These posts are written for learners of English themselves. Find learning tips and ideas for learning English.

For Students

<p>It&#39;s that time of year again!</p>

<p>People around the world are celebrating a variety of holidays, including <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1853" target="_blank">Christmas</a>, <a href="https://www.ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1857" target="_blank">Chanukah</a>, <a href="https://www.ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1856" target="_blank">Kwanzaa</a>, and even <a href="https://www.ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1913" target="_blank">Festivus</a>.</p>

<p>At this time, you might be thinking about writing<strong> holiday greeting cards</strong> to friends or coworkers. But as an English learner, finding the right words for a holiday card or an <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/writing-in-english/1829-how-to-write-an-email" target="_blank">email</a> can be a challenge.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this post, we&rsquo;ve compiled a list of our favorite English holiday greetings and some useful writing tips to help you add a personal touch to your holiday messages.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>English holiday greetings for everyone on your list</h2>

<p>Whether you want heart-warming messages for friends and family or more formal messages to share with your team at work, these holiday greetings are the perfect way to spread the joy this holiday season.</p>

<h3>Holiday greetings for family or friends</h3>

<p>The holidays are a great time to reconnect with family and friends.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here are some ideas for English holiday-inspired messages you can send to friends or loved ones:</p>

<ul>
	<li>&ldquo;So thankful to have a friend like you at Christmas and all year long.&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Happy Chanukah! Wishing you love and joy during the Festival of Lights.&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Happy holidays to you and your loved&nbsp;ones!&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Knowing people like you makes this wonderful time of year even more&nbsp;meaningful.&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Our family is so lucky to have you in our lives. Hope you have a fabulous holiday&nbsp;season!&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Hoping you have a lovely holiday season filled with moments you&rsquo;ll always&nbsp;remember.&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;May the magic and the wonder of the holiday season stay with you throughout the coming&nbsp;year.&rdquo;</li>
</ul>

<h3>Holiday greetings for colleagues or clients</h3>

<p>As the year winds down, the holidays are the perfect time to thank your colleagues or clients for making your work a success.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here is a list of festive greetings you could use for your coworkers or customers:</p>

<ul>
	<li>&ldquo;Hoping that 2023&nbsp;brings you many wonderful&nbsp;opportunities!&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a successful new&nbsp;year!&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Best wishes for a new year filled with joy and spectacular&nbsp;success.&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Doing business with you is a pleasure! Hope you have a lovely&nbsp;Christmas.&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;We truly appreciate your business and wish you the best in the coming&nbsp;year.&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Thanks for a great year, and we wish you all the best as you embark on&nbsp;2023.&rdquo;</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Thank you for being a part of the [company name] family. Hope you have a joyous holiday and new&nbsp;year!&rdquo;</li>
</ul>

<p><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/blog_printable/Printable-Holiday-Cards_Ellii.pdf" target="_blank"><img alt="Four holiday greeting cards to print." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2889/content_Printable-Holiday-Cards_Ellii.jpg" /></a></p>

<div class="white-box">
<p>Do you teach young learners? Here are <a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/3538/Printable-BW-Holiday-Cards_Ellii.pdf" target="_blank">black-and-white versions</a> you can print out for your students to color! Adults might appreciate adding their own flair to these cards as well.</p>
</div>

<p>Write your holiday-inspired messages in these <a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/blog_printable/Printable-Holiday-Cards_Ellii.pdf" target="_blank">printable holiday greeting cards</a>.</p>

<h2>5 tips for writing holiday greeting cards in English</h2>

<p>These five writing tips are all you need to write a memorable holiday message in English.</p>

<h3>1. Find a writing buddy</h3>

<p>Writing holiday greetings is always more enjoyable with a friend. You can bounce ideas off each other and proofread each other&rsquo;s drafts before writing the final message in your card.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>2. Remember to be sensitive to people&#39;s beliefs</h3>

<p>People might be celebrating a variety of holidays during this season. So, if you&rsquo;re not certain if a colleague or acquaintance celebrates Christmas, choose a neutral greeting such as &ldquo;Happy Holidays,&rdquo; &ldquo;Season&rsquo;s Greetings,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Festive Wishes.&rdquo; You can also ask if they have a holiday preference.</p>

<h3>3. Keep it brief</h3>

<p>This is especially true when writing to clients or coworkers. Try to avoid adding personal details, and keep the message short and professional.</p>

<h3>4. Consider adding an adjective</h3>

<p>Even if your message is short, you can make it more personable by choosing an <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjectives" target="_blank">adjective</a> that expresses your friend&rsquo;s taste or style.</p>

<p>For example, if your friend is a lover of food, you could say, &ldquo;Wishing you a <strong>delicious</strong> holiday&nbsp;season!&rdquo;</p>

<h3>5. Choose an appropriate closing</h3>

<p>Ending your message with &ldquo;Love,&rdquo; or &ldquo;With love,&rdquo; should be kept for friends and family. For colleagues and clients, &ldquo;Best wishes,&rdquo; or&nbsp;&ldquo;Warm regards,&rdquo; might be a better alternative.</p>

<h2><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/blog_printable/Tips-for-Writing-Holiday-Greeting-Cards-in-English_Ellii.pdf" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2888/content_Tips-for-Writing-Holiday-Greeting-Cards-in-English_Ellii.jpg" /></a></h2>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>Do you have any ideas you&rsquo;d like to add to this list? Share them with us in the comments. Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!</p>
</div>

<p><em>Editor&#39;s note:&nbsp;This post was originally published in December 2019&nbsp;and has been updated for comprehensiveness.</em></p>


How to Write Holiday Greeting Cards in English

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1711/Sama_How-to-Write-Holiday-Greeting-Cards-in-English_Banner.png

<p>Have you ever felt stuck in an English&nbsp;conversation?</p>

<p>Maybe you wanted to jump into a discussion and share your ideas,&nbsp;or maybe you wanted to disagree with someone but were not sure <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/10-expressions-to-help-you-sound-more-polite-in-english-conversations" target="_blank">how to do it&nbsp;politely</a>.</p>

<p>For whatever reason, you find it difficult to participate in&nbsp;English.</p>

<p>Imagine if you were able to enter conversations easily. Even though English is not your first language, you&#39;re able to organize your thoughts, express your opinions, and keep the listener&nbsp;engaged.</p>

<p>Well, you can! And in today&rsquo;s post, I&rsquo;ll show you&nbsp;how.</p>

<h2>The Key to Speaking English Confidently in a&nbsp;Group</h2>

<p>You might be feeling insecure about speaking in English for many reasons, but from my experience, there is one technical skill that has helped my students improve their speaking skills and gain more confidence&mdash;the use of discourse&nbsp;markers.</p>

<h2>What Are Discourse Markers?</h2>

<p>Discourse markers are small words or expressions that we use at the beginning of a sentence. Also called &ldquo;connecting words,&rdquo; &ldquo;signposting words,&rdquo; or &ldquo;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2546" target="_blank">transition words</a>,&rdquo; discourse markers are important because we use them&nbsp;to:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Introduce or clarify&nbsp;ideas</li>
	<li>Begin or end a conversation</li>
	<li>Express attitudes about what&rsquo;s being&nbsp;said</li>
	<li>Help the listener process information&nbsp;faster</li>
	<li>Signal a change in the direction of a&nbsp;conversation</li>
</ul>

<p>There are formal and informal markers, and they exist in both writing and speaking in English. These markers might seem unnecessary, but they actually have a big impact on your ability to communicate clearly. Without discourse markers, it is nearly impossible to start, end, and participate in conversations. Discourse markers can also help English students get higher scores on English exams such as the IELTS, Cambridge, and&nbsp;TOEIC.</p>

<p>Continue reading to discover 10 discourse markers we commonly use in English&nbsp;conversations.</p>

<h2>1. To Tell (You) the&nbsp;Truth</h2>

<p>We use this expression when we&rsquo;re about to say what we really think or feel. Often, we use it to share information that will contradict or confirm what the listener&nbsp;expects.</p>

<p>Let&rsquo;s look at an example:</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>A:</td>
			<td>&ldquo;I liked the author&rsquo;s new book. What did you think of&nbsp;it?&rdquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>B:</td>
			<td>&ldquo;<strong>To tell you the truth</strong>, I liked her first book&nbsp;better.&rdquo;</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>2. At the End of the&nbsp;Day</h2>

<p>This expression has a few different meanings. Literally, it means &ldquo;in the evening,&rdquo; but sometimes we use it when we&rsquo;ve considered all options and we&rsquo;d like to give our final opinion. It&rsquo;s another way to say &ldquo;ultimately&rdquo;or &ldquo;in the&nbsp;end.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s a good example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>At the end of the day</strong>, nutrition is just as important as&nbsp;exercise.</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Speaking of</h2>

<p>&ldquo;Speaking of&rdquo; or &ldquo;talking of&rdquo; are expressions we often use to introduce something new relating to a subject someone has just&nbsp;mentioned.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Speaking of </strong>traveling, are you going anywhere exciting this&nbsp;year?</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. Actually</h2>

<p>&ldquo;Actually&rdquo; is very common in spoken English and it has many uses. Often, we use it to introduce surprising&nbsp;information:</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>A:</td>
			<td>&ldquo;How are your studies going?&rdquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>B:</td>
			<td>&ldquo;<strong>Actually</strong>, I decided to drop out of university for a year.&rdquo;</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>We can also use it as a softener when we&rsquo;re correcting information or opposing an&nbsp;opinion:</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>A:</td>
			<td>&ldquo;His last name looks German.&rdquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>B:</td>
			<td>&ldquo;<strong>Actually</strong>, it&rsquo;s&nbsp;Dutch.&rdquo;</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>5. To Some Extent</h2>

<p>We use &ldquo;to some extent&rdquo; to say how true something is. It&rsquo;s another way to say &ldquo;partly&rdquo; or&nbsp;&ldquo;somewhat.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s an example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>To some extent</strong>, it&rsquo;s an interesting job. But it can be a bit too stressful at&nbsp;times.</li>
</ul>

<h2>6. Look at It This&nbsp;Way</h2>

<p>&ldquo;Look at it this way&rdquo; is commonly used to persuade someone to think about something in a different&nbsp;way.</p>

<p>For instance, we can&nbsp;say:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Look at it this way</strong>, if the same thing happened to you, what would you&nbsp;do?</li>
</ul>

<h2>7. In Fact</h2>

<p>We use &ldquo;in fact&rdquo; to signify that we are giving more detailed information about what we&rsquo;ve just&nbsp;said.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I know the Johnsons really well. <strong>In fact</strong>, I had dinner with them last&nbsp;week.</li>
</ul>

<p>We also use it to introduce information that contradicts a previous&nbsp;statement:</p>

<ul>
	<li>He might seem unfriendly, but, <strong>in fact</strong>, he&rsquo;s very&nbsp;kind.</li>
</ul>

<h2>8. In Any Case</h2>

<p>This expression means &ldquo;what was said before isn&rdquo;t important.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s another way to say &ldquo;whatever the situation is or will&nbsp;be.&rdquo;</p>

<p>To understand this better, let&rsquo;s look at an&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>The transportation system here isn&rsquo;t that bad. <strong>In any case</strong>, it&rsquo;s better than&nbsp;walking.</li>
</ul>

<h2>9. In Other Words</h2>

<p>&ldquo;In other words&rdquo; is an expression we use to express an idea again in a different and simpler&nbsp;way.</p>

<p>For instance, we can say:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Traveling helps you meet new people and try new things.<strong> In other words</strong>, it&rsquo;s the best way to learn about another&nbsp;culture.</li>
</ul>

<h2>10. Mind You</h2>

<p>We use &ldquo;mind you&rdquo; to add a particular piece of information to something we&rsquo;ve just said. Often, we use it to introduce a contrasting&nbsp;idea.</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s an example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>The restaurant was fantastic! <strong>Mind you</strong>, it was a little&nbsp;expensive.</li>
</ul>

<p>We&rsquo;d love to hear from you! Let us know in the comments&nbsp;below:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Which of these English expressions were new for&nbsp;you?</li>
	<li>What are your tips on expressing yourself comfortably in a&nbsp;group?</li>
</ul>

<p>Thanks for reading and we look forward to hearing from&nbsp;you!</p>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2546">Transition Words</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/124/resources/2946">The Language of Evidence</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1632">Connector Stories</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/1831">How to Write Body Paragraphs</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/1968">How to Compare and Contrast</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/2547">Black Friday</a></li>
</ul>


10 English Expressions for More Confident Conversations in a Group

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1759/Sama_10-English-Expressions-for-More-Confident-Conversation_Banner.png

<blockquote>
<p>Politeness is an inexpensive way of making&nbsp;friends.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;William Feather</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In today&#39;s post, we&#39;re going to focus on how to express politeness when speaking in&nbsp;English.</p>

<p>Whether you&#39;re studying English for immigration, work, or travel, knowing how to be polite in English will help you in many ways! You&#39;ll avoid offending people unintentionally and you&#39;ll connect with others more easily. Also, learning polite language might help you win friends in your personal life and build stronger relationships at&nbsp;work.</p>

<p>Here are ten expressions that will help you sound more polite in&nbsp;English.</p>

<h2>1. &quot;Could you&hellip;?&quot;</h2>

<p>We often use &quot;could&quot; when making requests in English. This softens the request and makes it sound less like an order. &quot;Can&quot; is also common, but it&#39;s more often used with close friends. If you&#39;d like to sound more polite when talking to someone you don&#39;t know well, &quot;could&quot; is great to&nbsp;use.</p>

<p>So, instead of&nbsp;saying:</p>

<p>&quot;Send me the report.&quot; or &quot;Close the&nbsp;door.&quot;</p>

<p>You could&nbsp;say:</p>

<p>&quot;<strong>Could you</strong> send me the report?&quot; or &quot;<strong>Could you</strong> close the door,&nbsp;please?&quot;</p>

<h2>2. &quot;I was wondering if&hellip;&quot;</h2>

<p>We normally use this expression in spoken English to ask someone politely for help. It follows this&nbsp;pattern:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I was wondering if + subject + past&nbsp;verb</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Here are some&nbsp;examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>I was wondering if</strong> you had time to help&nbsp;me.</li>
	<li><strong>Sarah was wondering if</strong> you could pick her up from the&nbsp;airport.</li>
</ul>

<p>We also use this expression to ask someone politely if they would like to do something. For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>I was wondering if</strong> you wanted to join me for dinner&nbsp;tonight.</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. &quot;By any chance&hellip;&quot;</h2>

<p>This is a common expression we use to ask for information. &quot;By any chance&quot; means &quot;possibly,&quot; and it&rsquo;s used as a polite emphasis in questions or&nbsp;requests.</p>

<p>We can use &quot;by any chance&quot; at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the&nbsp;sentence.</p>

<p>Let&#39;s look at some&nbsp;examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>By any chance</strong>, do you know where the train station&nbsp;is?</li>
	<li>Do you,<strong> by any chance</strong>, know where the train station&nbsp;is?</li>
	<li>Do you know where the train station is<strong> by any&nbsp;chance</strong>?</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. &quot;Do you mind if&hellip;?&quot;</h2>

<p>&quot;Do you mind if&hellip;?&quot; is a great way to <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1750" target="_blank">ask for permission</a>, and it follows this&nbsp;pattern:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Do you mind if + subject + present&nbsp;verb</p>
</blockquote>

<p>For example,</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Do you mind if</strong> I use your&nbsp;phone?</li>
	<li><strong>Do you mind if</strong> we park&nbsp;here?</li>
</ul>

<h2>5. &quot;What if&hellip;?&quot;</h2>

<p>We often use this expression when we want to suggest something indirectly. Generally speaking, when someone proposes an option and you&#39;d like to suggest an alternative, offering your suggestion in the form of a question will help you sound more&nbsp;polite.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>What if</strong> we went out to eat&nbsp;instead?</li>
	<li><strong>What if </strong>we tried a different&nbsp;design?</li>
</ul>

<p>&quot;What if I&hellip;?&quot; can also be used as an informal way of suggesting something that you can do to help&nbsp;someone:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>What if I </strong>helped you with your&nbsp;essay?</li>
</ul>

<h2>6. &quot;Pardon me?&quot;</h2>

<p>&quot;Pardon me&quot; is a polite expression often used to ask someone to repeat what they said. Because responding with &quot;What?&quot; can sound rude and too direct in some cases, replying with &quot;Pardon me?&quot; or just &quot;Pardon?&quot; is a great alternative when asking for&nbsp;clarification.</p>

<p>Here&#39;s an example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Pardon me</strong>? I didn&#39;t hear what you&nbsp;said.</li>
</ul>

<h2>7. &quot;Sorry to bother you&hellip;&quot;</h2>

<p>&quot;Sorry to bother you&hellip;&quot; can be used as a polite way of <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1747" target="_blank">interrupting someone</a> when you&rsquo;d like their attention. For example, if you have to interrupt someone because you need their help, you can&nbsp;say:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Sorry to bother you</strong>, but I really need your&nbsp;help.</li>
</ul>

<p>Here are a few other&nbsp;examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Sorry to bother you,</strong>&nbsp;but do you know what time it&nbsp;is?</li>
	<li><strong>Sorry to bother you,</strong>&nbsp;but do you know if this bus goes to the&nbsp;mall?</li>
</ul>

<h2>8. &quot;I would like&hellip;&quot;</h2>

<p>Because &quot;I want&quot; can be direct and impolite in some situations, a more polite option is &quot;I would&nbsp;like&hellip;&quot;</p>

<p>When using &quot;I would like,&quot; follow one of these&nbsp;structures:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I would like + infinitive (to&nbsp;+&nbsp;verb)</p>

<p>I would like + noun</p>
</blockquote>

<p>For example, instead of&nbsp;saying:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I want another&nbsp;coffee.</li>
</ul>

<p>You could say:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>I would like</strong> another&nbsp;coffee.</li>
	<li><strong>I would like</strong> to have another&nbsp;coffee.</li>
</ul>

<h2>9. &quot;I would love to, but&hellip;&quot;</h2>

<p>This is a polite way to say &quot;no&quot; in English. For instance, if someone invites you to do something and you want to decline their invitation nicely, you can&nbsp;say:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>I&#39;d love to</strong>, <strong>but</strong> I can&#39;t. I have to get up early tomorrow&nbsp;morning.</li>
	<li><strong>We&#39;d love to</strong> join you, <strong>but</strong> we&#39;re going away this&nbsp;weekend.</li>
</ul>

<h2>10. &quot;I&#39;d love to hear more, but&hellip;&quot;</h2>

<p>We often use this expression when we&#39;re in a hurry and we need to end a conversation&nbsp;politely.</p>

<p>Here are a few&nbsp;examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I&#39;m so sorry.<strong> I&#39;d love to hear more</strong>, but I&#39;m late for&nbsp;work!</li>
	<li><strong>I&#39;d love to hear more</strong>, but I have to run to an&nbsp;appointment.</li>
</ul>

<p>We&#39;d love to hear from you! What other expressions would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments. Also, do you have a friend or a colleague who would like to know how to be more polite in English conversations? If so, please share this post with them. Thanks for&nbsp;reading!</p>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/modals-of-possibility-may-might-could/" target="_blank">Modals of Possibility</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1750" target="_blank">Asking for Permission</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1747" target="_blank">Interrupting</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1754" target="_blank">Making Requests</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1745" target="_blank">Asking for Help</a></li>
</ul>


10 Expressions to Help You Sound More Polite in English Conversations

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1755/Sama_10-Expressions-to-Help-You-Sound-More-Polite-in-English-Conversations_Banner.png

Stay up-to-date with ELT trends and ideas with articles from experts and teachers in the field.

Articles

<p>If you&rsquo;re thinking about making the transition into teaching English online, you might be feeling overwhelmed. I remember how excited I was when I decided to take the leap a few years ago. I loved the idea of having total freedom over what I wanted to teach and the material I would choose. What also intrigued me was the potential to travel and explore different parts of the world while earning an income and being my own boss at the same&nbsp;time.</p>

<p>But making the transition was not simple. There are hundreds of online English tutoring platforms to choose from. How do you decide where to&nbsp;start?</p>

<p>Teaching online gets even more complicated if you&rsquo;re not specialized in teaching kids. The majority of online companies and platforms, such as&nbsp;<a href="https://t.vipkid.com.cn/?refereeId=7679478" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" target="_blank">VIPKid</a> and <a href="https://t.mmears.com/v2/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Magic Ears</a>, are geared towards tutoring children. But what if you&rsquo;re like me and your main area of expertise is in teaching adults <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/one-to-one-vocab-review">one-on-one</a>? Where can you find the&nbsp;students?</p>

<p>I&rsquo;ve been teaching English exclusively online now for over three&nbsp;years and in today&rsquo;s post, I&rsquo;m going to share&nbsp;six platforms that helped me kick‑start my online teaching&nbsp;career.</p>

<h1>1. Verbling</h1>

<p><a href="https://www.verbling.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Verbling</a> is an American company headquartered in San Francisco and it&rsquo;s one of the first online platforms I used. It&rsquo;s a marketplace where students can look for tutors and teachers in any language, not just English. Their website is user‑friendly and getting a profile set up is straightforward.</p>

<p>This platform&rsquo;s support features make the experience so much more immersive and engaging for the students. Also, everything you&rsquo;ll need is available within the website, which makes organizing schedules and payments a lot easier. Verbling offers a video conferencing system, and they also provide a space where you can upload and share your lesson plans and other content with your&nbsp;students.</p>

<p>Some companies only accept teachers who live in the US or Canada, but Verbling is open to teachers&nbsp;worldwide.</p>

<h4>Commission Structure</h4>

<p>On Verbling, you earn 85% of whatever you charge students, and a 15% commission goes to the&nbsp;platform.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that Verbling, and the other platforms I&rsquo;ll be sharing with you today, are highly competitive. Since you&rsquo;re in control of what you charge, you might want to consider offering a lower rate at the beginning, then gradually increasing your rate as you get more students and a few reviews on your&nbsp;profile.</p>

<h1>2. First Tutors</h1>

<p><a href="https://www.firsttutors.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" target="_blank">First Tutors</a> in an international private tuition service and it&rsquo;s open to teachers residing in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and&nbsp;Italy.</p>

<p>One disadvantage of this platform is that it&rsquo;s not equipped with any of the features that Verbling and the other websites offer,&nbsp;such as&nbsp;video chat options, scheduling, or payment facilitation. But the good thing about First Tutors is that they don&rsquo;t take any commission from the teacher. If students choose to take lessons with you, they will have to pay a small one‑time fee. After the payment is made, your contact information will be provided by the platform. You can then set up your sessions with the student and arrange to meet with a video chat app of your choice, such as Skype, Zoom, or Google&nbsp;Hangouts.</p>

<h1>3. Take Lessons</h1>

<p><a href="https://takelessons.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Take Lessons</a> is a platform headquarted in San Diego, California, that has been around since 2006. Interestingly, when they first started&nbsp;they offered tutoring for music only, but now they&rsquo;ve expanded into a huge network of language coaches, dance instructors, and music&nbsp;teachers.</p>

<p>Their website is easy to use and facilitates a lot of the day‑to‑day management of your business, including scheduling, payment, and&nbsp;communication.</p>

<p>A possible disadvantage of Take Lessons is that if you&rsquo;re not legally eligible to work in the United States, you will not be able to join the&nbsp;platform.</p>

<h4>Commission Structure</h4>

<p>With Take Lessons, you&rsquo;ll start out earning 60% of the price your student paid for lessons. Then, for every five&nbsp;lessons you teach that student, you&rsquo;ll earn 10% more of that student&rsquo;s lesson price&mdash;up to&nbsp;90%.</p>

<h1>4. Preply</h1>

<p><a href="https://preply.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Preply</a> is an online private tutoring company based out of Brighton, Massachusetts. It matches students with tutors to have sessions in person or online and it&rsquo;s open to teachers worldwide. They also offer scheduling and payment management within the&nbsp;platform.</p>

<h4>Commission Structure</h4>

<p>They take 100% of your first lesson payment with every new student. That first lesson is considered a trial, and if a student chooses to continue with you and purchase a package, the commission will start from 33% to 18% depending on the number of completed lesson hours with that&nbsp;student.</p>

<h1>5. Italki</h1>

<p><a href="https://www.italki.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Italki</a> is the biggest platform in this list. It&rsquo;s an online language learning platform headquartered in Hong Kong with over 5 million students and 10,000 teachers offering lessons in more than 130 languages. There are currently around 500 English teachers on this&nbsp;platform from around the&nbsp;world.</p>

<p>Getting set up with Italki takes a bit longer than the other platforms. It takes about two weeks for your profile to get reviewed, and you will also need to do a short interview if you get&nbsp;accepted.</p>

<h4>Commission Structure</h4>

<p>Italki charges a 15% commission fee on every lesson, but they do not take any commission for trial&nbsp;sessions.</p>

<h1>6. Amazing Talker</h1>

<p><a href="https://en.amazingtalker.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Amazing Talker</a> is a Taiwan‑based international online learning platform that started in 2016. There are more than 76,000 active students and 1,000 teachers from different&nbsp;countries.</p>

<p>Like Italki, it takes a little longer to get started with Amazing Talker. It will take at least a few days to have your profile reviewed, and if you are approved, you&rsquo;ll need to have an interview with one of their team&nbsp;leaders.</p>

<p>A nice feature with Amazing Talker is that you can choose to be matched with a mentor. Teachers that have been on the platform for a long time can become mentors and create teams of teachers. The mentor can then refer students to their team members. This is great for teachers who are just joining the platform because their AI ranking system is somewhat disadvantageous to new&nbsp;teachers.</p>

<h4>Commission Structure</h4>

<p>Similar to the other platforms, Amazing Talker offers a regressive commission model with relatively low rates&nbsp;from 0% to&nbsp;15%.</p>

<p>We hope this information helps you find the best platforms to get started with your online English teaching career. And remember, getting started is always the hardest&nbsp;part!</p>

<p>Thanks for reading. Please share if you found it&nbsp;useful!</p>


VIEWING POSTS BY

Sama Alkhalili

How to Write Holiday Greeting Cards in English

10 English Expressions for More Confident Conversations in a Group

10 Expressions to Help You Sound More Polite in English Conversations

6 Best Platforms to Find English Students Online