Whales English
Review: Whales English (formally Sprout). They are currently seeking teachers from the US, Canada and the UK with a neutral accent. You must have a bachelor degree or above and although it is not required, a TEFL, TESOL or other teaching certificate is preferred. You will be teaching during typically Chinese peak hours of 6-9PM Beijing time along with hours during the day and night on the weekends. Classes are group lessons of 2-3 students aged 5-15. There are consistent hours for regular teachers. Each lesson is 50 minutes long with an above-average pay rate of $18-$25 per session. Some well qualified and advanced teachers reach $30+ per hour.
Job Overview for Whales English: | |
Pay Rate per Hour: Minimum: $18 | Class Size:2-3 |
Student Ages:Elementary & Junior (age 5-15) | Class Schedule:Evening (6pm-9pm) |
Requirements: | |
Accent(s): Native North American | Degree Required:Bachelor or above |
Certification:No/Preferred | Teaching Experience(Years): |
Min Hours Week:8 | Internet Speed(Mbps): Min Uploading: 20 MB/s |
Oakary works directly with Whales English and many others. It helps you land a job quicker and smoother by not only allow you to submit one application and match you with MULTIPLE Online ESL companies based on your teaching preferences and qualifications, but also assist the interview process and communication with the recruiters. Learn more
Job Requirements
- Neutral accented speakers from the US, UK, or Canada
- Minimum of 8 hours per week.
- BA degree or higher
- Minimum 1 year of kid English teaching experience
- Teacher Certification (TEFL, TESOL, CELTA, etc)
- You’re required to provide least 8 hours per week with a minimum of 4 hours during every Friday, Saturday or Sunday, 19:00-21:00 Beijing time.
- Experience in education field preferred
- Love working with kids
- Quiet place to work/PC or Mac computer/Wired internet connection/Webcam with Microphone
- We prefer teachers that are able to provide consistent teaching hours for a period of 6-8 months. We can provide consistent hours for dedicated teachers. Require a 6-month contract.
Job Description
- Students age 5 to 15
- Group Size: 2-3 students (average 2)
- Session Duration: 50 minutes (fixed schedule in every week)
- Available time slots (Beijing Time UTC+8)
- 6 pm to 9 pm during weekdays
- 8 am to 9 pm on weekends
- Other Teaching Subjects: English, Language Arts, Phonics, Literature, Sociology, History, Academic Writing, Life Science, Social Studies, Science and more.
- Teaching materials and lesson plans are provided.
- Extra bonus and opportunities for raises are available for high performing teachers.
- Payments are through PayPal or Bank Transfer.
Teaching Levels
- Entry Level Teacher: PreK-GK level TESOL, TEFL or similar teaching certification preferred. Pay rate is $18-$20 per 50-minute lesson.
- Intermediate Level Teacher: G1-G2 level, Bachelor degree, and TESOL, TEFL or similar teaching certification preferred. Pay rate is $20-$25 per 50-minute lesson.
- Advanced Level Teacher: G3 level, Bachelor degree and above, local teaching experience or local teaching certification is preferred. Ability to teach subjects such as History, Advanced Reading, Academic Writing, Persuasive Writing, and other subjects. Pay rate is $30 per 50-minute lesson.
Teaching Positions
The teaching position is generally divided into two types: Trial class teacher and a regular class teacher. There can be some conversion from trial class teacher to the regular class teacher when the registered classes are growing. Trial class teachers Trial class is a one-time-class, with a newly enrolled student from marketing. This is the first class for most students. Requirement:
- Work experience requirements for the position
- Neutral accented speakers from the US or Canada
- Experience in education required
- TESOL, TEFL, or similar teaching certification preferred
- Bachelor’s degree or above
- Peak hours are Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Beijing time.
- The non-peak teaching hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 6:00-9:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10:00 am- 5:00 pm Beijing time.
- The pay rate is $20-22
- The candidate does not have to cover all these hours but at least cover some weekend hours.
Regular class teachers Regular class teachers are teaching a fixed group of students with about 25-30 weeks at a fixed time every week. The salary for the teachers:
- The salary is
- $20-22/h for entry level
- $22/h-$25/h for intermediate level
- $30/h for advanced level, including subjects such as history, advanced reading, academic writing, persuasive writing, etc.
- Extra bonus and opportunities for raises
QUALIFICATIONS
- American or Canadian native speakers
- Experience in education field required
- PreK-GK level TESOL, TEFL or similar teaching certification preferred
- G1-G2 level, Bachelor degree, and TESOL, TEFL or similar teaching certification preferred
- G3 level, Bachelor degree and above, local teaching experience or local teaching certification is preferred
- The subject related field of education or teaching experience is required for Reading, Literature, Science, Social science, history, and Writing teacher for advanced students.
Computer Requirements
- Operating system – Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, MAC OS 10.8x
- CPU – Intel Core i3 above CPU
- Memory – at least 4GB RAM
- Network – Wired DSL Internet Connection – at least 20 Mbps
Compensation
- The pay: Base rate of $18-25 per 50-minute class, plus performance-based bonuses
- $22/h-$25/h for intermediate level
- $30/h for advanced level, including subjects such as history, advanced reading, academic writing, persuasive writing, etc.
- Extra bonus and opportunities for raises. A pay raise evaluation will be conducted every 6 months.
- Payment is submitted monthly by the 15th of every month vis Payoneer or bank transfer.
- The pay is in USD.
How to Apply?
Oakary works directly with Whales English and many others. It helps you land a job quicker and smoother by not only allow you to submit one application and match you with MULTIPLE Online ESL companies based on your teaching preferences and qualifications, but also assist the interview process and communication with the recruiters. Learn more
Interview Process
- Resume screening
- First Round of an interview (30 minutes)
- 1st Mock Class – the second round of interview (30 minutes of mock class)
- Paperwork and sign the contract
- Self-training
- 2nd Mock Class (paid)
- Ready to teach once the students book the class!
For the mock class, you’re expected to demonstrate your teaching skills and abilities by using the teaching materials provided. Lesson materials will be included in the mock invitation.
All interviews are conducted via Zoom, a video conference platform which can be download from https://www.zoom.us/download. You may join the meeting room using the provided meeting ID without signing up. The meeting ID will be provided upon your confirmation of the interview time.
Whales English Reviews
Pros
- Relatively good pay, $18-25 per hour base pay depending on qualification.
- I am enjoying it a lot this far. I will say it is a long onboarding process and lots of training required so keep that in mind. However, it’s worth it in my opinion. They pay very well and are professional.
- Whales English’s course runs the entire semester and that you can teach subjects other than English. You’ll have the same recurring students for the whole semester (about 25 weeks). You get booked for a whole term once you get a class.
- Whales hire teachers with solid teaching experience, preferably ones with experience in the American educational system. They sometimes hire retired American, Canadian, and British school teachers to provide quality education to their students.
- Whales treat their staff well and provide training.
- you are paid for classes that are unbooked. Half pay. If they assign a class and no one signs up, that’s half pay. You stay for 10 minutes and leave. If they sign up for the class and don’t show, you stay 30 minutes and leave with full pay.
- Good class booking in general. Whales offer a lot of hours on the weekend.
- Good leave policy. Whales English has pretty high expectations from their teachers, but great for ones eager to progress as a teacher.
Cons
- High standard in teacher qualification. As a result, difficult to get hired. BUT you get good pay and stable recurring students once hired.
- Only hire American, Canadian, and British teachers with a minimum of 2 years of teaching experience with a teaching certificate.
Class Booking
How is the class scheduled and booked?
You would need to open at least 8 teaching hours during Beijing time Monday-Friday 5pm-9pm and Weekends 8am-9pm. The classes run for the entire semester with recurring 2-3 students per class. so very stable job compare to the ones that you need consistent worry about getting new students.
Teaching Materials
Whales English provides the teaching materials. They try to follow U.S. Common Core-aligned lesson material for about 2-3 students per class. The class is 50 min long and delivered via Zoom.
I teach 2 hours per week (you can also request more) and a very minimal amount of homework that I correct each week. Typically, a couple of minutes to correct the papers from the students who have completed a writing assignment.
Interview Tips
What to expect for Interview?
The interview will be conducted via Zoom. You’ll be demonstrating your teaching skills and abilities by using the teaching materials provided by them.
What’s the interview process?
- Formal Interview – a 30-min interview, book through Calendly, and done in Zoom
- 1st Mock class
- Signing the contract – some of the documents will be collected
- Training – onboarding training and course training
- 2nd Mock class – rehearsal
- Happy teaching!
Compensation
Will I be paid for trial class?
The trial class is intended for new students who haven’t signed up for regular classes yet. Yes, you’ll get a base pay and student enrollment bonus.
What’s the compensation and bonus structure?
- Base pay rate per hour – $18-25 per hour.
- The performance review is conducted every 6 months to determine the pay raise.
- There will be weekend peak hour bonus.
Student No-show
If your class is booked and the students are no-show (which less likely, because 2-3 students per class), but if you stay for 30 minutes then will get full pay.
Contract Term
6 months
What’s the payment period and method?
- Payment period – monthly
- Payment method? Payoneer or bank transfer on the 15th of the month. Pay in US dollar.
School Info
Whales English is an online teaching school based in China. It is designed for English learners between the ages of 5 to 15 with a registered student population of over 10000 and still expanding. We have an average of 2-3 students in a class, and approximately 6000+ different classes with more than 700 native English-speaking teachers.
Whales English, (also known as Rouchi or Sprout due to their company entity), is an online teaching company based in China. jingyuxiaoban.com
I worked for Sprout briefly, and briefly for good reason. In 6 weeks I had 4 different assistants quit. I do not know why the Chinese staff quit but I do know people leave managers, not jobs. The assistants didn’t say goodbye and for days I was wondering what to do. The last assistant I had was a nightmare. She would play stupid games just to mess with me. The training was inadequate in that it was not clear what lesson you were supposed to download and teach. If you taught the wrong lesson you did not get paid. I finally ferreted out how to pick the lesson without making a mistake but by then I had taught about 6 classes wrong and was frustrated that they offered zero help. Another problem was that they would load lessons with only a number instead of a name so it was a guessing game to get the right lesson, and you might just have it on your computer already. An additional problem was that they loaded lessons with different extensions, (like .crdownload), and you had to figure out how to open it. because of this, my classes were reduced and the assistant kept playing games with me. I finally threatened to quit and they handed me off to the accountant who said she understood and would make things right but did nothing to increase my class number. I quit on principle.
Yeah, Sprout has a strong team. No wonder they changed their name!