Here’s a fun article that relates well to some recent posts about gig work in the world of TEFL. The author (not a LinkedIn member, I think) has published annual summaries of her work on the Preply platform over the past three years. The link below is to the most recent summary.
A few things are worth highlighting:
- The author tutored 904 hours on the platform in 2024.
- She earned $22,340 for the year and Preply earned $4101 in commissions from her work. That means Preply took 15.5% of her earnings. They took about 22% in 2023.
- After Preply took its commission, her hourly rate came out to about $24.76.
- One imagines that most teachers on the platform are closer to that 22% commission rate. This author is lower than that because she didn’t do many free trial lessons in 2024 and has passed a certain threshold (# of lessons) which results in a lower commission being taken.
- After three years on the platform, this author is planning to move on to other things.
Check out the whole blog post, as it is an interesting peek behind the curtain about how this sort of stuff works.
It is tough to say what a fair wage for TEFL work is. It is also tough to say what a fair commission should be for a platform that connects students to teachers.
I’ve always been a seize-the-means-of-production kind of guy, but I suppose there is a place for gig work in TEFL.
I spent much of 2022 and 2023 going back and forth between Canada and Korea to spend time with an ailing family member. I paid for my tickets by doing general English lessons (outside of my area of specialization) for about one-third my usual rate. Though it tired me out, it was really nice to have that temporary income stream. Perhaps membership on a gig platform could have provided even more income at a challenging time.
It is also worth mentioning that I commonly send my test prep students to gig sites to get some affordable “finishing” when it comes to speaking. A few weeks on Preply (or a similar site) is usually the difference between a TOEFL speaking score of 20 and a score of 22. It is also the difference between a 25 and a 26 (but most students in THAT particular situation don’t want to believe it… which is a topic for a different post).
Bonus Notes:
- ETS has a partnership with Preply, and promotes the platform as a good source of TOEFL lessons on the main TOEFL website. They provide some training to TOEFL tutors who teach via Preply.
- Preply tried to recruit me as an affiliate partner after I wrote about them a few years ago, but I couldn’t figure out how to sign up with their bass-ackwards affiliate management system.