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How to teach IELTS online: 1:1 and small groups
By the IELTS Laboratory team. Published 24 October 2026. Updated 24 October 2026.
Short answer: If you are working out how to teach IELTS online, it works best when live time is spent on speaking and on fixing each learner’s own mistakes, while writing and timed practice happen between lessons. Keep groups small, record speaking practice, and use a simple routine: review last week’s mistakes, teach one focus, practise live, set targeted homework.
Online IELTS teaching suits both sides. Learners can work with a teacher in another country, and teachers can build a timetable around time zones rather than a commute. It also brings challenges: it is harder to see a page over a learner’s shoulder, and silence on a video call feels longer than it is.
This guide covers what you need to teach Academic IELTS online, how to structure a lesson and how to find learners.
Can I teach IELTS online?
Yes. There is no official licence needed to teach IELTS preparation, though learners and schools usually look for a teaching qualification and IELTS experience.
Common qualifications include CELTA (Cambridge’s entry-level certificate for teaching English to adults), Trinity CertTESOL and DELTA, a higher-level diploma. Experience matters just as much: knowing the task types, the public band descriptors (the criteria examiners use) and the timings. If you teach learners in other countries, check your own tax and business rules where you live.
What do you need to teach IELTS online?
A reliable connection, a headset, a way to share documents and a way to record speaking. You do not need much more.
Need | Basic option | Why it matters for IELTS |
|---|---|---|
Video calls | Any mainstream video platform with breakout rooms | Pair work for Speaking |
Shared writing | A shared document or whiteboard | Live paragraph fixing |
Recording | Phone voice memo or platform recording, with consent | Learners hear their own speaking |
Timer | On-screen countdown | Part 2 timing, 20/40-minute writing |
Homework and feedback | A platform or a tidy shared folder per learner | Tracking mistakes over weeks |
Always ask before recording, and tell learners where recordings are kept and for how long.
How should you structure an online IELTS lesson?
Use a fixed 60-minute routine so learners know what is coming, and keep writing time outside the call.
Stage | Time | What happens |
|---|---|---|
1. Review | 10 min | Learners redo two or three items they got wrong last week |
2. Focus | 10 min | One problem type, taught from anonymised examples |
3. Live practice | 20 min | Speaking task recorded, or a paragraph fixed on a shared document |
4. Feedback | 15 min | Listen back or read back; one better sentence each |
5. Homework | 5 min | One targeted task, linked to today’s focus |
The focus should come from the learner’s own work. Our pillar guide, Create IELTS lesson plans from the learners’ own mistakes, explains how to choose it.
How is 1:1 different from small-group teaching online?
One-to-one lessons can follow a single learner’s mistakes closely, while small groups need shared problems and more structured pair work.
1:1: every minute is personal. Use their last essay or recording as the whole lesson. Watch for fatigue, and build in a change of activity every 15 minutes.
Small groups (3–6): choose problem types most of the group shares. Use breakout rooms in pairs for Speaking, with one learner recording and timing.
Anonymise in groups. Rewrite examples so no one can tell whose sentence is on screen.
Groups larger than six tend to leave quieter learners silent online. If you need to go bigger, split speaking time into more breakout rounds.
How do you teach IELTS Speaking online?
Record, listen back with a focus, fix a few sentences, then record the same task again.
Online is good for this, because recording is built in. Have a learner plan a Part 2 cue card for one minute and speak for up to two while you record. They listen once with two or three questions, you teach from what you heard, and they try the same card again. Our IELTS Speaking Part 2 lesson plan and speaking feedback sheet both work over video.
How do you teach IELTS Writing online?
Learners write between lessons under timed conditions, and live time is spent fixing their own sentences together.
Set one question per week. Mark it with a short, ranked comment (see How to give IELTS writing feedback students actually act on). In the lesson, share the learner’s top problem on screen and fix it live, then have them rewrite their own flagged sentences while you watch the shared document.
How do IELTS tutors online find learners?
Through referrals, a clear profile listing exactly what you teach, and directories that let learners compare teachers.
Learners searching for a tutor usually want to know your experience, which skills you cover, your price per session and whether they can message you first. Our guide How to choose an IELTS teacher shows what they look for.
On the IELTS Laboratory tutor directory, learners search for tutors, filter by currency and maximum price per hour, and message a tutor before booking anything. Listing your teaching there costs nothing. Once a learner is connected and in one of your groups, they can book your open times and join the lesson in the video room inside the portal.
How can IELTS Laboratory help?
IELTS Laboratory (ielts-laboratory.co) is an independent online platform for Academic IELTS teachers and learners that helps teachers turn learners’ own Writing and Speaking mistakes into flashcards, lesson packs and practice. It is not affiliated with IELTS, the British Council, IDP or Cambridge.
A teacher dashboard and classes, with the option to see work as students see it.
Teacher-marked Writing: you find the mistakes, write the corrections and flashcards, and give the bands. Flashcards go into each learner’s own deck, and missed cards come back sooner.
A Part 2 cue-card trainer with timing, and recordings kept for 365 days that you can listen to.
Speaking reports from transcribed recordings, so you can go through each learner’s errors together.
Nothing in the product is an official IELTS score.
FAQ
Do I need a qualification to teach IELTS online?
No licence is required, but most learners and platforms expect a recognised teaching qualification such as CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL, plus IELTS experience.
How many students should an online IELTS group have?
Three to six works well. Larger groups make it hard for everyone to speak enough.
How long should a lesson be when teaching IELTS online?
Sixty minutes suits most learners. Ninety minutes can work for groups if writing practice is done during the call.
How do I keep online IELTS learners doing homework?
Make each task short, personal and linked to the lesson, and start every lesson by reviewing it. Our guide to IELTS homework that isn’t busywork has ideas.
List your IELTS teaching where learners are looking
The IELTS Laboratory teacher directory is free to list on, as part of building a fairer IELTS teaching ecosystem. Learners can already search for tutors, filter by currency and maximum price per hour, and message a tutor directly.
Start advertising your teaching for free →
IELTS Laboratory is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to IELTS, the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia or Cambridge University Press and Assessment.
About the author. Will Salisbury is a TESOL and Applied Linguistics specialist and the founder of IELTS Laboratory. He has taught English for Academic Purposes and ESL for over 14 years at universities in the UK and Canada. More about Will →