ESL Teaching

I’ve been running my photography business for over 10 years now! It’s been wonderful. Recently, I have been listening to Dave Ramsey and have been very inspired to get out of debt. I totally just happened across the topic of ESL one day while browsing on reddit. I saw a comment about teaching kids english from home. A lot of companies out there require a Bachelor’s degree to do them-but Palfish doesn’t!  So I decided to give it a go! It has been nothing short of amazing.

The kids are the best part! It is so rewarding to see the light come on, so to speak, when they start to get what you are showing them. This is a picture a student of mine made me. I have gotten so many cute drawings and even birthday cards. It’s been wonderful getting to know the kids and their families. I have students from all over China, and I love it! I have never been interested in Chinese culture before, so doing this has totally changed that. I’d love to travel to China someday, too!

FAQ’s

What is it?

Palfish is an online ESL company in China that hires english speakers to teach on an app. The thing that sets Palfish apart is that because it’s an app, kids can do classes anywhere! In the car, out shopping, at the pool-anywhere you can think of! (Those are all actual places I have taught kids, too!) Another great thing about Palfish is that they have Augmented Reality (AR) filters. (Think-Snapchat!) It makes the classes so much fun, and the younger students always giggle when I use them.

How much do you get paid?

Palfish has a system where you get paid more when you work more. There are points you get for each class-5 points! You get 10 points when you teach a class at 8 PM Beijing Time. (BJT) They also give more points out at the beginning of each month if you are not late or absent for class, and if you don’t cancel classes. If you have a certain amount of hot slots open you get a couple points, too! Selling trials will currently get you 40 points, too! (More about this later) Starting is 55 Yuan per lesson. (There are 2 lessons in an hour. In USD, this converts to about $16. The highest level is 5, and you’ll need 1500 points to reach it. When you reach levels, your pay for the following month will increase. For example, I usually am just under level 5 every month, so I make over $20 an hour. Since I made level 5 this month, I will be making just under $22 an hour. I always say $22 an hour so I don’t have to check the yuan conversion because it flutuates.

What are the hours like?

I had great success when I started with Palfish. I made $1000 my first month and $2500 every month since! Currently I’m making $4000-$4500 a month. It’s not always the case for everyone. It’s important that you set yourself apart. Palfish is a social media platform. You will have to post photos, videos, comment on student’s books on another app, and etc to get yourself seen. You want to have a profile that is eye catching so parents will think, “I want my kid to take a class with this teacher!” For some it’s slower at the beginning, for some it’s fast.

What is required?

To be hired on Palfish, you must be at least 18 years old. You also need a TESOL certificate. You can get it for pretty cheap from here!  It should be $19 at checkout with that link! China requires a TESOL, TEFL, or CELTA for any teachers to teach their children. No degree is required currently to work for Palfish. You need a newer phone or tablet to work with Palfish. It uses a lot of data and needs a good amount of RAM-so this is why you need a newer phone. (For example, the iPhone 5 will not work for Palfish) I recommend having both a phone and tablet in case something doesn’t work. That way you have a backup. There have been times when my iPad wouldn’t connect to wifi, so I was quickly able to change to my iPhone and I wasn’t late to class.

Where do you have to be from to work for Palfish?

You have to be a native English speaker. The countries required to have been born in to work for Palfish are the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. The reason for this is that students who want to learn english want to learn from a Native English Speaker, so they learn things correctly. There are some things books can’t teach! I’ve actually already have several students who learned incorrect pronunciations that they were taught from their schools. It’s nice to be able to ensure that they learn proper sentence structures and pronunciation.

Are there any negatives?

The only thing I don’t like about this job is the early morning hours. Since I live in the Eastern Time Zone (EST), my day starts at 5AM (I am excited for our time change for Daylight Savings-it will be 6AM then) But I’ll be honest, I’ve gotten used to it now. I go to bed at a decent time and I like having my whole day still even after working. I usually only work 3-4 hours in the mornings, sometimes 5. So it’s not hard to do! They are also pretty strict if you are absent or late. But it’s like any job, don’t be Kaur or absent and you’ll be fine!

How many hours can I work?

Honestly? As many as you want. It should be noted that sometimes in the beginning it might be all over the place. It wasn’t the case for me, I have had at least 30 hours per week for sure since my 2nd week. As you start to get bookings you can increase your schedule openings as much or as little as you’d like. I’ve mentioned this before, but since it’s Chinese New Year currently, I opened my schedule since kids are out of school. And for the most part, I’ve been working all of them, except a cancellation here and there.

Is it hard to put together lesson plans?

No! Why? Because there are none! There are slides already and you just have to teach the kids what is on the slides. You want to make it fun and lively for these kids. I’ve found making it fun for them makes them come back and enjoy learning. I believe this is why my schedule was full within my first few weeks of working for Palfish. You want to set yourself apart!

2 Types of Classes on Palfish

There are trials and regular OKC classes. Trials are for students who want to try it out, and see how they like it. If you sell this package to the parents, (meaning, they buy the classes after doing a trial with you) you will get 40 points. Again, the more points you get, the more you make the following month. Then there are OKC (Official Kid’s Course) classes. This is what you want-we call them “regulars”. These students will often book with you at the same time every week. They rarely cancel-at least in my case. They must book classes 24 hours or more in advance, while the trials can be booked 2 hours in advance. So it’s important that you check your schedule to make sure you don’t have bookings while you are sleeping! There are also free talk calls you can make-these are both with adults and children. I’d never do these though, the pay is very low since there are a lot of teachers who charge so little. I have seen people only make $3-$5 an hour on free talk.

What if I’ve already downloaded the app?

You can still make me a recruiter by clicking on “me” on the bottom right of your PalFish app. Then, on the top right, click on the gear settings icon– then it will say inviter. You will enter my code there-14583866. A lot of times when people download the app, they will find a random person’s name there. That is because there are people who put their links online and they save to your phone. So, I recommend you clear your cache before downloading the app just in case. If not, the only way you can change this is if you make a new profile – which you can easily do by getting a Google plus number for free.

I’m IN! Where do I start??

There are a few steps you must take in order to do this.

1. Sign up for Palfish on the app. If you sign up under me, I will see and message you and help you. I help all my recruits and have a facebook  group for them to get help. You can sign up under my referral link by clicking here! Be sure it says “Jen Priester invites you to join
   PalFish Official Kids Course”. If it has another name, clear your cache and browsing history, and try again. If you already have the app and just need the code, my code is 14583866.
   This link is straight from the website for android users (Only if it’s not in the App Store)-ANDROID Download Link. you may have to contact me for instructions, it’s in chinese.
2. Sign up for Payoneer. It’s basically Chinese PayPal. It’s safe, and I’ve always been paid. If you sign up using my referral code, you will get $25 (as will I) once you reach $1000. Palfish pays us once a month, and it is then deposited into our Payoneer accounts. Once we get it deposited into our payoneer, we can then transfer it directly to our bank account. It usually takes about 1-2 business days to come into my bank account from Payoneer.
3. Sign up and take the TESOL certification. You will need this Sign up here. It’s cheap for the course, and it only took me a few hours to take and pass.

If you sign up under my link, please be sure to contact me. Once in on the app, you can click ME (on the bottom right), the gear icon (on the top right) and inviter- It should say my name. Click it and you will be taken to my profile. You can then send me a message!