Lingoda Review Summary

Lingoda hires C2-level speakers to teach English, French, Spanish and German online. Classes last 60 minutes with 1-5 adult students, there are no minimum hours, a teaching certificate but no degree is required, and teacher satisfaction is high, however, the pay is fairly low and bookings are first come, first served.

Lingoda Pros and Cons

Pros:

• No degree/diploma required
• Can teach languages other than English/ESL (French, Spanish, German)
• Set curriculum provided but flexibility in delivering it and using supplementary materials
• Simple application and onboarding process
• Positive teacher reviews
• Teachers can cancel classes with 24 hours’ notice without penalty

Cons:

• Must have Native/C2-level speaking ability
• Lowish pay
• No breaks between back-to-back classes
• Class bookings are first-come, first-served, so must regularly log in to check listings

Neutral:

• No regular teaching schedule provides flexibility but means you won’t remain with the same students
• Hour-long classes will suit some teachers better than others

Is Lingoda Legit and Trustworthy?

Lingoda (not to be confused with LingoAce, Lingostar, Lingo Live or Lingofor.me) is a legitimate and trustworthy company, demonstrated by the fact that they are Europe’s leading online language school, are a Linguaskill agent of Cambridge Assessment English, and have a Trustpilot score of 4.4. out of 5.

Is Lingoda Accredited?

Lingoda school uses the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

When Was Lingoda Estsablished?

Lingoda was established in 2013.

Where Is Lingoda Located?

Lingoda’s headquarters are based in Berlin, Germany. They serve students from around the world, though the majority are located in Europe. Their teachers are also recruited globally.

How Many Users Does Lingoda Have?

Lingoda language school has over 80,000 students and 1,500 teachers delivering almost half a million classes a year.

What Languages Does Lingoda Offer?

Lingoda offers language courses in English/ESL, Business English, German, Spanish and French.

How Much Does Lingoda Pay Teachers?

The Lingoda salary on offer will vary slightly depending on a teacher’s location, language and qualifications, but the Lingoda hourly pay ranges between €7-11 per hour (US$8-13, depending on the exchange rate).

Teachers still receive 50% of their Lingoda pay rate if a student is a no show or cancels within 48 hours of a class.

How Does Lingoda Pay?

Lingoda teaching pay is issued by the 11th of the month via PayPal or bank transfer.

Lingoda Hours

Lingoda hours are 24/7 as they have students globally.

On average, Lingoda teachers work 5-20 hours a week with the company. Schedules are usually busier at the start of Sprint or Marathon challenges.

There is no minimum or maximum hours requirement to teach with Lingoda. While the company prefers its teachers to deliver at least 5 hours a week, this is not written into the contract and there are no penalties if you cannot achieve this. For longer periods of time off from teaching, you are able to ‘pause’ your account.

Lingoda offers options to book classes in both the short-term (hours in advance) and long-term (months in advance). As these are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, you need to regularly log in and check the listings to secure more classes.

Teachers can cancel a Lingoda class 24 hours in advance without penalty. Less than 24 hours’ notice will block them from booking any additional classes for 7 days.

How Long Are Lingoda Classes?

The Lingoda class duration is 1 hour/60 minutes, which means there are no breaks between back-to-back classes.

Lingoda Requirements

The Lingoda teacher requirements are as follows:

• C2 level or above in the language being taught (Lingoda’s website attracts students with the promise of ‘Native-speaking teachers’, indicating that any C2-level Non-Natives will have to be passable Native Speakers)
• A certificate to teach your chosen language as a foreign language (e.g. TEFL/TESOL/CELTA)
• At least 2-3 years of valuable teaching experience (does not have to be online)
• High-speed internet connection, webcam and high-quality headset
• Legally able to work on a freelance basis
• Comfortable speaking English
• Loves languages

Does Lingoda Require a Degree?

Lingoda does not require a degree or diploma from its prospective teachers, only a teaching certificate in the language being taught.

Lingoda Application Process

The Lingoda hiring process can take between 1 and 6 weeks.

To become a teacher with Lingoda, you must sign up with the following details from the computer/internet connection you will be teaching from (for speed test accuracy):

• Personal information:
  • The language you want to teach
  • First name
  • Last name
  • Date of birth
  • Profile picture (upload)
• Contact information:
  • Email address
  • Address
    • Street name
    • Zip code
    • City
    • State
    • Country
• Experience
  • Teaching languages (0-6, 7-12, 13-24, or more than 24 months)
  • Languages that you speak
  • Fluency level
  • Do you have experience teaching online? (Yes/No)
  • Upload your teaching or language certificates (PDF format, max. size 4MB)
  • Certificate type
• Internet connection (test here):
  • Ping (ms)
  • Download Speed (Mbps)
  • Upload Speed (Mbps)
• Teaching hours
  • How many hours can you teach per week? (5-8, 8-12, 12-16, 16-20, or 20+ hours)
• Motivation
  • How did you hear about Lingoda?
  • Why do you want to become a teacher with Lingoda?
  • Submit Curriculum Vitae (CV/Resume – PDF format, max. size 4MB)

Lingoda Interview

Should your initial application be accepted, the Lingoda recruitment team will invite you to an online interview and demo lesson. You will receive links to a Calendly calendar for booking a time slot, and the class materials you will need to prepare with (there is an answer key at the end of the teaching slides).

The Lingoda teacher interview lasts 30 minutes and is conducted over Zoom. The interview itself is fairly relaxed; you will be asked about your previous teaching experience, receive information about the company, and have an opportunity to ask any questions of your own (so have some prepared in advance).

Here is a list of past Lingoda interview questions that candidates have faced:

• Tell me about yourself, your education and background.
• What is your teaching experience?
• What kind of students do you have the most experience teaching?
• Are you comfortable teaching adults?
• Why do you want to become a teacher with Lingoda?
• What do you think is the difference between teaching online and teaching in a classroom?
• What makes you a good teacher?
• How many hours do you want to work each week?
• Are you able to work on weekends?
• What would you do if a student had difficulty with [insert example] issue?
• What is the difference between the past perfect and present perfect tense?

5-10 minutes of the interview is reserved for the demo class, where you will deliver the teaching materials to the interviewer while they pretend to be a student. Make sure you know how to share the slides via your screen on Zoom, are enthusiastic, give specific feedback, and that the Student Talk Time is above 50% (e.g. get the student to read out loud as much as possible).

You will usually receive an immediate answer as to whether you have passed the Lingoda interview or not.

A day or two following the Lingoda job offer, you will be emailed links to the ‘New Teacher Test’ (about the platform and how to book classes, etc.) and the Teacher Support Centre where the answers can be found. There are 35 questions, and you have to pass with 100%, though you can retake the test as many times as you need to and will be told which questions you got wrong. Upon passing the Lingoda test, you will receive your details to log into your teacher account and complete your profile information ready to start teaching.

How Lingoda Works – Working for Lingoda

Lingoda online classes can be booked hours or months in advance, by browsing the listings of available courses you can sign up to teach. These are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. You will be able to see the lesson topic and ability level of the students beforehand.

Lingoda language students are almost entirely adults, with the youngest age being 13 years though teenagers are few in number on the platform. Lingoda levels are CEFR-aligned, going from A1 to C2.

You will use Zoom for Lingoda online teaching.

Private one-on-one classes are available, while Lingoda group classes have a maximum of 5 students; both types of class last 60 minutes.

When teaching with Lingoda, you are allowed to deviate from the curriculum provided, stop to explain something more fully, spend longer on one slide, or use your own materials if it is helpful for the student.

1-2 sentences of feedback must be written for each student after class (this time is unpaid), while the student is also encouraged to rate you as a teacher. Ratings for the month are displayed on the teacher’s profile.

In this video, Teacher Kristin gives some insight into how Lingoda classes are conducted, using Business English as an example:

Teaching for Lingoda Reviews

Lingoda Glassdoor reviews give the company an average rating of 4.2 out of 5, though if you filter out those written by non-teachers, the score increases to 4.4 with 94% willing to recommend them to a friend.

Among these reviews of Lingoda, there are positive comments regarding the teaching materials, the flexible schedule, reasonable cancellation policy, and supportive staff/management, while the main criticisms surround the rate of pay and teacher rating system.

There is some disagreement over the availability of classes/booking rates, with one reviewer saying it is high while another claims that there are few classes (though it is not clear how often these teachers checked the listings, which will affect this).

Here is a sample of these Lingoda teacher reviews:

Conclusion – Is Lingoda Worth It?

Lingoda is worth considering on account of its high instances of teacher satisfaction, simple application and interview process, flexibility in hours and teaching materials, and penalty-free cancellations with 24-hours’ notice. However, the pay is fairly low for the language level they seek, bookings are not guaranteed and are first come, first served, and you must be comfortable teaching adults for hour-long classes.

You can apply to Lingoda here.

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