Fluentify Review Summary

Fluentify is an Italian language company teaching English, French, Spanish, German and Italian to adult professionals in 30-minute online classes (1v1 or 1v4). The pay is €12-€24.48 and you must be a Native Speaker with a teaching qualification, 2+ years of experience, and available for 15+ hours a week.

Fluentify Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Pay increases with sessions taught
• Bi-monthly payments
• Freedom to design lessons and personalized materials/plans appropriate for students’ needs
• Support available from Head of Tutors and Tutor Community

Cons:

• Only 10% of candidates pass the selection process
• Pay is relatively low (especially for new tutors)
• Payment in Euros may be subject to currency conversion fees
• Pressure on tutors to convert students into signing up for packages after placement tests
• Students can switch tutors when they want
• Tutors have to prepare the majority of their materials, which can be time consuming
• Not always hiring

Is Fluentify Legit?

Fluentify is a legitimate company providing online corporate language learning, that was founded in 2013, with offices in London (UK) and Turin and Milan (Italy). In April of its first year, the company was named as ‘Startup of the Week’ by Startacus, and in 2014 it received a $410,000 angel investment from Mediobanca. The Fluentify Trustpilot score is 4.5 out of 5, and more than 500 lessons are delivered each day by 180+ Native-Speaking tutors to employees of over 200 client companies internationally.

Fluentify Teaching Information

Fluentify business language lessons are provided in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian to mostly corporate customers, though they do serve some private students too. These classes last 30 minutes and will either be delivered one-on-one or to groups of up to 4 adult students.

Fluentify teachers conduct the placement test with a new student to assess their:

• Grammar
• Listening Comprehension
• Reading Comprehension
• Business Vocabulary
• Speaking

The company places an emphasis on teachers using this opportunity to ‘hook’ the students into buying packages of between 3-25 classes. Even if you successfully convert a student, you must keep them happy, as they have the option of switching tutors whenever they like.

While the Tutor Materials Hub provides some vocabulary lists, grammar points, homework materials and ideas for teaching Fluentify English and business classes, tutors are expected to prepare their own teaching materials in order to provide a more personalized learning experience to the student.

Here is a recorded example of a one-on-one Fluentify session:

Fluentify Salary Information

Fluentify pay rates are in Euros and are determined by the number of sessions a tutor has delivered:

• New (0-20 sessions) = €6-€7.35 a session (€12-€14.70 per hour)
• 20-500 sessions = €7.50-€9.18 a session (€15-€18.36 per hour)
• 500+ sessions = €9.50-€11.63 a session (€19-€23.26 per hour)
• PRO tutor = €10-€12.24 a session (€20-€24.48 per hour) + monthly performance-based bonus*

*to be invited to become a Fluentify PRO tutor, you must be a Business English expert with a professional background and taught over 500 sessions on the platform.

A Fluentify payment can be requested by the tutor once they have earned €50, and is processed via Wise or direct bank transfer on the first and third Thursday of every month.

Fluentify Hours

Fluentify operates 7 days a week, with 30-minute classes.

Fluentify tutors must be available to teach at least 15 hours per week, though this does not guarantee bookings.

The company warns that ‘no tutor has a fully-booked calendar in the first few months. Building your student list takes time’, and there is an onus on converting regular students from the placement tests you conduct.

Fluentify Requirements

There are two sets of requirements for Fluentify jobs, depending on the language you wish to teach.

• English Teachers require:
  • A minimum of 2 years teaching experience including online
  • TEFL Certificate (e.g. CELTA)
  • Experience teaching adults
  • Business background is an advantage
  • Tech-savvy: confident with computers, comfortable with different web browsers, and utilizing a microphone and video camera
  • Stable, reliable internet connection
  • Friendly, flexible, and professional teaching approach
• Teachers of other languages (French, Spanish, German, Italian) require:
  • A minimum of at least 2 years of teaching experience including online
  • Teaching certificate/qualification
  • Experience teaching adults
  • Business background is an advantage
  • Knowledge of the Italian language is an advantage
  • Tech-savvy: confident with computers, comfortable with different web browsers, and utilizing a microphone and video camera 
  • Stable, reliable internet connection
  • Friendly, flexible, and professional teaching approach
  • Experience in evaluating students’ level
  • Willingness to design personalized lessons for students
  • Willingness to become part of a community of tutors

How to Work for Fluentify – Application Process

You can apply through the Fluentify careers page here.

Occasionally the company freezes its hiring, though if you find this is the case they should say when applications open up again.

The Fluentify application form is fairly lengthy but straightforward:

1. Agree to the requirements
2. Provide your first and last name
3. Agree that you are a Native Speaker of the language
4. Choose the language you want to teach on Fluentify
5. Answer where you were born and where you grew up
6. Say where you are living at the moment
7. Answer what your degree is in
8. Answer if your degree is in teaching languages
9. Upload your teaching certificate
10. Say what you have experience teaching: Business courses, General courses, Exam preparation courses, Young Learners, or Other
11. Check which settings you have taught in: Individual in-person, Individual online, Online group, Classroom children, Classroom adults, or Other
12. Provide details of 3 positions you have held and include the name of the company, dates of employment, your role, and key responsibilities
13. Answer whether or not you can teach business professionals
14. Provide an updated LinkedIn profile or CV/resume
15. Which current workplace best describes you
16. Check how many hours you want to work: Less than 15, 15-20, 21-30, 31-40, or 41+
17. Answer what kind of audience/lessons you want to teach
18. List languages you teach
19. Answer why you want to tutor for Fluentify
20. Complete a system test and link the result
21. Say how you heard about Fluentify
22. Leave an email address

The company tries to respond to each applicant, but warns that ‘only 10 percent of candidates pass’ their selection standards.

Short-listed tutors will undergo an initial training process to learn the Fluentify teaching method, which is regularly supplemented by focused refresher courses.

Fluentify Reviews

The Fluentify Glassdoor page gives the company an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5, with 100% willing to recommend them, though this comes from just 13 reviews (at the time of writing). Here are the main positives and negatives that come from these Fluentify teacher reviews:

• Advantages:
  • “Independence, fairly professional, some basic training”
  • “Work from home, good salary, lots of support and flexible working.”
  • “Flexible, amazing students, paid on time, nice teaching community and treat you like a human.”
  • “The Pay is on time and can be good if you develop a following. It depends on your situation whether or not this is good for you.”
  • “good community and support for teachers.”
  • “They really care about their teachers! Pay is competitive and always on time. Freelance teachers are in total control of their calendar and curriculum. It’s like being your own boss, without the hassle of the admin.”
  • “Really great team. Management is really great, tech assistance immediate.”
  • “The teacher community is active and supportive; Pay increases with length of time at company; Communication between Tutor and student outside of the lesson is encouraged”
  • “Good pay and conditions. Supportive company to work for.”
  • “Supportive management. Friendly staff and colleagues. Lots of help and development available.”
• Disadvantages:
  • “Having no benefits as an independent contractor can be a negative”
  • “Not on contract so no holiday pay or sick pay.”
  • “Low pay for amount of work involved, but I really still love the job.”
  • “Your hours might be spread out if you are trying to reach a higher salary”
  • “Hard to attend some meetings due to time differences, no sick pay.”
  • “strange algorithm decides where on the list your video appears in the list of teachers.”
  • ”they only pay through Transferwise, which is not available in all countries”
  • “No guaranteed income, it is a marketplace of tutors.”
  • “Wages are not great but the students are lovely.”

Conclusion – Is Fluentify Worth It?

Fluentify is a legitimate company with positive reviews from teachers who have worked for them. The pay is one of the better offerings in the virtual language teaching world currently but requires a devotion to being available for a large portion of the day to receive the highest pay rate with bonuses. There may be a waiting game to get hired with the company as this is a desired platform and that means they often have an influx of applications. If you enjoy creating your own materials and tailoring your teaching methods to your students, you may be happy with a position at Fluentify.

You can apply to Fluentify here.

A full list of online teaching companies can be found here.