VIPKid Review – Teach Kids How To Speak English!

VIPKid is an online teaching platform that hires and pays ESL (English as Second Language) teachers to teach kids in China through video calls. 

To apply as a teacher, you need to meet the basic requirements. If you don’t have these, you’re not getting accepted by VIPKid. 

1. At least a Bachelor’s Degree in any field. 

2. Experience in teaching K-12 in the USA or Canada. 

They don’t specify how much experience is needed, so we assume it’s not that much. We’re thinking at least a few months’ worth is what they are looking for. 

Once you’re accepted, you’ll be given a 6-month renewable contract. 

Meanwhile, here are the technical requirements to carry out your teaching tasks:

1. A desktop or laptop. Smartphones and tablets will not be enough. ‘

2. At least Windows 7 or above, or MAC OS 10.8x or higher. 

3. You also need to have a minimum of 4GB RAM, an i-3 processor, the latest Flash version installed in your browser and at least 20MBPS of wired Internet connection

4. You also need to have a webcam and a good headset with a microphone. You’ll find these for cheap on Amazon.

VipKid Application Process

If you have all of the requirements, it’s time to start the application process.

You’ll need to send your resume so they can check whether or not you meet the basic requirements and teaching experience. If you pass that, you’ll be scheduled a 30-minute teaching demo session. This will allow you to show VIPKid how well you teach and how you deliver the lessons. You can do this in two ways: schedule a live demo with a recruiter, or send in a demo lesson in your own time and send it to VIPKid for evaluation. 

Once you pass that stage, you’ll then move on to another teaching demo. This time, with a VIPKid teacher. The teacher will pretend to be a VIPKid student and you’ll go through the motions of teaching a full-length class. 

If you pass the last step, CONGRATULATIONS! 

You’ll then be handed a 6-month renewable contract and asked to upload some documents. You’ll also be asked to complete a background check. 

Once you’re officially on their teaching roster, you can start scheduling your classes when you’re available. Take note that your scheduling needs to be done at least 2 weeks in advance. In case of any cancellation, you’ll also need a 2-week notice for that. 

How Much Does VipKid Pay?

VIPKid pays $7 to $9 per 30-minute teaching sessions, along with other incentives. Your base pay is also determined by your class demo performance during your application process. Your incentives are based on monthly class participation and completion.

This chart shows you how much VIPKid pays out:

Payments are made via direct deposit between the 10th and 15th of every month. After your 6-month contract, VIPKid may raise your rate. 

Because you’re an independent contractor, you’ll have to do your own taxes for this side hustle. 

Incentives and Contests

You earn a participation incentive of up to $1 per half hour. This incentive is based on the number of students who book with you every month along with number of classes you finish in a month. 

VIPKid uses this as an assessment of your teaching quality. 

So with incentives, you could technically earn $14 to $22 per hour. Some VIPKid teachers have reported to earn at least $100 per day.

VIPKid is a program that would be a good fit for teachers looking to make a few bucks online during the Pandemic. There’s a lot of downtime in between semesters and lessons, so might as well, right?

#1 Inconvenient Peak Hours

If you’re from the USA or Canada, you’ll be forced to adjust your schedule to accommodate classes in the morning for you. That’s because peak hours for Beijing China are 6:00PM to 10:00PM on the weekdays, and 9:00AM to 10:00PM for Saturdays and Sundays. 

This handy chart will show you what times you’ll need to be on based on US Time Zones. 

#2 Inconsistent Source of Income

Because the platform works on a booking system, you won’t always have a lot of work available. This means that there will be days or weeks where you will only take in a few classes while there are a few that will be plenty full for you. 

You may want to consider something else if you want consistency. You can check out these similar programs:

• Study.com

• Brainfuse

• Chegg Tutor

• Course Hero

• TutorVista

• DadaABC

#3 Slow Teacher Support System

A lot of complaints from teachers have come up that mention how slow the support system is for them. If you need anything from the company, such as explaining an unwanted negative review, then it may take some time for them to get back to you. 

Just look at these complains and you’ll see what we mean:

#1 Curriculum Prepared By VIPKid

Some of the online tutoring programs will require you to make your own curricula, but with VIPKid, they’re providing consistency by preparing it for you. This saves you time as well as avoiding lesson accountability on teachers. 

If there’s anything wrong with being taught, it’s on VIPKid to explain that. But the “HOW” of teaching those lessons still rest on you as a teacher. 

#2 Work On Your Own Schedule

Like with all online tutoring platforms we reviewed, you can set your own working schedule. 

The time zone difference can be a bit of a bother, but you can create your own working schedule to how you see fit. You just need to make sure that the times you’re booking have enough students to work with.

VIPKid is a legitimate online ESL (English as Second Language) platform that hires you as a teacher to teach English to Chinese kids. 

The program has been around for years and boasts of several noteworthy investors over the years because of how promising it is. 

But the income opportunity leaves a lot to be desired. Your income is solely based on how many classes you work with, and how many students book with you. The more students you have, the more money you could potentially make. This makes your source of income inconsistent. One minute you’re earning $20 an hour and the next less than that. 

There are also several complaints from the VIPKid teachers citing that the support system for teachers is slow to respond and takes a while before you can get anything resolved. 

However, this program is still worth checking out if you want to teach kids online. But there are platforms that are better than this that we listed on this article too.