends in Valencia, I remember one teacher saying, "It sounds great, but I couldn’t teach while sitting down at a desk all day." For whatever reason, that has always stuck with me. And come to think of it, have you ever ... The post Teaching Online Doesn’t Have to Mean Sitting All Day appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

No matter the reason a learner has, I always experience that sinking feeling when I get told that they don’t want to continue with lessons. But, I soon move on and either find a new student to take that time slot (the power of having an email list), or as I have done recently, reduce my teachi... The post The Smart Way to Target a Specific Country With Your Online Lessons appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

Back in January, I wrote a review of 2013 and set some goals for 2014. Here are the goals I had: - Start a podcast - Create more videos for Youtube - Focus on my email list - Get more specific with my niche - Do group lessons - Create courses for English learners ... The post A Yearly Review and a Plan for 2015 appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

There are many reasons to use Google Drive as an English teacher. Personally, I use it for all my documents and spreadsheets which make running my online teaching business much easier. But in the video below, I specifically look at how you can use Google Documents, Google Presentations, and a very s... The post Using Google Drive to Collaborate With Learners Online (Including Audio Feedback) appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.

Teacher Diane is someone who I have been following online for the last year or so. So, it was a nice surprise when she reached out to me to connect. I soon realized that I wanted to give her the platform here at Teaching ESL Online to share her story and the valuable advice she has for other online ... The post Interview With a Location Independent Online English Teacher - Teacher Diane appeared first on Teaching ESL Online.