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We can say online teachers, but can we also say offline teachers?It sounds a bit strange.

Yankee · Accepted Answer

Hi Anon

Teaching online is a pretty recent development. I'd venture a guess that the majority of teachers still teach in a "traditional" environment, i.e. not online. I would also say that even among the teachers who do teach online, the majority of those also teach in an "old-fashioned" classroom environment. Thus, saying "online teacher" can be used to identify to a teacher who carries out some or all of his/her teaching activities online.

What does "offline teacher" mean? Is that an "online teacher" who is not currently online? Or is that a teacher who never teaches via the Internet? There may well be a few specific contexts that might justify the use of "offline teacher" (contexts which would also make the meaning clear), but to me those contexts would be few and far between.

Anonymous · Answer

You enlightened me Yankee! Thanks!

I once saw an ad saying " HIRING ONLINE/OFFLINE TEACHERS".

I got curious that's why i asked.

So "ONLINE TEACHERS" isn't appropriate, is it?

alda

Yankee · Answer

Hi Alda

The expression "online teacher" is one that you hear pretty often nowadays, and I would understand the meaning as I described it in my first post. To me, that has become a pretty commonly used collocation, and even without any additional context, people would generally understand why "online" was used.

To me, the expression "offline teacher" is not the same. Without additional context, the meaning cannot be understood.

In your example, I would understand the meaning to be that they are hiring teachers to teach via the Internet and in the classroom. Therefore, in that context, I would assume that "offline" refers to teaching that is not done via the Internet. Whether they only want to hire teachers who can/will teach in both environments (i.e. both Internet and traditional classroom) is not clear to me from the context you provided.

Alda1119 · Answer

I misunderstood what you said.

Now, this is for real! I do understand!

So with that kind of context, the meaning is unclear!

It is possible to use that, but it will depend on people's perception based on the context. (hope i'm right this time)

Thanks Yankee!

Yankee · Answer

Right. I'd say "offline teacher" would need much more context before people would be able to understand what the intended meaning is. Probably any usage of "offline teacher" at all is going to be limited to a few contexts that also mention "online teachers". So, your ad was a good example.

As regards the ad you posted, the main problem is the lack of further context. Based on the little bit you posted, I couldn't say for sure whether each person they hire will have to teach both in a classroom and via the internet, OR whether they wanted to hire some people who would teach only online and others who would teach only in a classroom. Maybe if you had posted more of the ad that would have been made clear.

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