Online ESL Teacher for First Future
Summary(Review): First Future is an ESL institute that not only recruits teachers but also provides ESL service to other schools. The available positions they have are for tutors to teach customized online English classes to Chinese students of various ages, ranging from young learners to mature professionals. They provide the virtual classrooms & materials and arrange the scheduling. Generally, the classes run for 25 to 45 minutes, on evenings and weekends (China time). For the flexible schedule, it’s up to you how many hours you work and on what days. Under the fixed schedule, the booking rate is 100% guaranteed during your working hours. You will still be teaching children and adults. You work on a project by project basis. This means that you will be working on a fixed schedule. The advantage of this is that you have a guaranteed amount of hours and a guaranteed minimum income. They promise to pay you in full even if the lesson hasn’t been booked during your shift or if a student does not show up. They pay $8-12 per hour for non-natives and for natives they start from $15 up to $25, along with a bonus structure based on the project. If you are a non-native teacher you can still apply as long as you have a neutral accent, have experience working or living in an English-speaking environment, and have passed the IELTS/TOEFL at native-speaker level. You should also have a degree and a TEFL certificate or higher.
Job Overview for Online ESL Teacher
Pay Rate per Hour:
Minimum: $16
Maximum: $20
Class Size:
one-on-one
Student Ages:
Elementary & Junior (age 5-15)
Class Schedule:
Evening (6pm-9pm)
Job Details for Online ESL Teacher
Accent(s):
Native North American
Native UK
Native Australian/New Zealand
Native Ireland
Native South Africa
Degree Required:
Bachelor or above
Certification:
No/Preferred
Years Experience:
Min Hours Week:
15
Internet Speed(Mbps):
Min Uploading: 5 MB/s
Min Downloading: 12 MB/s
Online ESL Teacher Job Description
Their Virtual Classroom:
First Future is a pioneer of online teaching cloud platforms, helping organizations build online English language teaching projects, and improving the English curriculum system.
We are currently recruiting English teachers. No online teaching experience is needed. Our expert team will train you in everything needed to master this job.
We are looking for people who enjoy a good conversation and can communicate well with both children and adults. The main prerequisite for this position is for teachers to enjoy their time teaching, and be animated and engaging with their students while guiding them through the lesson material.
Online Teachers
The students of our Chinese partner schools generally have face-to-face lessons with local, Chinese staff. The students pay extra for speaking practice with online teachers.
You will be teaching an individual student, or groups of up to six, in a virtual classroom (VC). All lesson content is provided in the form of a PDF file, so there is little preparation required. CLICK HERE for an example. A standard lesson would include going through pre-taught vocabulary – to focus on pronunciation, understanding and the ability to use independently – and supporting your students to gain confidence in speaking. Student feedback can be completed during lesson time, so there is no additional admin time required.
As a First Future teacher, you will be working on a fixed schedule. This means that you have guaranteed hours and a guaranteed minimum income. For example, if your project was for weekday evenings, 6 – 9 p.m., then, as an absolute minimum, you would be paid your base rate for 15 hours each week. At First Future, you are paid in full even if a lesson hasn’t been booked during your shift, or if students don’t show up.
In addition to your fixed schedule, you can also register for additional flexible classes to boost your income. You can add / change your availability for flexible classes yourself on a daily basis.
We work with several hundred organizations, so specifics vary. On average, adult lessons are for 45 minutes, so there is one lesson per hourly time slot, with a 15 minute break. Young learner lessons are 25 minutes on average, so there would be two lessons per hourly time slot.
Payment
Teachers are paid monthly on the 10th via PayPal. All fees are covered by First Future and, as an independent contractor, you are not liable for tax in China. The base rate ($10 – $20 per hour) is dependent on the project, your experience and qualifications. Additionally, different projects have different bonus schemes. This will be discussed during your first interview. An overview of our payment structure will be sent upon receipt of your application.
Teaching Schedules (all times are for CHINA GMT+8)
Our recruitment priority is for teachers who are happy to teach both children and adults, and can commit to one of the following schedules for at least 2 months:
– 18:00 – 21:00 Monday to Friday OR Monday to Saturday
– 17:00 – 22:00 Monday to Friday
– one or more 4-hour slots between 10:00 – 22:00 at weekends
– 19:00 – 23:00 at least 4 consecutive days per week (Monday to Sunday)
– 08:00 – 19:00 Saturday and Sunday (with 2 x 1-hour breaks)
Again, the idea is that you will be on a fixed schedule, so will have a guaranteed income, and then you can also add your availability for flexible classes as and when you want to teach additional classes.
Job Requirements
– Degree (not required for teachers from North America, Britain or Australia)
– TEFL certificate or 12 months’ teaching experience
– Laptop or desktop PC … the work cannot be performed on a tablet or phone
– High-quality USB headset and webcam
– Fixed cable internet connection of at least 3 Mbps download & 2 Mbps upload
– or Wi-Fi connection of at least 5 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload
– You must be able to work in a quiet place, with a clear, tidy background
– Clear speaking voice, with no strong regional accent
– Able to come across as lively and friendly on camera
– Happy to teach a mix of children, adults, 1-on-1 and group classes
– Non-native English-speaking teachers are welcome to apply, but must satisfy the following criteria: have experience of living, working or studying in an English-speaking environment, and have passed IELTS / TOEFL at native-speaker level. but it is essential that you have a neutral accent. Our Chinese clients will not accept teachers with strong regional accents.
Recruitment Procedure
- Apply via the application form below
- Hand in the documents as required. You’ll receive the next step doc from HR.
- Complete a 15minutes interview with their recruiter
- Complete a 25minutes mock class
- Complete their training course
- Start teaching immediately
How to Apply to Online ESL Teacher?
Online ESL Teacher Interview Process & Tips
- Apply via the application form below
- Hand in the documents as required. You’ll receive the next step doc from HR.
- Complete a 15minutes interview with their recruiter
- Complete a 25minutes mock class
- Complete their training course
- Start teaching immediately
Company Information for First Future
First Future is a recruiting agency. First Future is dedicated to providing high-quality online education through engaging content, advanced language learning technology, and highly-skilled and courteous employees. We work with clients across China through 600 partnering organizations, covering 26 provinces in 180 cities. We provide online language services for 6000 campuses and reach over 1 million students. firstfutureedu.com
Iza says
Hello, I’m a NNE and have found the OET website incredibly useful in my job applications. I appreciate your efforts in putting these lists together. I’d just like to suggest if you can please update them more often. I always use your list for “Schools for NNE teachers.” However, I wish you would strike out companies companies that only claim to accept NNE teachers, but actually don’t.
For instance, First Future is on your list so I contacted them regarding an application I’ve submitted a couple of days ago. It turns out they aren’t actually accepting NNE teachers.
There are other NNE teachers like myself who are out there spending a lot of time working on applications and to be honest it is quite time-consuming. This is why I am addressing this concern to OET. Again, I do appreciate your efforts and wish all the best for your team.
Here’s some information from the email I received from First Future and from their recruitment handler, DigiTEFL’s site.
~~~
Western teacher recruitment for First Future is now being managed by DigiTEFL eLearning.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
– Native English speaker from North America, the UK, Australia or New Zealand
– Degree (may be overlooked for strong applicants with CELTA or equivalent)
– 12 months’ teaching experience or TEFL certificate
– Laptop or desktop PC … the work cannot be performed on a tablet or phone
– High-quality USB headset and webcam
– Fixed cable internet connection of at least 5 Mbps download & 2 Mbps upload
– You must be able to work in a quiet place, with a clear, tidy background
– Clear speaking voice, with no strong regional accent
– Able to come across as lively and friendly on camera
– Happy to teach a mix of children, adults, 1-on-1 and group classes
Recruitment Update:
At present, First Future’s recruitment priority is for native English-speaking teachers from North America, Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. This is due to the demands of First Future’s clients, and their HR department are not currently accepting applications from non-native English speakers, as there is a very long waiting list.
There is limited demand from Chinese schools / students for South African teachers, so we can only process a small number of applications. A degree and a certificate from a 120 hour face-to-face TEFL course are required, plus at least 5 years’ classroom-based experience, and a neutral / soft accent.
oetjobs says
Hi Iza, glad that we’re being helpful and appreciate the information you provided!