Teaching English on Cambly: A Review
So , I did what I said I’d never do again: I went back to teaching English. (Insert dramatic music for added effect). Thankfully, just part-time and online-for now. Since entering the freelancer world I’ve been toying with different ways of supplementing my income. The most frustrating part of not working with a set organization has to be the wait time between producing the content and actually getting paid for it. The uncertainty was really getting to me and making me hate the writing and journalism world. I heard about a platform called Cambly which basically specializes in conversational English classes. About two weeks ago I signed up and haven’t looked back since.
Requirements for Cambly
The requirements for starting with Cambly are simple: basically you need to be a native or near-native English speaker. When it comes to the tech aspect of it all, you must have a computer or laptop that allows seamless video streaming. That includes a headset, webcam, and a decent internet connection.
What About The Pay?
Keeping in line with the informal nature of this platform, Cambly’s payment system is touch-and-go. The teaching system keeps track of your talk time and subsequently pays 0.17 cents per talk minute. A full hour of talk time will yield you $10.20. If you receive no calls or less than 15 minutes of talk time in your schedule hour, you will still get paid for 15 minutes or $2.15.
One of the best things about teaching for Cambly is the weekly pay via PayPal. Cambly tutors can expect a deposit every Monday as long as you reach the $20.00 threshold.
Cambly Teaching Materials
Most people who work for Cambly will say there are no teaching materials, but that’s not entirely true. A whole library exists of set lesson plans from conversational talk points, to test prep, and everything in between. Mostly though, people call to have free conversation with a native.
What About The Students?
From my past experience it seemed like most ESL companies were catering almost exclusively to an Asian clientele, but not Cambly. Their students come from all over the world but I’ve noticed and spoke to large amounts from Saudi Arabia and surrounding areas, Turkey, Brazil, China, and South Korea.
My First Impressions
Overall, I have a pretty okay impression of Cambly. Everything is pretty easy and straightforward. However, I’ve been having a lot of technical issues resulting in me getting kicked off the platform and banned for three days from signing up for coveted priority hours (which put your profile at the front of the line for students to choose from). I am still allowed to take and teach reservations, but it really sucks since we are paid by the minute.
In my opinion, I’d recommend ESL teaching on Cambly to people looking for an easy way to supplement their income, or make some extra cash on the side. They literally have open slots for classes 24 hours a day, so a person can squeeze classes in before work, after the kids have gone to sleep, or on a lazy Sunday.
If you are interested in seeing what conversational English teaching on Cambly is all about, sign up here.
