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Do you think learning English, Spanish or any other foreign language is now just a click away wherever you are in the world? You are right ! But… the plethoric offer of online courses does not mean that you will find a friendly, motivating and inexpensive English teacher in 2 clicks! You will have to consult the evaluations of the students, test the teachers or tutors yourself, analyze the prices and be clear about your expectations.
Special offer to discover in this article Nothing insurmountable but still, it can quickly become a hassle. So we have done a lot of analysis work for you in order to establish a comparison between the platforms offering language teachers for online courses . We present here our selection of sites that put you in touch with teachers to progress in English or in another language. Take care to understand the particularities of each because if the prices vary from simple to quadruple, it is because the quality of the courses, the certifications of the teachers and their nationality also differ.
Thousands of language teachers at all prices
The market for online language courses continues to grow, it exceeded 12 billion dollars in 2021 and some predicted that it would reach 25 billion in 2025. It must be said that online training includes apps, e-learning programs to learn by oneself, individual courses, virtual classes in groups, etc. So the first thing to do is to think about the course format that best suits your needs.
Info to noteIf you are not sure if you want to meet a remote teacher, read our article Choosing the language app or course that will help you progress effectively . We guide you by presenting the different course formats, to learn by yourself or with a teacher.
To find a course with a language teacher, the first step is to choose between 2 types of providers:
Training centers and organizations that recruit their own teachers . The latter have language teaching diplomas and are monitored and paid by the organization, which can generate more expensive rates. As these providers are numerous, we have presented in another article our selection of the companies offering the best online language courses .
Sites that connect learners and independent teachers . In this case, you are the one who pays the teacher, even if the payment goes through the platform to be secure and for it to take a commission. It is on these platforms that we focus in this article, because finding what makes the difference between one or the other is not simple.
Linking sites between teachers and students
Their business model is to take a commission on each course in exchange for providing teachers with a volume of clients seeking courses. For teachers, flexibility and freedom are immense, from all points of view (schedules, long-term commitment, pedagogy, qualifications, etc.).
Thousands of people therefore register as teachers on these platforms. To find the best language teachers, we advise you to limit yourself to sites specialized in language learning , because there are also sites to find a teacher in any field. Those who focus their efforts on recruiting and monitoring foreign language teachers maximize the quality of lessons and therefore your chances of success.
Despite this, you will see that teacher profiles are heterogeneous. They are native speakers of the language taught or not, graduates in language teaching or not, experienced in online teaching or not… In short, depending on the sites, the selection is more or less severe and there is no necessarily mutual aid between teachers to improve.
But anyway we do not all have the same requirements and we must also choose according to our budget. The main thing is to select the teacher who will meet our expectations to continue with him over time, because it is not in 2 or 3 lessons that we progress!
Choose your tutor or language teacher in just a few clicks
A student compares language teachers from italki, Preply, Cambly and Verbling platforms It was difficult to establish a concise comparison quickly directing you to a particular platform because several of them offer a very varied mix of profiles of teachers and tutors, qualified or not. We have therefore established a summary of the characteristics of the 8 sites selected by the editorial staff . Go through it to the end, keeping your criteria in mind to avoid wasting time or falling into marketing traps! For example :
– If you want a teacher who has a good accent and who corrects you when you pronounce badly ⇒ choose a site where all the teachers are native speakers of the language they teach.
– If you want fun and relaxed lessons to progress in conversation ⇒ choose a site on which the profiles of the teachers include a video in which they introduce themselves.
– If you want courses based on support and structured content to be able to revise and follow your progress ⇒ choose a site offering qualified teachers in the teaching of the chosen language.
– If you need a certification or proof of the level reached ⇒ choose an online language school type platform delivering a level certificate at the end of your courses.
Teacher skills: Native or advanced speakers, qualified or not (they are called professional teachers if they are qualified or community tutors if not).
Selection criteria: Country of origin, languages spoken, native or not in the language taught, professional or tutor, price range, type of lesson, availability ranges. And on each form, you have access to presentation texts and videos, number of lessons and students, response and attendance rates, evaluations and comments, and the price of course.
Rates: Very variable, on average around 20€/h, with decreasing rates for certain teachers. 30-minute trial lessons at a reduced rate (around €5, 3 lessons max). No engagement.