We teach English online with VIPkid, and we love it! If you are looking for a side/part-time job, we highly recommend it! We looked up so many VIPkid reviews before applying to see if it was worth it, and after reading a million VIPkid reviews we’re so glad we decided to apply for VIPkid…it’s been such a great job!
We’ve gotten a lot of questions about teaching English, so figured we’d write a blog post about what it’s like to work for VIPkid, information on the application process, and tips for how to get hired by VIPkid!
How much does VIPkid pay?
The average pay is $18-$22/hour…we got hired at $21 an hour which is $9.50 per half hour class and then another $1 per class if you teach more than 45 classes a month, which is easy to do because they’re only 25-30 minute classes.
How many hours do you have to teach?
You can teach as little or as much as you want and every day can be different, there are no requirements! We normally try to teach from 5-9AM and work about 20 hours a week The most popular times for student bookings are early mornings, nights, and weekends.
What are the application requirements for VIPkid?
To get hired with VIPkid – you only need:
- American or Canadian citizenship
- A Bachelor’s degree (of any type, doesn’t have to be teaching or English)
- At least 1 year of teaching experience of any kind, which can include tutoring, coaching, or mentoring (even for a season). If you have questions about this let me know and I can help you brainstorm! VIPkid is flexible with this – you may even have multiple years of “experience” without realizing it. For me, I taught kids at church once a week for a couple years and then mentored college students while I was in college, so that counted as a few years. Make sure you select that you have taught in a K-12 school for at least one year, and then explain your experience in the interview.
What are the positives and negatives of working for VIPkid?
If you’ve read VIPkid reviews, you may have seen that one negative thing is it takes some upfront work to get fully into the swing of things. There are a few steps in the teacher training process and then you have to create a video/photos/bio for yourself, because parents select you based on that.
I wish someone would have explained to me that it takes a couple weeks of committed work upfront so that I knew what to expect, but it was so worth it for us after we started getting booked. And the more work you put into the first few steps, the easier and quicker it will be to get booked! The first week I didn’t get booked at all, but the second week I got bookings, and by the 4th week I was pretty much fully booked working 20 hours a week. We love working from home and being done with work early in the day!
A positive thing is that once you get into the swing of things it’s soooo easy! VIPkid prepares all the coursework for you, so there is no lesson planning and very little prep. After the first couple lessons, we actually got to the point where we don’t look at what lessons we are teaching until we log in that day. The format they have set up makes it super easy to teach!! And if you set up short notice bookings (where you can get booked within 24 hours – I recommend this!) you get an extra $2 per class, so more money!
What’s involved in the VIPkid application and teacher training process?
Here are the main steps of the VIPKID application and teaching training process…
1. Apply/Complete Basic Info – Make sure you select at least 1 year of teaching experience! Once approved, they will email you saying you can select a time for your interview.
2. Interview/Demo Class – This is where they tell you if you’re hired and how much you’ll make per hour. Your pay is based on how well you do in this interview/demo class! You can choose from one of two options:
- Express Interview/Demo Lesson: You literally send in a 3-minute video about yourself and teach 1 slide. Read more info here. It’s super easy!
- Traditional Interview/Demo Lesson: This is done with a VIPKID recruiter via their website’s Skype-like portal. You will answer some basic interview questions and then teach a 10 minute lesson for them (the lesson is prepared in advance for you, but you will want to prepare props and practice for it).
Read more tips about the VIPkid interview and demo class here! After you pass this step, you’re hired! There are just some additional steps for teacher training and certification.
3. Certification Class (also called Mock Class) – This is similar to the demo class – you will teach a 10 minute lesson to another teacher to be certified to teach that level. Once you pass one level certification class, you can choose to get another certification to teach higher level students, which helps you get booked more.
Prior to your certification class, you can also choose to take part in an optional 2-hour “Mock Class Coaching Session” (basically a training workshop) that gives more info about what to expect for the mock/certification class, and overall can help you be a better teacher! I didn’t do this, but I heard that it can be helpful.
4. TESOL Certification – Online English companies also now require new teachers to have a TESOL certification (this is a new Chinese law). VIPkid pays for this and provides it as part of the teacher training process.
5. Contract Info – Set up your banking info and your teaching profile (taking time to make a good video and photos really helps) before opening your schedule for classes to be booked!
6. The fun part! – Start teaching!!
How can you apply for VIPkid?
Click here to apply for VIPkid!
If you use this link or the referral code “EMILY0826” when you apply, we get a little referral incentive, but if not no worries.
Once you apply and schedule your interview and demo class, click here for VIPkid interview tips! And if you have any questions, feel free to email us – we’re happy to help!!
