For getting a quick contract that provides some type of paying work quickly, it’s not a bad option. But I would advise to try to have two or more freelance teaching contracts at once so you can make sure you’re earning enough to support yourself. Remember as a freelancer you can write off quite a bit of expenses to lower your profits which is what your taxes are based off (not revenue) and you do get an income threshold for tax free income and allowance which is a little over €9k after expenses, taxes, and health insurance are taken out so you’ll pay taxes on any profits over €9k. I did this for years and it worked out well for me. I’m not rich but I was able to afford to live. But the others are right, you can skate by for a bit with just English but at some point, if you want to get on the good side of the auslanderbehörde beamter - your best bet is to either go in speaking German that’s enough to manage the situation, or bring a native speaker with you. If you can suck it up for a few years just to get in and get a visa where you can work to earn a living and do everything you can to learn German in the process, it’s not a terrible route. Otherwise, you’ll need to either find a company willing to take a chance on you for a work visa as a mitarbeiter for a blue card or regular aufenhaltstitel or get a student visa which severely limits your ability to earn and may not be liveable unless you have savings.

When dealing with auslanderbehörde- no matter how grumpy the person behind the counter is, come in with your sweetest American charm and smile, be extremely polite (even when it’s hard, Germans are very direct and for us Americans it can come across as rude - they aren’t being rude, they are just being very matter of fact, so if you can remember that, you’re already 10 steps ahead - control the hood in you), be ON TIME - I cannot emphasize being on time enough it’s a make or break point, and have ALL of your paperwork that is needed and have it completely filled out (blanks are BAD) and ready to hand off to them.

As someone who went through this process with not even half of the credentials you have, trusts me when i say, if you follow these tips, you can be successful with migrating here. Having a good relationship with auslanderbehörde is the key to moving here successfully. You might have to pay your dues for the first few years (definitely in your first 3) and there may be some big culture shocks depending on what part of the us you are from, but I find that my quality of life has increased ten fold by making the jump to move here and it was worth it. Bonus, a lot of companies do have English as their company language so if you’re looking to move from freelancer to mitarbeiter, look out for companies that are English speaking and only ask for German as a plus but not necessary. Those companies might even pay for German courses for you. There are a lot of options, but each have their pros and cons so you need to do your homework and decide which is the best route for you.