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I have gotten inspired again to write about my love of teaching English online. My VIPKid schedule has flown through the roof and the company is urging all the teachers to spread the word on the great opportunity to make money from home!
Apparently, in China, the students have two “back to school” times in the year. One is after the Summer break and the other is after the Chinese New Year break that they have in Winter. Well, the Spring Festival and Chinese New Year have passed and now students are flocking to VIPKid to take English lessons.
VIPKid also has some BIG plans for expansion so the demand for teachers is growing. If you’ve ever considered applying for VIPKid, NOW is the time! They are hiring like crazy because the students are booking like crazy.
Why Teaching English Online is the Perfect Side Hustle
Although I am currently in the process of leaving my brick and mortar job and making VIPKid my full income, that’s not how I started. At first, it was just the perfect side job.
You can read all of the reasons why I’ve decided to make VIPKid my main income in my earlier post. However, there are a lot of reasons why it’s great as a side job too.
Make Your Own Schedule
Although you need to have a couple of weeks planned out, you will create your own schedule. I don’t want to be misleading here. You create your schedule but within the available times for lessons.
As of right now, the company is in China and serves Chinese students. There are big plans in the very near future for expansion to other countries that could mean scheduling options would be expanded!
For now, however, the times that are between 10 PM and 8 AM Beijing Time are not available. This means you will work nights or early mornings. But if this is a side job, then you don’t want it to conflict with your other work schedule so it works out!
Weird times… Actually Perfect for a side job
Here’s what made teaching English online perfect for my side job, then later my only job. The weird times that you teach because you’re teaching kids across the globe actually keep it from interfering with your “real” job or your home life.
Depending on where you live, lining up your schedule to work with the kids in China means some weird times. For me, the peak times are between 5 am and 8:30 am (or 4-7:30, depending on daylight savings). This was actually perfect.
At first, it was a downside. I thought, “That is soooo early!” But then I realized that if I just wake up a few hours earlier than my kids I can get my lessons taught and be done before I head to work or before my kids wake up and want my undivided attention. Really it’s not that bad.
Very Little Prep
The thing about a side job is that it really needs to just be a SIDE job. It shouldn’t take up too much of your time or interfere with your other job. A lot of people who I’ve talked to about teaching online hear “teaching” and think, “Yeah, no way! I hear how much work teaching is…”
Even though you are teaching, you are not doing lesson plans, grades, or a lot of talking to parents. VIPKid does all of this stuff for you. The lessons are planned out for you with materials. Other than quick feedback that you give to the parents, you are required to do very little outside of the lesson itself.
Great Pay for Part-Time
I thought about getting a part-time job for extra money for our family. There are always the typical choices: retail, serving, etc. I used to work retail and made probably like $11/hr… and I would have to drive there, take/buy lunch, wear a uniform/professional clothing, etc…
Not to mention scheduling. Having to work it out that I can work when Max is home to watch the kids and it doesn’t conflict with my other work schedule makes it not worth it. As said before, I decide which blocks I want to open up for scheduling. If I know that on a day that I normally teach, I need to take off for an event, then I just keep those slots closed on my schedule.
As a VIPKid teacher, I make $20/hr. I’d say that is not too shabby for a side job that I can set my own schedule, never leave my house, and wear pajama pants for (also never having to leave my kids). It’s more than I made at any other part-time job.
How does pay work?
VIPKid states that they offer $14-$22 per hour. Let me explain how it works.
The pay is per class that you teach. This DOES mean that until you get your schedule consistent that it will be a little hit or miss at first.
The base pay for each lesson is $7-$9 based on your interview, qualifications, and experience. That’s where the lowest value of $14/hr comes from since each class is 25 minutes long. However, each class that you come to on time gets you a bonus $1. That puts it at $16/hr.
Then, once you build up your schedule and are teaching 45 in a month or more (I teach about 120) then each lesson gets an extra dollar again! That puts it at $18/hr for the people making $7 base pay.
Again, I feel like this is pretty good for something you just do before work in your pajama pants.
***EDIT:*** There has been word that this incentive system will be changing for new hires. The incentive pay will start to be more incremental based on the number of classes you have taught since hired as well as how many classes you have taught in the month.
It has not been finalized yet, and there is still some confusion about what the pay incentives will be! I hope to keep my posts updated with any new payscales!
But I’m Not a Teacher…
Here’s the thing about teaching with VIPKid: You don’t need to be an experienced school teacher with a teaching license to teach English online. The company wants native English speakers that can teach their students to speak English like them.
The company is mostly looking for people who can be fun and conversational. The best way to learn a new language is by hearing it and using it conversationally.
The requirements for VIPKid
Although you don’t need to have a teaching degree to teach with VIPKid, there are some requirements that you need to meet.
- Bachelor’s Degree-You don’t need to have an education degree, but you do need to have a bachelor’s degree or higher to work for VIPKid.
- Eligibility to work in US or Canada
- 1 Year of Teaching Experience-This includes life experience. Have you coached little league? Worked as a camp counselor? Homeschooled? It counts!
That’s it! If you meet those three requirements then you qualify! Once you apply you will have an interview and a mock lesson (or 2, or however many you need).
The Process
As you have probably guessed, the first step to getting hired is the basic application. Make sure you meet those requirements I listed above! The application is super simple to fill out.
You can reach it through most of the links on this post or you can click the image below!
Let Me Help You!
Need help? Confused? Worried about what props to use or what your mock lesson should look like?
Let me mentor you!
If you apply through any of the VIPKid links on my site I will automatically be added as your mentor on your application! I would love to help you through it and give you advice! I will even practice with you over Skype if you want to!
VIPKid no longer gives contact information to mentors to reach out to people who have applied through our links. Please make sure to reach out to me at meagan@purposefulmommy.com to let me know that you have applied with my link or my referral code! I’d love to help you get hired and build your schedule!
Already applied but want me to be your mentor?
You can add my code: MEAGA0028 on your application where it asks for the referral code. You will be added to my mentee list. But PLEASE don’t forget to email me to let me know so I can help you!
Now Let’s Go Teach!
I hope that this has helped give you some information on why teaching English online is a great side job. It’s flexible, it’s easy, and most of all, it’s SO fun!
I would really like to do this when I am ready to work again. I am not quite ready to take on any job yet, but when I am, this will be the first thing I look into. Thank you so much for all the detailed information. 😊 I may ask you more questions down the road!
I will totally be here to answer them when you’re ready!
This is such a cool job!! I would really love to try doing it, but I’ve only ever done informal tutoring and wonder how I could prove that? Also do the parents usually stick around to help keep the kids on task or are they usually pretty good about it on their own? It seems like you have a great time, thanks for sharing!!
That’s perfect! You would just write that on the application where it asks for teaching experience. The documents that you have to provide are proof of your degree and IF you have a teaching certificate they suggest having that on your profile as well.
Very unique job opportunity. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
This is really neat!! Thank you for sharing this!
Great post! I have a friend who teaches on VIP kid and absolutely loves it!
This is a great idea! I am 4 courses away from my degree, and have loads of teaching experience. I think I might check into this!
When I have seen the ads for this I felt this was a great way for someone to be able to work from home and make great money! Glad that you are having fun!
Wow, who knew this existed. What a great side hustle for someone. I am going to keep this in mind when people ask about a part time job.
Looks like teaching anything online right now is a huge trend! And it works perfectly for everyone. Thank you for sharing the details.
I’ve looked into online teaching jobs like VIP Kid a lot! Especially now that we are living in an RV, any extra money counts!
Yes! A huge attraction for a lot of people that apply is the ability to teach from anywhere with an internet connection! There are even “nomadic” vipkid teacher groups on Facebook! I have taught from a hotel room when we had to take a surprise trip.
I actually talked with them at one point about doing this. It didn’t work for me but I love the idea behind it. Very cool!
I’ve seen these ads but always thought you had to be a certified teacher. What a great way to earn money and be home!
Yes! A lot of people think that so don’t apply! Since the lessons and everything are written by the company they don’t need certified teachers. It actually is so different from brick and mortar teaching that some teachers have a difficult time adjusting to the different style of teaching at first.
I have always heard such wonderful things about VIP kids. This seems like a really greta program for moms to make some extra money, and be able to stay home with your kids. Its a win win!
I know a few people who do this and they love it!!! And, a good internet connection is a must! I couldn’t do it, because I have bad internet.
My internet is not the best either… But once I connected directly to my router with an ethernet cable it solved that issue for me.
Very cool! Something to consider in the future!
This sounds like a cool job, part time or full time! I’ve been teaching others, in a variety of subjects, since I was 15 years old. However, I do not have a degree. I’ll pass this info on to others though!
I love teaching ESL! I don’t work for VIPKID, but I have heard great things about them as well. It’s always fun to find other online teachers!
Very familiar with this. Great gig! The time difference can be kind of rough.
Wow, what a great side job or even fulltime hustle! I bet it’s a lot of fun too, thanks so much for sharing 🙂
I have heard such great things about VIP Kids! I am so glad it works for your family and that you are able to quit your teaching job after this year because you are doing so well with them Ü
This post is awesome! You laid it out so well. I have other friends who work for VIPkid and love it too! ♡ I may even do it in the future. Rock on momma!
Gosh, this is really neat - I’d check it out myself, but I don’t have a degree….. thanks for sharing!
This sounds like such a great side gig! Thanks for the tip!
Sounds like a perfect fit for you - for a LOT of people, actually. Great find!
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You explained this SOOOOOO well! I feel like people are always super vague about these types of things and it’s hard to get real details and know if it would be a good fit. You explained it so well and shared so much useful information. Thank you!
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