Digital Nomadic Teaching

A digital nomad.

This is something that many people of my generation, the zoomers, and the soon to be named next generation often strive to be, or may, as what happened during THE pandemic forced to be. First off, let's break out some terms. There is remote working, which is when people, due to their type of job, are able to work from home remotely/digitally, and never need/have to leave, as long as they have a computer and a decent internet connection. A digital nomad is someone who is working remotely, but takes the next step of working from somewhere else around the world, and either due to desire or necessity, often moving many times in the process.

Becoming a fully functional digital nomad has been one of my goals since I began international teaching. I have been able to work intermittently as a digital nomadic teacher using the website/company Cambly, but as of now it is not enough to commit to or survive off of. A digital nomadic lifestyle sounds like a great idea… Fun in the sun while you get your work done! Sure, but like anything else, if you want something good, you are going to have to work hard for it. Unless you work for a company, which is a seemingly stable and reliable source of teaching revenue, they also often take a big, often outrageous and egregious amount of money out of your earnings. From my experiences, most of the online teaching companies have very long and tedious applications, which often result in no answer or a no answer, which can be demoralizing and an absolute waste of your time. If you want to take control of your digital nomad educational career, you basically have to form and run your own small business, and as my father always says, “most small businesses fail.” Unfortunately he is right.

Aside from the aforementioned Cambly, I have personally managed to find a English teaching company based in Lithuania, which would like me to start teaching online as soon as I am able, which is going to be difficult, because today is my first day of a new summer job working for an American company leading traveling tours for teenagers, so it is going to be a while before I have the chance to settle down and do what they want me to do, which is to make a video of myself for potential students. I feel that it may be worth it, because they say that they would want me to work in Lithuania if the opportunity arrives, but it is also very difficult for an American to get an EU work permit…but that is another story which we will come to at a later date.

In summation, when it comes to digital nomadic teaching, “it is a great gig if you can get it.” It might be a good idea for beginner digital nomadic teachers to start off in places like Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia. These countries have a high demand for (English) teachers, a low cost of living, and conceivably a large network of other international teachers that you can work with and support. It might be hard work at first in order to initially support yourself, but once you establish yourself, it could be a great situation that will allow you mobile freedom and the ability to live your life as a teacher anywhere in the world. It is from my own experience, what I have learned, read, and the people that I have met, that it is a great lifestyle for many who can manage to pull it off, but it is certainly not meant for, or able to be actualized effectively by everyone.