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Dumelang, Sawubona, Molweni. Do you know where in the world you are? How about load shedding? The Kruger National Park? Toy toying? Ah, yes, you’ve guessed it. We’re in South Africa, home to Table Mountain in the Mother City of Cape Town and two Nobel Peace Laureates, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. At a time like this, more and more South Africans are looking to find employment online. 

However, it has become increasingly difficult for South African teachers to find jobs with online schools due to a number of reasons. Those include:

• connection issues

• nationality

• gender

• race (sorry, but it’s a thing)

There is no need to despair though, because we have scoured the interweb to find schools that will make it easier for you to be able to teach English online as a South African. 

But first, let’s look at some reasons why you may be failing to find an online school.

1.) Your Accent

I hate to break it to you, but if you speak Xhosa, Afrikaans, Zulu or any other language at home, English is unfortunately not your first language. At the very least, you could work on putting on your poshest accent or practising so your accent doesn’t sound so heavily influenced by your home language. 

Practice speaking to someone who speaks really well and pretend they were the Queen or someone very prestigious. You have got to put your best foot forward because potential students are going to mimic your accent in hopes that it will help them achieve their goals. 

Please note: posh does not mean fake. The students, although not fluent themselves, can smell a fake accent a mile away. Not to mention the hiring team. So don’t fake it. 

Many students complain about South African teachers with heavy accents so, please work on your accent. 

2.) You’re South African

Does this shock you? Some online schools no longer view South African speakers as native speakers for whatever reason. This is disheartening and may have something to do with the fact that a lot of people who make up the rainbow nation are people of colour. The USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland are considered to be the cream of the crop and the official homes of the English language. Hence, why in some places, preference is given to people from those countries over South Africa. 

3.) Your internet connection

Ah, the dreaded Achilles heel. This is sadly one of the biggest reasons you may not get hired. Most companies prefer you to have a 10 Mbps download and upload ethernet line, meaning you shouldn’t actually be using WiFi. It’s not very reliable when you don’t have electricity and the connection may not always be stable. So if you decide this is for you, be sure to get a power backup supply.

4.) Load shedding

We can’t predict this nightmare that is load shedding. Tshwane might tell you that you won’t have light from 9 am to 12 pm, then it goes from 12 pm to 4 pm, a.k.a. your teaching time. This is why it would be good to have a power supply as mentioned above to make up for human error. You might even be forced to work the night shift. I did the night shift for about three years and all I can say is my sleeping schedule is forever messed up. 

5.) Bad experiences with South African teachers before you

Let’s just put it out there. The few teachers who started this road to teaching online failed miserably. Many companies have complained about the work ethic of several South African teachers. It’s not pretty. It now has become a consensus that teachers from South Africa are not hardworking, committed or serious about their jobs, therefore the rest of us must bear the brunt of that. How we act moving forward, however, will set the pace and hopefully change these companies’ views of South African teachers in general. 

Phew! Now that we have gotten all the unpleasant technicalities out of the way, let us look at some schools that should help us on our road to becoming online teachers. Let it be noted that since South African teachers are generally not seen as a native speakers, some of these schools may pay less than say SayABC, EF or VIPKid. 

That’s something you have to be OK with at the moment as you build up your experience and eventually branch out on your own.

Without further ado, here are some schools that accept South African teachers. 

1.) Magic Ears

Up until a few weeks ago, Magic Ears was only hiring teachers from the U.S. or Canada.  Fortunately for us, they’ve recently expanded their requirements to include all native English speakers. 

While Magic Ears does require you do be quite energetic and make extensive use of props, it does have one of the best pay rates in the industry at $26 USD/hour.

You will need to have a bachelor’s degree and a 120-hour teaching certificate in order to apply.  Learn more about teaching with Magic Ears here.  To apply immediately, check out this link.

2.) Skimatalk

Skimatalk is a great online company because unlike many other places, you don’t need a degree to teach there. However, you must possess soft skills like commitment, passion and professionalism.

Remember how a few bad eggs made the whole basket rotten earlier? Be committed. If you say you’ll teach for 20 hours, please do so and not turn up for only five. It hurts more people in the long run.

Experience is great to have but not a train smash if you don’t have any. Learn more about SkimaTalk, or Apply now. 

3.) First Future

First Future is a great option for South African teachers because they hire both native and non-native English speaking teachers.

The other great thing about this company is that even if you don’t have your teaching certificate now, you can still get it within 30 days of being hired with them.

First Future offers two types of teaching schedules: fixed and flexible. If you get approved for a fixed schedule, you will get paid for the amount of hours you commit to, even if your classes do not book! This is a great perk for those looking for stability.

Alternatively, if you need more flexibility, they have schedules where there are no minimum requirements and you can teach whenever you want to,

Learn more about First Future here.

4.) FluentBe

This online school seems to have the makings of the perfect online school for South African teachers. You’ll be teaching Polish adults and can expect about $10 an hour, negotiable. They require you to have at least one year experience teaching adults (teaching experience is a plus, even if you’ve taught on Skype or Zoom, etc). You should also be passionate, talkative, open, and have a good internet connection of at least 1 Mbps. Perfect, right? Find your dream teaching job by applying here. 

5.) Landi English

This is another school that has gotten some positive reviews from South African teachers. The pay is good: between $10 and $18 USD. Your internet connection must be at least 2 Mbps for both download and upload speed, and they have a preference for Wire DSL. You’re required to teach a minimum of 12 hours a week. You need to have a neutral accent, bachelor’s degree, TEFL certificate, teaching experience, and excellent communication skills. Learn more about Landi. Apply here.  

6.) TalkActive

This is another company worth a shot. To teach here, you need a stable internet connection with an upload and download speed of 10Mbps, a headset, a webcam or HD camera, Google Chrome, a BA Degree, a minimum of a 120hr TEFL Certificate and an intro video. You can apply to teach here. 

Sidenote:

Be sure to join these Facebook groups to get more schools that hire South African teachers: Teachers Online and ESL Teachers South Africa. 

Of course, be sure to keep trying schools like SayABC, iTutor and other schools on this website. You may be fortunate to get in. Do make sure to sort out your connection issues and have backups in place. Perseverance is everything during this time. I found out that three graduates were accepted into iTutorGroup, so it really just depends. 

Best of luck!

I hope these schools will help you on your road to teaching English online. Once you have gained the experience needed, you can go out on your own and reach more students. Be sure to read this article to find out what you need to consider before you become an independent online teacher. Comment below if you know any schools that take South African teachers.