If you'd asked me 12 years ago if I wanted to be a teacher, my answer would have been a resounding "hell no!" I hated school as a kid. In fact, I still have nightmares about some of the horrible teachers I had over the years. That’s right, Mrs. Rachel B. Pratt from Tropical Park Elementary, Mrs. Helen Robin from Coral Park Elementary, Mrs. Phyllis Eagen from North Hialeah Elementary, Mrs. Brown from Miami Park Elementary and Mrs. King from Hialeah Middle School—I’m talking to you!
So, what on earth possessed me to become an online English teacher? Honestly, financial necessity. Don’t get me wrong—teaching doesn’t pay much, and working abroad as an online English teacher pays even less. But it’s better than sitting on my ass doing nothing. These hands were not made for construction work or cleaning toilets, so those options were off the table.
For years, I worked as a freelance writer, but the work was boring, the pay wasn’t great, and working under an Argentine boss who constantly insisted she was right—even when she wasn’t—was demeaning. So, I started teaching.
It was slow going at first. I began with just two or three students and, to be honest, had no clue where to start with lessons. Should I teach basic greetings? Slang? Verbs? Nouns? Adjectives? I had no idea. I downloaded a couple of online English books for guidance, but they weren’t much help. Some students could parrot back everything I said and read decently, but they had no idea what they were actually saying.
Three months into teaching, I started feeling like this was a mistake. It didn’t help that my few students were constantly canceling on me and refusing to reschedule. But around the fourth month, I started reviewing all the notes I’d taken over the weeks to pinpoint where my students’ greatest weaknesses were. This helped me design a whole new lesson plan for future students, and let me tell you—it worked. Word started to spread about me, and soon I had students not just in Argentina but beyond—including Argentines living in Australia and others in desperate need of conversational English lessons. I even gained an Italian student splitting his time between Australia and Italy and another based in Colombia.
But these international students presented a payment problem. I no longer had a U.S. bank account—just an Argentine one, and receiving money from abroad here is a nightmare. While I had no trouble receiving transfers from Argentine students, non-Argentine students required me to open a Wise account for dollar payments.
This seemed like a solution until I discovered I couldn’t receive a Wise bank card. Wise only issues cards to certain countries, and Argentina isn’t on the list. I tried using my New York driver’s license and later my U.S. passport, but that didn’t work since I’d been living abroad for over a decade. Wise required proof of a U.S. address, but my W2 tax forms from novel sales weren’t acceptable.
Desperation set in. By then, I’d been teaching non-Argentine students for months and had accumulated a decent amount of money in my Wise account—money I couldn’t withdraw. I was ready to quit when one of my Argentine students, who had lived in Italy and later moved to Australia, came to my rescue. He had a Wise account and agreed to let me transfer funds to his account, after which he’d send me the equivalent in Argentine pesos. The only catch? I couldn’t risk transferring everything at once since Wise is known to flag and freeze accounts over “suspicious activity.” So, I transferred $100 at a time every two months. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.
Now that I’ve figured out how to get paid, let’s talk about the downsides of online teaching.
The Downsides
Constant Cancellations: Some students cancel all the time. At first, I didn’t mind, but it became a recurring issue. Soon, I was stuck recovering classes from previous months, leaving me unable to charge for new ones. My solution? If students want to recover a class, they have to do it within the same month, or they lose it. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Lack of Interest: Some students show zero interest in rescheduling canceled classes. This tells me they’re not serious about learning and are wasting my time.
Ignoring Materials: I often email students materials to review before class or send notes with corrections afterward. Yet, many admit they don’t bother reviewing them. Their nonchalant attitude pisses me off. Why am I even taking the time to write notes if they won’t use them?
Repeating the Same Mistakes: Many students make the same errors every single class. Common culprits include pronouncing -ED endings in past tense words incorrectly (“walked” as “WO-KED”) and mispronouncing silent letters like the L in “walk” or “could.”
Pronunciation Challenges: Argentine students, in particular, struggle with the J and G sounds, often pronouncing “Jenny” as “CHE-ni.” To help them, I suggest thinking of the J sound as similar to a Y. For G sounds, I provide phonetic clues, such as writing “FOR-GUET” for “forget,” which aligns with the Spanish pronunciation rules they are familiar with. For instance, in the Spanish word guerra (meaning “war”), the G is pronounced similarly to the G in “forget” when followed by a U. This approach helps bridge their understanding between English and Spanish pronunciation.
No-Shows: Some students don’t bother showing up or even letting me know they’ll miss class. Emergencies happen, sure, but lame excuses like “I forgot” or “I was on vacation” are disrespectful. My policy now? I wait 10 minutes, end the call, and offer no recovery class. Waste my time, lose your money.
Yawning: Yawning during class without muting the mic or excusing themselves drives me nuts. While time zones can make classes inconvenient, a little courtesy goes a long way.
The Upsides
Of course, there are plenty of reasons I stick with online teaching.
Watching Progress: Seeing students learn and remember something we covered earlier is incredibly rewarding.
Building Connections: Teaching allows me to connect with people in ways I never expected. I’ve formed genuine bonds with many of my students, even after they’ve stopped taking classes.
Staying Informed: My students often share news or cultural insights, helping me stay connected to Argentine life and beyond.
Gaining Perspective: Teaching has shown me the kind, open-minded, and generous side of Argentines that I hadn’t experienced before.
Helping People: I’ve always loved helping others. Teaching not only fulfills that but also gives me the chance to share aspects of American culture and sometimes offer advice or emotional support—a bit like being an unofficial therapist.
Learning from Students: I’ve learned so much from my students about the different accents and ways of speaking in various Argentine provinces. For instance, while people from Buenos Aires tend to pronounce the letter "s" with intensity, those from Santa Fe often drop it entirely. This difference carries over to both castellano (Argentine Spanish) and English, which fascinates me.
Mutual Teaching: When I write in castellano to better explain an English word or phrase, I sometimes make spelling mistakes because I don’t have much experience reading or writing in castellano. Luckily, my students are always happy to help me correct these errors. In effect, while I’m teaching them English, they’re teaching me how to write in castellano—a bonus I hadn’t anticipated!
Advice for Aspiring Teachers
If you’re thinking about teaching, start with the basics: vowel sounds, the alphabet, and simple verb tenses like the past, present, and future. Avoid more complex tenses like the perfect forms until students reach an intermediate level. Also, focus on foundational topics like:
When to use “a” and “an”
When to use “to”
Gerunds
Verbs, adverbs, and adjectives
Teaching isn’t always easy, but the pros outweigh the cons. And hey, if I can go from saying “hell no” to teaching full-time, maybe it’s worth a shot for you, too.
