Choosing a niche in teaching English can be intimidating. With so many specialties to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to start. Fortunately, with the right guidance and research, you can hone in on the perfect specialty field for your English teaching career. This article will provide step-by-step advice on how to choose your niche in teaching English.
Assess Your Interests and Skils
One of the first steps to choosing a niche in teaching English is to assess your interests and skills. Most teachers that want to go Freelance don’t do this. Instead they focus on trying to work out what would be the most profitable niche. This is a mistake for a few reasons. Firstly because niche teaching is about your ability to teach a specific type of English to a specific audience. That is not dependant on how much you think your audience is worth but on your ability to teach that niched subject and to market yourself effectively.
Instead of focussing on where the profit maybe, think about topics you enjoy discussing the most and consider what aspects of English language teaching interest you enjoy the most.
Do you prefer working with adults or children?
Do you want to teach in person or online?
Is there a particular skill set that you excel at, such as pronunciation coaching or writing improvement?
Do you have professional experience in certain industries or professional that would enable you to teach specifics to a higher degree of knowledge based excellence?
Consider how your existing skills and knowledge can be transformed into teaching opportunities and which areas would offer personal growth potential. Taking some time to assess your strengths will make it easier to decide on a niche that’s right for you. When you do that you will be able to dominate that niche and start creating a reputation for yourself that students would be willing to pay for.
Select an Appropriate Niche to Teach
Once you have identified your personal desired teaching niche, look for suitable opportunities in the language teaching industry. For example, research the local demand for teachers specialising in business English or teaching to children or non-native English speakers. Demographics like the age of the students, the country they reside in and their educational or professional goals are all relevant. Find out what educational qualifications you may need and if any additional licenses or certificates are required to teach specific topics. This will give you an indication of the market potential, allowing you to make an informed decision on whether or not a particular niche is right for you
Think Outside the box
Lots of online English teachers seem to think that China is the only country that pays handsomely for good niche teaching, however, this is a complete stereotype.
The UK, Canada Japan and Europe are also global consumers of specialist niche teachers, for both child and adult students.
Remember Niche teaching will only work if it suits you as well, so discover what cultures and timezones are more likely to accommodate you better and your niche teaching choices will be far more fruitful.
Research your Niche teaching Competitors
Observe what are their strengths and what are their weaknesses. How do students respond to their marketing efforts? How much do they charge, and what additional services do they offer? Do they create a specialist curriculum or do they use lesson plans that anyone can access?
Now look to yourself. As a niche teacher you need to understand what your audience wants but you will also need to understand what you can provide. Know your limitations but don’t be afraid to try new things. Niche teachers are often dynamic and innovative. They have mastered how to explore and learn specifics. These analytical skills are within a niche teachers’ skillset that they can in turn teach their students in language acquisition.
Learn how Digital and Social Media marketing Work
My first niche teaching business, I created over ten years ago and since that time I have used both digital and social media marketing to grow my business online. It has allowed me to grow my business single-handedly, not waste time and money on resources that don’t produce results and most importantly it has allowed me to target my specific niched audience and cross-market into other ones once my niche teaching business was established.
Develop Resources to Support Your Niche Focus in Teaching English
As you delve deeper into teaching English in a specific niche, it’s important to continuously develop resources that support your specialty focus. For example, if you are focusing on teaching business English, create suitable lesson plans or materials that advance both your student and your niche teaching business. Use Ai such as we have demonstrated in this example here and other intellectual resources to help you create unique and interesting lessons that will resonate with your students. You could also purchase books or other products relevant to the topic and read up on industry news so that you stay abreast of trends and developments in the field. Additionally, make sure to network with others interested in your speciality area and join networking groups related to your niches.
Be dynamic in your approach
Unfortunately, the internet does have it’s share of marketing gurus that state high ticket, niche teaching is the only way to build a niche teaching business. But this is not true. Teaching does not have to be one-to-one lessons, it doesn’t even have to be group lessons.
For example, you may choose to create a range of workbooks or other resources that you can sell in volume directly to students on your own website or places like Amazon. You may want to offer your lessons in a specific format, perhaps an online course or membership with a monthly live class, seminar or workshop. These often compliment the resources students have already worked through prior to attending the lesson.
Finally, consider attending conferences or workshops related to your niche and take advantage of any professional development opportunities that may be available. Remember a good teacher is also a good student and must continue to perfect and master new skills to keep niche teaching relevant and interesting for both you and your students.
Recommended posts:
Online marketing tips that work for Online Teachers and coaches
How to find private students Online
How to create a Student-led membership business
How to create and sell your first digital product
