Travel – boludoenglish

Work for VIPKID

Screenshot of a live lesson for VIPKID (with an advanced English learner)

I Want to Help Aspiring Teachers Get a Job with VIPKID: Schedule a Skype Chat

VIPKID is hiring. I did a post on How to land a remote teaching job with VIPKID with best practices and what to say for the interview. I included my company referral link. Through the link I am able to see who has applied and whether or not they passed the interview process. I noticed that a number of people applied however they did not pass the interview. This kind of bummed me out! I noticed that the people who did receive an offer and are now successfully working for VIPKID as online teachers had an in person conversation with me. I now want to provide this opportunity to anyone using my referral link through Skype! Its a win/win for me and anyone who applies – If I can help you get the job then the company gives me a referral bonus and you get a teaching job with the coolest online ESL company out there.

The tips I include in the post worked for me and for the teachers I referred previously – but these were friends of mine so it was a face to face conversation.

I want to reach out to people who are genuinely interested in working for VIPKID. I encourage you to send me an email at boludoenglish@gmail.com where we can schedule a chat and talk about what you need to say and do in the interview and mock lesson in order to make a good impression and land a job. Also if you sign up using my recruitment link you’re more likely to get an interview as opposed to applying through other channels.

What if kids interviewed VIPKID teachers?

This video sums up why I love working for VIPKID.

$310 a Week Part-Time with VIPKID

Here’s a sample schedule of a week where I made $310 a week on a part time schedule with VIPKID.

Each “FINISHED” block represents a completed 28 minute class. I receive $10 per 28 minute class. Add up 31 blocks and that’s $310/week I earned part time. If you notice, my hours are very early in the morning (5:30am – 9:00am) or later at night (8:00pm -10:00pm) so I work before and after my day job hours.

If you like to hustle and get up early, there’s some decent money to be made part-time.

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Online Language Teaching

Companies Hiring Online Teachers

FYI: I continually update this list when I find a new company hiring!

I did a post on Location Independence through Online English Instruction and how ESL teachers are working and traveling or working from home. I am an online teacher through VIPKID and have had a great experience so far. However in this brief post I would like to share the other online language teaching companies that are currently looking for teachers. I am constantly scouring Indeed.com and have found that this industry is rapidly growing-especially companies providing instruction to China. Here are the few I have come across in no particular order.

51Talk – appears to be for Filipino English teachers

twosigmas – UK company teaches English to Chinese.

GVE – Golden Voice Engish teaches to Chinese.

Winglish USA – Link to Indeed posting, couldn’t find a proper website- ESL to South Korea

Pandatree – Spanish and Mandarin Instruction for English speakers

Transparent Language – Various Languages, Various clientele

italki – Find a tutor for any language

Educastream – English instruction for French students

Edoopad – English instruction for Vietnamese students and soon Japanese students

Fuel Ed – Online courses for K-12 students by state certified teachers – multiple subjects

Chegg Tutors – Online tutoring for any subject, and many different languages

Open English – Online English teaching to South Americans

EF Englishtown – Online English teaching to multiple countries

Tandem – Online video chat for language learning (cell phone app) / multiple languages

ACEMEC – Online School for Medical English and Communication

Brainfuse – Online tutoring for college and high school students – various subjects

Learnerlane Online tutoring for Chinese students 16$-24$

Revolution Prep – Full-time/Part-time positions in various subjects

Speak! Language Center Language center looking for ESL online teachers with Masters degrees and online experience. Well paying positions.

Englishunt – Online ESL to all ages in Korea

Gofluent – Teach online in a variety of settings: K12, business, one-on-one

Learnlight – Lessons prepared, used in over 50 countries, headquarters in Spain

Western Wise – One on One format, North American native English teachers to Chinese students.

Class100 – 10 hrs/week minimum 12$-14$ an hour between hours of 7pm-5am EST to Chinese students

Skimatalk – create a profile teach through skype

VIVALING – Language academy. Online language coach 13$-38$ an hour depending on level of experience and whether or not hired as a Associate, Advanced or Expert coach. Seems uppity. Students from around the world.

VIPKID – One on One format, North American native English teachers to Chinese students. previously mentioned, English for Chinese children. Up to 22$/hr. Great company with a good community, rapidly growing.

As a disclaimer, I’d like to say that I have searched some of these companies on Glassdoor.com and Indeed.com. There are some good and bad reviews. I ultimately went with VIPKID based on all of the positive reviews from online teachers and because of their pay + bonus scale system (teachers earn between 16$-21$/hr); also, the curriculum and lessons are already planned for you. If you or anyone you know works for any of these companies I’d love to learn more. Contact me.

Feel free to use my referral link for the application process. VIPKID. I receive a minor chunk of change every time I refer a new teacher (and you will too, if you get hired). The truth is, I really enjoy this job and if you follow the pointers above then you have a high likelihood of landing a job with VIPkid. Good luck!

Location Independence through Online English Instruction

Location Independence, Nomadism, remote work and slow traveling are all budding terms for a movement of people who are traveling and working at the same time.

These “homeless” bums do an array of online work, which earns them a decent wage that allows them to hop from country to country. Some of this work includes, but it definitely not limited to:

Freelance writing; Software Engineering; Document translation; Travel blogging (the most popular); All kinds of marketing (SEO content writing, affiliate marketing, blogging, product reviewing); Online courses and coaching using exclusive material in a subject matter; and lastly: Online Language teaching.

I am teaching English online to Chinese children through a company called VIPKID.

The platform uses a video chat feature along with a guided power point on which the student and the teacher can interact. This gives the student a real life tutor to guide them through instruction.

Parents all over China choose VIPKID to give their children an American-style common core based education in English.

As a full time teacher in a US school, I am using VIPKID to supplement my income and in the future provide a way to make money on the road. I have been teaching online since April 2016 and I love it! There’s a ton of useful training from the VIPKID education support staff and there is also a whole community of online teachers who keep in constant contact. Many of these teachers are in various exotic locations around the world.

Teaching online offers some big perks for the gypsy traveling soul.There are whole communities of online English teachers currently bopping around the globe. With this freedom however, teachers are limited to areas with strong WiFi. Teachers with the travel bug don’t have to sign a contract to stay in one place for a year, with online teaching, they can go anywhere.

A strong connection is absolutely crucial to the survival and continued income for these online English teachers.

These teachers are able to set their own schedules and plan their travel. For example, a teacher might load their schedule full of classes on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in order to free up Thursday Friday and Saturday to get on a plane for a new place. When looking for a new place they are sure to go to countries and cities where WiFi is strong enough to support their online video chat platform. Most teachers use Airbnb and check reviews for any indication of “strong WiFi” in the reviews. Teachers usually have to scope out a location and test the connection before administering online lessons.

These teachers usually have flexible schedules allowing them to open up certain availability for exploring new places. Many teachers are also leveraging cost of living by staying in countries with a favorable exchange rate. More simply, they are earning a decent wage (in the US dollar between 12$-22$/hr) and paying for their living expenses in a lesser currency, be it the Peso, Thai Baht, or the Vietnamese Dong for example in Latin America or Southeast Asia.

There are many emerging companies who are actively seeking teachers with a native-English accent and teaching experience. Some only even require an associates degree.

If you are a teacher who is interested in teaching abroad but you can’t decide which country try being location-independent through VIPKID and teach anywhere!

Boludo English

boludo¹

noun

Boludo or boluda is a slang word in Argentina that roughly means “idiot.”

“¡Que boludo que soy! Por qué deje la puerta abierta?!”

¡Che boludos! Welcome to Boludo English where we can informally discuss trends in language learning and travel. The path to fluency in a new language isn’t straight. Let’s be honest, mistakes have to be made to learn! I learned Spanish (Castellano) in Argentina while teaching English to local businessmen. I cruised around the city and popped into lunch breaks to give one-on-one lessons. Man I was such a boludo. Being a boludo can be a good thing. Best friends call each other boludo or boluda. Don’t worry you’ll learn.

My experience boludeando (boludear – to screw around, mess around, kill time) in Argentina during the recession in 2010 ultimately led me to a career path and a Masters in ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages).

I am currently an ESL teacher in the US and an online teacher through this awesome start up company called VIPKID where I online video chat with Chinese children from Beijing. I love this new job and the kiddos are the coolest.

In this blog I will discuss how people learn language in the most obscure ways. Now is the time for you to learn another language, but don’t do it the boring way do it the boludo way!