Are you looking for a way to help students with their language learning and make money from teaching online? Cambly could be the perfect opportunity for you. As a Cambly tutor, you will be able to help students from around the globe become more proficient in English through conversations.
You can set your own hours and teaching style, making it a great fit for any busy teacher’s schedule. Plus, Cambly offers paid training and support to make sure you feel confident in your teaching abilities. Let’s break down how to get started with Cambly, the pay as well as the overall pros and cons.
Cambly Overview
Cambly is a platform that connects you with adult language learners for conversations on specific topics. You are paid .17 cents a minute or $10.20 an hour and payouts are weekly sent to your PayPal. There are no minimum hours expected, no teaching experience or degree required. However you must be a native English speaker and you must have a computer or phone.
As this is a conversation platform the requirements are not strict. Other platforms like VIPKID for example are considered online tutoring centers and must adhere to stricter hiring standards. For more, checkout our article on “can you teach English with no degree?”
To recap:
- .17 cents a minute pay with weekly payouts to PayPal every Monday.
- No teaching minimums.
- No experience or degree required.
- You must be a native speaker with a laptop or phone
What is it like tutoring adults on Cambly?
Once you’re setup on Cambly you can schedule your availability while signing in as a tutor. Students book your time and then you have a conversation. Depending on the package that your students bought, you’ll have to teach for 15 minutes, 30 minutes or up to an hour.
In addition, students can also submit a booking request days in advanced that you can approve or reject if you’ve not yet set your availability. Conversations are 1 on 1, 24/7 with students around the world. Lessons are recorded for the students to review and the app has a text translation feature built in to help with learning.
For the highest chance of getting booked, make sure you open hours during peak times for Asia, the Middle East and South America.
Priority hours
Priority hours are where you open your availability for an hour or more and commit to being available, answering all in-coming calls you receive. The benefit of this is that the platform will feature you to new students and sometimes Cambly runs incentives to get teachers to open priority hours by guaranteeing 15 minutes worth of pay even if you don’t teach.
From our experience, you need to open priority hours as a new teacher. It’s the best way to get exposure and students. Next, work quick to build up some regular students and build out a predictable schedule. Once established, you can then open priority hours only when there is an incentive running.
What happens if I miss my lessons?
Cambly does not penalize you in any way if you miss a class. You can simply reschedule if your student likes. The downside of missing a lesson is that you may lose a regular student or students may stop booking you all together if you develop a habit of missing class.
Recap:
- 1 on 1 video calls.
- Cambly is available 24/7 for students.
- As a teacher you can set your availability for whenever you want.
- Priority hours are required to get new students.
- Can approve or reject booking requests.
- Lessons are recorded for students automatically.
- Cambly has a built in text translation feature.
- No financial penalty for missed classes.
Cambly Kids overview
Cambly also features a dedicated “Cambly Kids” feature for young learners from the ages of 4-15 years old. The pay for is slightly higher at 20 cents more an hour or $12 USD per hour instead of the standard $10.20 an hour.
Cambly Kids lessons are proper, structured 30 minute lessons that must be booked in advanced. You’ll have access to an online whiteboard, pre-made lesson slides and be expected to use props, TPR and develop your own reward system. You are also free to expand the lessons as needed and at your discretion.
For these kids classes you’ll need the proper equipment for online teaching. We strongly suggest a quality pair of headphones and a good laptop with a touch screen. That way you can develop a great classroom experience and have a nice rotation of students.
Do you teach kids in the standard Cambly platform?
No, Cambly is for adults. You open your availability in priority hours and adults call in. Adults can also submit booking requests as well. For Cambly Kids, all lessons are pre-booked which gives you time to review the lesson material.
However, we do want to mention that some parents do occasionally use the standard Cambly platform for their young learners. Some students are quite advanced and can benefit from the adult version of Cambly. You do not need to teach a young learner in standard Cambly and won’t be penalized in any way if you exit the class.
In general, it’s quite difficult to teach children without slides, props and the pre-made lesson material. So again, this is a judgement call you have to personally make.
Recap:
- Cambly Kids lessons pay 20 cents more an hour or $12 an hour.
- Lessons are pre-booked and for 30 minutes.
- You’re required to use TPR, props and have a reward system.
How to get hired on Cambly Step by Step
The Cambly onboarding process is quite simple and straightforward. The biggest issue however is how long the review process can take. We’ve had teachers get approved in a few days, a week and one teacher it took almost a month before they got approval.
Here is how you get started on Cambly:
Step 1: Create an account on Cambly
Head over to Cambly.com/en/tutors/ and click the “get started” button. Here you’ll have to create a tutor account where you can access your schedule and more. You’ll then be asked if you’re applying to Cambly or Cambly Kids. You can always apply to one or the other at a later date. So don’t think it’s an either or situation.
When creating your profile you’ll need to upload a profile picture. This needs to be a clear headshot where you’re smiling and looking directly into the camera. No sunglasses, tight head shots of only your face, nohats (unless it’s for a religious purpose) and no animal.
For the basic info we strongly suggest using a fake name or abbreviating your last name. Like “Lindsey M” for privacy purposes.
Step 2: Record a video introduction of yourself
We have a dedicated guide on video introductions that you can checkout. For Cambly you’ll need a written introduction, and a video introduction that’s 1-3 long where you showcase your personality and teaching style.
You’ll also need answer why you want to teach on Cambly, work experience, any certificates, your dialect (all teacher must be native), overall teaching style and your hobbies and interests. There is no strict format to adhere to but make sure to dress appropriate and show your teaching style.
Before submitting your video make sure the audio is good, the video is not grainy, your face is well light and there are no distracting items in the background. Ideally for online teaching you’ll want a plain, clean background with perhaps a few items (see our online teacher backgrounds).
Step 3: Connection test
Cambly want’s to verify that you have adequate internet speeds for teaching online. This is an automatic test and can be completed at any time. Cambly want’s to verify you have a good connection, headset, webcam and good lighting.
Done!
Once you complete your profile and submit your video it’s simply a waiting game to hear back from Cambly. Your application will be sent to the recruitment team and once approved you’ll be notified via email. Then you can log into your account and start teaching.
Cambly Pros and Cons
So after working with a few different Cambly teachers the pros and cons of this platform are fairly consistent from multiple teachers:
Pros:
- No degree or experience required.
- Flexible scheduling 24/7.
- Can teach adults or children.
- You can teach on your terms how you like.
Cons:
- The pay is low.
- Cambly support is mediocre at best.
- Students can be disrespectful and rude (very rare).
Cambly Tutor – Conclusion
Cambly is an online language-learning platform that connects English learners with tutors from around the world for one-on-one conversation practice. With over tens of thousands of registered users and thousands of active tutors, Cambly is quickly becoming a go-to resource for people looking to learn a new language or improve their conversational skills.
If you’re interested in becoming a tutor on Cambly, we encourage you to apply today. It’s a great way to make a side income, have interesting conversations, teach kids and meet people from around the world.
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