The IELTS test is a key part of many non-native speakers’ journey into entering a university in a native English-speaking country, such as the UK, or Canada. Teaching IELTS is a great way to gain greater satisfaction than teaching general English and usually pays more. So, who can do it?
IELTS teachers do not need to have any special qualifications in order to teach IELTS. However, teachers do need extensive knowledge of different strategies for each part of the test. Experience is normally the main prerequisite for an IELTS teaching job.
To gain a job as an IELTS teacher an employer would most likely want to see some experience on your resume, perhaps a certificate from an IELTS teaching course that you have completed and they would most likely test your knowledge of the test itself during interview. They may even ask to speak to former students of yours that you have coached through the test. We’ll go into each of these and more next.
How To Start Teaching IELTS
Get To Know The Test
I highly recommend you take an IELTS test yourself. You need not go to the expense of paying for a formal test but you should sit down with a full past paper, at least for listening, reading and writing, and have a go at them under timed conditions.
Mark your paper yourself using the official marking criteria publicly available and see how well you do. It usually surprise even native speakers how tricky some parts of the test are.
For example, the different question types for the listening and reading section take some getting used to and you may actually have more problems working out how to answer the questions rather than working out what the answers are. Especially the first time you do it.
You may also struggle with working out what to actually write for IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 as this is not a style of writing that many people will be used to.
Overall though, doing the test will give you a much better understanding of what your future students are going through and how you can help them.
Watch IELTS Speaking Interviews
Whilst you can’t really take a speaking test. You can learn the process for the test and how it should unfold by watching one of the official IELTS channels such as:
Some of the ‘mock interviews’ you see on YouTube are absolute nonsense. The examiner is not following the IELTS protocols and so the students are not practising in the most effective way.
IELTS speaking examiners have strict time limits to adhere to for each part of the test. They have a set script to follow and questions to read from for pretty much the entire test. It is not a casual chat with a student but a thorough and easily repeatable process that examiners have to follow.
Understand The Band Descriptors
Now you have got an idea of the test format and structure you need to understand how all parts of the test are graded, particularly the speaking and writing parts as this tends to be what candidates want the most help with.
You will need to develop a sound working knowledge of the band descriptors and be able to identify what a candidate is doing well in each band and what there next step should be to improve in each one.
If you can master the art of providing students with the next important steps they need to take to improve their scores they will be very happy with your service.
To develop this understanding quickly I would do two things. Firstly, watch the videos on this channel here which give really strong advice aligned with the official bands and also get an official IELTS past papers book which has a section in the back with student answers and explains how and why they need improving.
Once you have done this you will be on a much surer footing when students ask for help. It is worth getting this step right otherwise you are just another native speaker ‘winging it’ and with the IELTS test being so formulaic giving the wrong advice can hinder and not help a student’s band score.
Get Your First Clients
Depending on your situation you may have a queue of students wanting your help with IELTS straightaway but if not a few simple things you can do to pick up your first clients are:
- Put up a small ad on a university, college, or high school noticeboard. Yes, they still exist and work?
- Put the word out. Simply tell your friends, colleagues, and students you know let word of mouth do the work for you.
- Get over to italki. Put together a short intro video and upload a profile saying you specialise in IELTS and wait to see what comes along.
- Get the word out on Facebook. Sometimes one post telling the world what you are doing is all that is needed to get the ball rolling.
Gather Your First Testimonials
If you want to turn this into more than just a couple of hours extra teaching then gathering testimonials from candidates you have coached successfully is a great way of showing you are worth paying for.
A typical testimonial should include how much they improved with you. How long they studied with you? What lessons were like and where are they now? Something along the following lines:
I studied with Mr. Tim for 3 months and improved my score from 6.5 to 7.5. Lessons were well-prepared and challenging but I always knew what I had to do to improve.
-Daniel, applying to Sydney University.
Something as short and sweet as that will do, even better if you can get a video recording of the student you taught afterward.
Develop A Following
If you want to turn this into a full-time gig then you are going to need both a website and a Facebook page.
Here’s my glorious IELTS website. Around 20k visitors a month which provides plenty of opportunity to gain private students outside my day job.
Start writing articles and tips for students and posting them online. Get your students to share them with their friends and start generating some momentum.
Post video clips of you teaching and start posting to YouTube as well. Remember, you don’t need a million subscribers. You only need a small following of a few hundred to produce a few paying customers. Here’s my channel.
You can even run Facebook ads targeted at the prime age group for IELTS of 18-25, or target the postcodes around where you live if you are teaching face-to-face.
After a while, you will work out what works best for your business and you just rinse and repeat the process gaining more and ever better testimonials as you go.
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Create And Sell Courses
After doing this for a few months you will automatically create a stockpile of resources, slides, past papers, and so on. Why not put these to good use by creating an online course?
It is not as difficult as it sounds and various platforms have made it really easy to do, such as Teachable. If you are a likable character and provide decent information then there is no reason why you should not profit from your own courses.
Okay, so if I was going to continue I would say brand your courses and products, franchise your business and take over the world! But, that is a little far-fetched.
Anyway, I hope I have enlightened you somewhat about the fact that you do not need any professional qualifications or certificates to teach IELTS. You just need an appetite for hard work and enthusiasm to help your students in the right way. Good luck.
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