How to determine peak online English teaching times in your timezone ?

How to determine peak online English teaching times in your timezone ? Never before have timezones played such an important role in ESL teaching! Now that more and more online English teaching jobs are cropping up online, there’s a whole range of new considerations for teachers. Like - when do I want to teach? And what the heck is a peak hour? And why is everything written in Beijing time? We can’t answer all of those questions - we’re not mind readers, and everyone’s life is different. You might want to teach mornings, evenings or nights. Who knows? Certainly not us . What we do know is that a peak hour is the times when a company sees that most students are logging on and clocking online English tutoring hours i.e. when the demand for English teachers is at its highest. These hours tend to be similar across a region and as many online ESL students are based in China - the words Beijing time, are a headache you need to pay attention to. We recommend bookmarking this handy little guide as we’ve taken the time to translate those mysterious Beijing peak hours into time zones that will be more familiar for Canadian, American, European, South African, New Zealander and Australian teachers. We’ve also looked at peak hours in other regions with a high demand for English teachers and done the same. So we’ve got peak hour timezone translators for student demand in Japan, Europe and South America too. China’s peak online English teaching hours: The peak hours for many companies in China are pretty much the same. That’s because it’s mostly after schools hours. So whether you’re looking at companies like iTutor, VipKid, Dada, Magic Ears, or any of the other bajillion companies working on Beijing time, this table should help you figure out when the peak work hours are based on your own timezone. Time Zone Weekdays Weekends Beijing GMT+8 6pm-10 pm 9am-11 am Pacific Standard GMT -8 (Canada USA 2am-6am 5pm-7pm (of the day before) Mountain Standard GMT -7 (Canada USA) 3am-7am 6pm-8pm (of the day before) US Central Standard GMT -6 (Canada, US, Central America, Mexico) 4am-8am 7pm-9pm (of the day before) Central European Standard GMT +1 (France, Germany, etc.) 11am-3pm 2am-4am GMT (UK/Ireland) 10am-2pm 1am-3am South Africa GMT +2 12pm- 4pm (midday) 3am-5am New Zealand GMT +13 11pm-3am 2pm-4pm Australian Central GMT +9 (including Japan and South Korea) 7pm-11pm 10am-12pm (midday) Sign up to Teach Away today for access to the latest teaching jobs around the world. Japan’s peak online English teaching hours: Companies like Gaba, Native Camp, and Best Teacher, all cater to Japanese students. Whether you fancy teaching adults or children, the demand for online ESL tutors in Japan is outside of their traditional working/school hours. This means early mornings, late evenings and weekends are when most Japanese English students will log on to boost their English learning. Time Zone Weekdays Weekends Japan GMT+9 (Australia South Korea) 7.10am-9.10am 5.30pm-10.30pm All day on the weekends 9am-9pm Pacific Standard GMT -8 (Canada USA) 2.10pm-4.10pm (day before) Midnight-5am (same day) 4pm-4am (Fri, Sat) Mountain Standard GMT -7 (Canada USA) 3.10pm-5.10pm (day before) 1am-am (same day) 5pm-5am (Fri, Sat) US Central Standard GMT -6 (Canada, US, Central America, Mexico) 4.10pm-6.10pm (day before 2am-7am (same day) 6pm-6am (Fri, Sat) Central European Standard GMT +1 (France, Germany, etc.) 11pm-1am 9.30am-2.30pm 1am-1pm GMT (UK/Ireland) 10pm-12am (midnight) 8.30am-1.30pm 12pm-12am (midday to midnight) South Africa GMT +2 12am-2am (midnight) 10.30am-3.30pm 2am-2pm New Zealand GMT +13 11.10am-13.10am 9.30pm-2.30am 1pm-1am Beijing Time GMT +8 6.10am-8.10am 4.30pm-9.30pm 8am-8pm Europe’s peak online English teaching hours: It’s a bit of a theme with online tutoring companies but they tend to have their peak hours on the weekends or weekdays outside of working hours. That means that if you’re planning to teach European students ESL online, you might want to log on on weekday evenings or anytime over the weekend. Some of the companies that cater to European students are Fluentify, Learnship and Tandem. Time Zone Weekdays Weekends Central European Standard GMT +1 (France, Germany, etc.) 6pm-9pm 9am-9pm Pacific Standard GMT -8 (Canada USA) 9am-12pm (midday) 12pm-12am (midday-midnight) Mountain Standard GMT -7 (Canada USA) 10am-1pm 1pm-1am US Central Standard GMT -6 (Canada, US, Central America, Mexico) 11am-2pm 2pm-2am Japan GMT+9 (Australia South Korea) 2am-5am (next day) 5pm-5am GMT (UK/Ireland) 5pm-8pm 8am-8pm South Africa GMT +2 7pm-10pm 10am-10pm New Zealand GMT +13 6am-9am (next day) 9pm-9am Beijing Time GMT +8 1am-4am (next day) 4pm-4am South America’s peak online English teaching hours: Although the market isn’t as saturated as say, China, there is a growing demand for online English teachers in Latin America. LatinHire, Preply and Cambly all cater to this market, but not always exclusively. The best thing you can do is log on during peak hours for that region if you’re set on teaching South American students. Time Zone Weekdays Weekends South America (GMT-2) 6pm-9pm 9am-9pm Central European Standard GMT +1 (France, Germany, etc.) 9pm-12am (midnight) 12pm-12am (midday-midnight) Pacific Standard GMT -8 (Canada USA) 12pm-3pm (midday) 3am-3pm Mountain Standard GMT -7 (Canada USA) 1pm-4pm 2am-2pm US Central Standard GMT -6 (Canada, US, Central America, Mexico) 2pm-5pm 1am-1pm Japan GMT+9(Australia South Korea) 5am-8am (next day) 8pm-8am (next day) GMT (UK/Ireland) 8pm-11pm 11pm-11am South Africa GMT +2 10pm-1am 1pm-1am New Zealand GMT +13 12am-3pm (next day) 3am-3pm (next day) Beijing Time GMT +8 4am-7am (next day) 7pm-7am (next day) South Korea’s peak online English teaching hours: Want to teach some of the hardest working students on the planet? Look no further than South Korea. This country places a huge emphasis on Native English teachers and has expanded its programs to include online English teachers that can cater to students in rural areas and beyond! South Koreans study hard, so you can expect some diligent students if you go with one of these online ESL teaching companies: NIL English, English Hunt and English Aloud. Time Zone Weekdays Weekends Korea GMT+9(Australia Japan) 6am-9am 6pm-12am (midnight) 9am-9pm Central European Standard GMT +1 (France, Germany, etc.) 10pm-1am 10am-4pm 1am-1pm Pacific Standard GMT -8 (Canada USA) 1pm-4pm (day before) 1am- 7am 4pm-4am Mountain Standard GMT -7 (Canada USA) 2pm-5pm (day before) 2am-8am 5pm-5am US Central Standard GMT -6 (Canada, US, Central America, Mexico) 3pm-6pm (day before) 3am-9am 6pm-6am GMT (UK/Ireland) 9pm-12am (midnight) (day before) 9am-3pm 12pm-12am (midday-midnight) South Africa GMT +2 11pm-2am 10am-10pm New Zealand GMT +13 10am-1pm 10pm-4am 1pm-1am Beijing Time GMT +8 5am-10am 5pm-11pm 8am-8pm If you’re still curious about teaching English online, we recommend the following reads: These are the 30 highest-paying online English teaching jobs right now Teaching English online with Wall Street English: Sarah’s story QA: Everything you need to know about teaching English to adults online Where to find honest reviews for online English teaching companies Attention online English teachers: What China’s new crackdown on regulations means for you