Author:
Zoe – an eco Scottish solo traveller and digital nomad: @girlwiththesuitcases and girlwiththesuitcase.com.
I started teaching on Cambly in January 2021 and plan to teach abroad in various places around the world from 2022.
Cambly is a one on one video site for practising spoken English. It allows you to work any where at any time as often or as little as you want.
What do you need to work for Cambly?
To become a tutor on Cambly, you are required to be a native English speaker. No teaching qualification or degree is required.
All you need is a reliable internet connection and a laptop. You can access the teaching platform on other electronic devices. But only to check your schedule, as calls will not work. Cambly like you to use headphones and some tutors use a microphone. However, these are not essential. All that is required of you during lessons is to simply either have a conversation with the student or talk them through lesson slides which are super easy to follow.
How do you apply to Cambly?
Applying is a pretty straightforward process. You just have to fill out each section of the form online and submit a video around a minute to two minutes long.
The video is to help the students decide which teacher to call.
Tip – just explain a bit about who you are and make sure you mention previous experience or why you enjoy teaching. I mentioned my love of travel.
The first time I applied to Cambly they weren’t advertising for tutors, so I didn’t hear back. A few months later when they were hiring, I applied again and was accepted a week later. So do keep trying.
How many hours can you work?
You get to pick ‘priority hours’. Usually these are available 3 weeks in advance. You can choose as many as you wish. If you have some spare time then you also have the option of appearing ‘visible’ – which means available for work. You are more likely to receive calls on priority hour though.
Tip – be reliable. if you are repeatedly unable to make a priority hour then you may have restricted access to future priority hours for a while.
How much does Cambly pay?
Cambly pays tutors $0.17 USD/0.12 pence per minute or $10.20 USD/£7.44 per hour. Teachers are paid via PayPal every Monday.
Be aware, every priority hour you sign up for does not guarantee you a full hours pay though, because you may only receive one for call lasting 20 minutes. Therefore, although Cambly is not reliable as a full time wage, it is great for supplementing my savings.
For example, in March I did 68 priority hours and was paid £416.64. This equals to pay for 56 hours.
Tip – to avoid time wastage, I used the time in between calls to work on various things for my blog.
Combining Cambly with teaching abroad
If you also teach abroad, you will gain global experience and be deeply immersed in diverse cultures. For me personally, the combination of teaching abroad and Cambly is a fantastic pairing. Teaching jobs generally pay very decent wages and many provide free or cheap accommodation. In Asia, teaching jobs are regularly available and with such a great wage and low living expenses, you will easily be able to save up a lovely little nest egg for future travels. Then in between teaching jobs, my well-earned savings and Cambly will help to keep me afloat. This means I am able to pursue my dream as a full time traveller.
Zoe:
I’m Zoe, a 26 year old girl who grew up in the Scottish Highlands. The only time I truly feel at peace is when I travel, I am definitely not a 9 – 5 person – I am a ‘let’s get lost, meet new people, try too much new food and drink and become immersed in new cultures’ sort of person.
My mission is to inspire and inform like minded travellers. I want to share it. From the bad to the good.
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What a great post I really wish I’d had this sort of a lifestyle before I got sucked into the corporate rat -race. Thailand is also a good option for digital nomads.
Us too. There are so many more options today. Thanks for your comment.