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You’d love to earn $1,500 a month working part time from home, right?

Problem is, as dreamy as it sounds, the hassle of getting there can be a nightmare. After all, $1,500 is a lot of money for only working a few hours a week.

The good news ?

I know it can be done.

Today, I’m writing about a way you can make at least that much just by working part time from home… around 20 hours a week.  Oh yeah, also working flexible schedules and, if you want, working even more hours for more money.

What am I talking about ?

Helping youngsters from another country learn a foreign language.  Foreign to them, NOT you.

Bear with me for a sec., I have a quick point to make.

The other day, I caught an episode of HGTV’s House Hunter’s International and was struck with the idea of this post. This particular episode showcased a couple who were packing themselves up, dumping their careers, and moving from Texas to Budapest with the hopes of finding a new home and new jobs.

Pretty gutsy, if you ask me 🙂

Come to find out, they recently got certified to teach English to the locals of Budapest. I think they called it “teaching English as a foreign language”. Oh, I should mention, one of the main criteria for their new home was that it absolutely had to have an office space because they were both going to be working from home.

OK, interest piqued.

So I decided to look a little bit deeper into teaching English as a foreign language and write a detailed report on one of the leading companies in this line of work. One that pays well and offers a very flexible schedule.

Let’s get to it !

Teach English To Foreigners And Make $1,500 A Month

I’m a little bit familiar with the “teach English as a foreign language” thing (aka: English as a second language or ESL); I know it’s done online, but I just figured it was a way to make extra cash when needed.

What I found out first is this:

First, teaching English as a foreign language is much more than just a way to make extra cash; it can be pretty fruitful. In fact, you can work whenever you want, as much as you want, and make pretty good money in the meantime.

Secondly, I discovered that there are several companies that will pay you to do this kind of work, some companies more popular than others with the majority of them letting you work remotely. And you don’t even need to leave the USA.

But today, I’m going to focus on the company that I have been hearing a lot about. The one that my research has shown pays well and is highly respected by students and teachers alike.

And that company is VIPKID

Why do I think VIPKID is a good English as a Second Language (ESL) company?  A few reasons:

• Past and current students love the platform and screening process of the teachers
• Teachers like the flexibility of working whenever they are able
• They have an excellent support system for their teachers and resolve issues promptly
• They are one of the best payers out there
• They let teachers teach, without getting caught up in the minutia of creating a curriculum

According to the job/company review website Glassdoor, VIPKID received a 4-out-of-5 star score from over 400 reviewers. Not too shabby !

And the $1500.00 a month is earned by working around 20 hours a week at the average pay rate of just under $19.00 an hour.  But it gets better – you can possibly make more per hour as I’ll explain a little later on.

Here’s The Nitty-Gritty On VIPKID

Is VIPKid a legitimate company ?

Yep.  They’ve been around since 2013 and is quickly becoming one of the best ESL platforms out there. According to this Forbes article, VIPKID is ranked #1 for being the best work from home company in 2018 because of their awesome community, fantastic pay, and totally flexible schedules.  All that for working part time from home !

According to their website:

VIPKID provides an international learning experience to children in China between the ages 4-12. Headquartered in Beijing, the company offers fully immersive one-on-one English language instruction provided online by highly qualified teachers. The curriculum is based on the U.S. Common Core State Standards and uses a flipped-classroom approach to foster creativity and critical thinking skills.

 

How It Works

First things first, these are the things you absolutely need:

• A Bachelor’s degree
• Be eligible to teach in the USA or Canada
• Have some teaching experience (coach, regular teacher, ESL teacher)

And, as long as you have a stable internet connection, you can work anywhere. Honestly ! Besides that, all you need is a desktop computer, laptop, MAC, or Surface as well as an external or integrated camera and a headset with a microphone. There are some system requirements, but if you have a new-ish computer you should be all set.

You’ll be teaching Chinese children how to speak English as a second (or foreign) language, all done online through the VIPKID platform. Your lessons are known as “slides”, which you can review ahead of your class time.

Still interested?  Sign up and get started now.

This Is What The Application Process Looks Like:

It’s pretty simple, really. Just make sure to have a copy of your degree and teaching certification. The main steps are:

• Enter the basics and submit your resume
• Take the 30-minute interview which will assess your teaching experience.
• Read the prep work and take the teaching quiz
• Participate in a demo class with one of the teachers who pretends to be a child
• Complete a background check and contract signing

Once you sign up to work for VIPKID, you will have to enter some basic information, like your name, education level, teaching experience. Now, don’t leave anything out. Be sure to enter ALL of your teaching – and teaching related – experience. Did you ever coach a team ? Put it in there. Have any tutoring in your background? Yep, that counts too. Have you ever been a mentor? What about youth pastoring?  Let them know. ANYTHING that involves teaching or mentoring students (or adults, for that matter) counts in your favor.

The interview process stressed out a lot of people but with VIPKID, you can either book a “live” interview or pre-record one. You may want to do the booked interview so you can ask questions and get answers on the spot.

Assuming you pass your interview, you’ll be given a lot of “initial prep.” information to absorb and then you’ll have to take a quiz. Don’t worry, most of it is common sense and if you do get “stuck”, you can keep the prep information up on your browser while you take the quiz (just open another browser tab).

Then comes the biggie: the demo class. Probably the most stressful part of the whole process, but if you’re prepared it’ll be a piece of cake. Basically, another teacher poses as a child and you follow the lessons (slides) and teach your “student”

If you do well on your demo class, you’re on your way to earning at least $1,500.00 a month working part time from home. You will soon receive an email outlining your overall score, your strengths and weaknesses, and your starting pay rate. Read through this email carefully and absorb all the information they tell you. It’ll only help you in booking more students.

At this point, you’ll be asked to sign a 6-month contract and upload your documents (degree and certification) to the portal. You’ll go through a training process which consists of watching videos on how to use the teaching platform, how the class booking process works, and the do’s and don’ts of teaching online.  If, after 6 months you’re still loving this job, you can renew you contract.

About Your Lessons And Students

All the classes are one-on-one and are primarily teaching children through VIPKID’s own educational platform. Even though VIPKID created the curriculum (so you don’t have to), you DO need to prepare for class by reviewing the class materials beforehand.

 

How Many Hours You Can Work

VIPKID does not put a limit on the number of hours you can work – it all depends on you, your schedule, and when you feel like working. However, you do have to enter you weekly availability one month in advance. Classes are always booked in advance, with no less than 24 hours notice.

Your classes are guaranteed to be at least 25 minutes long so, to maximize the number of classes you are scheduled for, be available during Beijing peak ours: Monday-Friday 6-10pm, and Saturday-Sunday 9am–10pm.

How You Get Paid At VIPKID

You’re an independent contractor and will be paid on a per-class basis with each class paying between $7.00 and $9.00. And because each class lasts 25 minutes, this translates to $14.00 to $18.00 an hour. Not quite the $22.00 an hour they claim on their website, but don’t let that discourage you.  Besides, they offer bonuses so you can easily get up to the $22.00 an hour you were hoping for. Oh…you can expect payment to be made through direct deposit on the 10th and 15th of each month.

VIPKID offers free trials for new student sign-ups. Sometimes these trials are difficult to understand so you have to be flexible in trying to figure out what level the student is. And don’t worry, the trial classes are paid at 100%. And if the trial student is a no-show, you’re paid 50%.

And remember: your minimum payment is determined by your demo class performance.

OK, ready to do this? Sign up here.

A Few Tips

Because VIPKID is rapidly growing, gaining new students every day, they are in need of awesome teachers.  Here are some great tips to get you over the hump and start teaching the English language to kids.

• A lot of teachers strongly recommend using a headset because the built-in microphone on their computers were weak and they had trouble understanding their interviewer.
• Give the parents of potential students a reason to schedule you by having a smiley profile. Don’t worry about looking silly, you’re teaching children.
• If you travel, awesome ! You can teach while you travel. Students love to see new locations and it helps them learn by seeing a variety of different locations.
• Participate in the teacher “Meet-Ups”, the networking platform to share teaching experiences.
• Speak slowly and clearly and wait for the student to respond when you ask a question.
• Review your teaching material (aka: slides) the night before so you can prepare any props you might want to use
• Speaking of props, use them.  A whiteboard, a map, a puppet.  Even alphabet blocks are great tools. Teaching a child how to say “zebra” in English is easier if you have a zebra stuffed animal.
• Reviewing your slides beforehand gives you time to figure out any issues that may not be totally clear.
• To qualify for a bonus, you have to work more than 30 classes a month
• Once a class is booked, it’s booked. The only way out is by canceling it – and you only get 6 cancellations per contract.
• Don’t make any cancellations. The more regular you are, the more active you are.
• Most of your students will be well-behaved but you may have a rambunctious child every once in a while. Just be patient…they’re still children 🙂
• Have a bubbly personality ? Awesome !  Also, use hand and body movements / motions. This will help your student understand better.

 

Are You Ready To Be An ESL Teacher And Make $1,500.00 A Month ?

I know this is a lot of information to take in and I know it seems like a lengthy process, but don’t worry, it’s really not too difficult. VIPKID is an awesome way to make decent money working part time from home because it’s growing rapidly, gaining a bunch of new students, and hiring teachers every day. And remember: you can work as much as you want so the dream of $1,500.00 a month can grow to double that amount.

Ready to get started making good money working part time? You can sign up here.