Online ESL Teacher for Magic Ears
Summary(Review): Magic Ears is in Beijing and they teach children aged 4-12. Their classes can have up to 4 students. The hiring process at Magic Ears is very straightforward and clear compared to many other companies. The pay rate is transparent has a range of $12-26 per hour (2 x 30-min class). Be sure to have a fast internet connection since they require 10mbps up and down. They are looking for teachers from the US and Canada only with either an ESL teaching certificate or teaching experience. Hours are weekdays: 6:30 pm-9 pm, weekends and holidays: 10-11:30 am & 6:30-9 pm (Beijing Time). Also, from what we have heard in our groups they are a lot more understanding when it comes to sick days and emergencies. Magic Ears has very thorough details in expectations and explanation of the salary breakdown and interview process which you find on their recruiting page, which is one of the most detailed and comprehensive we have seen. The booking rate depends on how good the teacher is or if the student likes the teacher. Upper average $2000 per month.
See this comprehensive application guide of Magic Ears.
Job Overview for Online ESL Teacher
Pay Rate per Hour:
Minimum: $12
Maximum: $26
Class Size:
4
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:
1
Min Hours Week:
1.5
Internet Speed(Mbps):
Min Uploading: 10 MB/s
Min Downloading: 10 MB/s
Oakary works closely with Magic Ears and many schools. We help you land a job quicker and smoother by submitting one application and match you with MULTIPLE Teaching Jobs based on your teaching preferences and qualifications, and assisting you with the interview process and communication with the recruiters..
Online ESL Teacher Job Description
Over 3,500 online teachers and 40,000+ students.
- Hourly Rate: $12-26 per hour
- Student Age Group: age 4-12
- Class Size: up to 4 students
- Class Length: 25 min
- The number of Class Session per week:
- Open at least 3 timeslots per week
- Class Schedule (Beijing time)
- Mon – Fri: 5 pm – 9 pm
- Sat & Sun: 9 am – 9 pm
- Magic Ears’ teachers are expected to teach 1-on-4 classes.
- Each class is 30 minutes – 25 minutes of active teaching and 5 minutes of evaluating the students.
- Beijing time peak hours are 18:30-21:00 on weekdays and 10:00-11:30 on weekends and holidays
- The classes take place on the Magic Ears’ platform.
Peak Hours
You can open your availability anytime during our regular hours, but bookings are more popular during peak hours. Opening your availability during these peak hours will ensure more bookings.
- Monday to Sunday
- 7–8:30 a.m. (EDT)
- Saturday & Sunday
- 9–10:30 p.m. (EDT)
Class
Do I need to prepare teaching materials?
No, our curriculum team has already designed materials for every class. However, teachers must prepare for class by reviewing the class materials beforehand.
Do I need to communicate with parents?
No, Magic Ears has a team in charge of communicating with parents. Our teacher supervisors will periodically convey feedbacks to teachers to help them improve their teaching performance.
No, your students vary from class to class. Every teacher won’t get the same students all the time. The students‘ names will be displayed on the platform for teachers’ reference. And Parents do not book teachers on students’ portal. Instead, they book the class, and the MagicEars system assigns teachers to the booked classes.
How Bookings at Magic Ears Work?
Magic Ears does not allow parents to choose their teachers. Instead, we use an algorithm to assign teachers to classes based on student demand and teacher ranking.
Simply log into the Teacher Portal to schedule your teaching availability. You can do this for up to one month in advance.
There is no minimum for how many class slots you have to open a week, but we highly suggest opening at least 10 class slots. The more class slots you open, the more bookings you’re likely to receive.
Bookings can be suspended for major violations of our Code of Conduct, or based on valid parent complaints. Please refer to Article 6 (Terms of Warning and Suspension) in your signed contract.
Online ESL Teacher Job Requirements
- Minimal weekly commitment: 1.5 hours (3 25-min classes)
- Bachelor’s degree or above
- Must be native English speakers from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia/New Zealand, and South Africa.
- Require a 6-month minimum commitment from our applicants
- TEFL/TESOL/CELTA or other teaching certificate preferred
- Teaching experience preferred
See this comprehensive application guide of Magic Ears.
Online ESL Teacher Salary and Compensation
Hourly Rate Calculation
- Base rate: up to $10 per 30-min class
- Bonus: Participant Bonus, peak time incentive, etc.
- Potentially earn up to $26 per hour.
How much tax do I have to pay?
When and how will I be paid?
Can I take breaks during the contract term?
See the hourly rate breakdown by official Magic Ears recruiting page
Are there any restrictions on my location to work with Magic Ears?
Currently, we don’t have any restrictions on your location because you will be working on an online teaching platform. Make sure you always have good lighting and a clean and quiet environment. Please note that some places/areas in the world do have slower Internet speeds. The minimum requirement for both download and upload speed is 10Mbps. Test your net speed.
How to Apply to Online ESL Teacher?
Oakary works closely with Magic Ears and many schools. We help you land a job quicker and smoother by submitting one application and match you with MULTIPLE Teaching Jobs based on your teaching preferences and qualifications, and assisting you with the interview process and communication with the recruiters..
Online ESL Teacher Interview Process & Tips
See this comprehensive application guide of Magic Ears.
What is the application process like?
For Magic Ears, you have an option of a live video interview with HR or recording an intro video for it. Learn how to make a great intro video.
- Submit Your Online Application
- Schedule Live Interview/ Record Demo
- Schedule Zoom Training (two options)
- E-Training (with online experience)
- 1v1 (without online experience)
- Teach Your 1st Trial Class
- Pass Background Check & Sign Contract
- Open Slots & Get Booked
Where does the interview happen?
The interviews happen on our own platform. Magic Ears will offer clear instructions on how to use the platform once your interview is confirmed.
What do I need to do in the demo lesson?
You need to teach a lesson based on the teaching material (PPT) we send you beforehand. Performance evaluation will be focused on the following capabilities:
- Attractive and passionate teaching delivery
- Frequent interaction with students
- Clear and thorough explanation of language points
- Prompt correction of students’ mistakes
Company Information for Magic Ears
- MagicEars is a leading online English teaching platform for 4-12 years old Chinese students.
- Integrated innovative teaching platform with top-notch North American English teachers, MagicEars provides superior English learning experience to the students.
- MagicEars mandates offering an engaging, interacting and interesting virtual English classroom for Chinese children to improve their listening comprehension and verbal communication
- MagicEars conducts a selective recruitment process for the instructor and offers rewardable compensation to the qualified. We believe that your commitment is determinative to the learning outcome
What does Magic Ears do?
With innovative technology and qualified native English speaking teachers from America and Europe, Magic Ears provides 5-12-year-old children in China a natural and efficient online English learning experience, which allows teachers to focus on teaching English in a pleasant environment.
MagicEars was founded in 2016, with innovative technology and qualified English speaking teachers from North America, Magic Ears provides 4-12-year-old children in China a natural and efficient online English learning experience, which allows teachers to focus on teaching English in a pleasant environment. As a startup, we raised $6 Million, and recently got a 120 million yuan investment from Hillhouse Capital, the largest investment company in Asia! Thousands of young learners have experienced our online classes.
Founded in 2016. HQ in Beijing China. 京ICP备17003643号-4.
Online ESL Teacher Reviews
Review – Why Teach at Magic Ears?
The following info is gathered from our FB community and other sources. Apply or see general job requirements here.
Pros
- No minimal weekly teaching hour commitment. However, we recommend you open about 4 hours per week of availability, otherwise might affect the chance you getting students.
- Magic Ears will schedule the class for you to teach, so easier to get booked than parents/students do the booking. The guaranteed hours will increase as you rank up and building up trust and good reviews from the parents/students.
- Outstanding and interactive English teaching/learning platform with built-in games, video, and songs.
Cons
- Some teachers reported a lack of care for teachers. However, the majority of the teachers do enjoy working there and Magic Ears is very responsive, pay well, and pay on time.
Class Booking
How is the class scheduled and booked?
- Mon – Fri: 6:30pm – 9pm (BJT)
- Sat & Sun: 9am – 9pm (BJT)
- No minimal hour commitment.
Magic Ears will deal with the booking and scheduling for you, instead of booking by the parents/students.
All new teachers start out as Freshmen rank and have limited slots open. After you teach your first 10 classes, you can rank up to Benchmark (can open full schedule but not high bookings) or Junior (about 50-60% of your open slots booked). After 100 classes you can rank to Senior if you’re in the top 20% of teacher feedback, and you’ll be guaranteed for 80% of your open slots to be booked. Magic Master is for those in the top 5% of feedback and has 100% of opened slots guaranteed.
Do I get the same recurring students or different students each time?
How flexible is the teaching hours?
You can schedule availability for up to 4 weeks at a time and schedule at least 2 weeks ahead. The earlier the class scheduling and better class planning will get you classes booked.
For the first 10 classes, you will have 3 set slots available to you — 7:30pm, 8pm, and 8:30pm Beijing time.
Once you have done with the 10th class evaluation, you’ll able to open different time.
Interview Tips
What’s the interview process?
- A short video interview
- 15-min Demo lesson – given a choice of 4 different lessons of varying levels
- 90-min group training (paid)
- The first trial class (paid) with 4 real students
Compensation
What’s the compensation and bonus structure?
- Base pay: $9 per 25-min class ($18 per hour) or $10 ($20 per hour) If you have a Bachelors or Masters in Education + ESL certificate + 5 or more years teaching experience. ($24 per hour with the additional bonus).
- $1/class you teach if you enter your first class of the day 10 minutes early. Bonuses
- $1/class if you open 60+ slots for availability per month.
- This brings the total to $11 (9 + 1 + 1) per 25-minute class, or $22 an hour.
- Base rate raises – an opportunity to receive a raise for outstanding teaching performance every 6 months (max $26/hr).
- What’s the bonus structure based on? Attendance, student rating, reviews, etc.
Cancellation policy
In the case of an emergency or illness, you can cancel, penalty-free, at any time.
- Sick cancellations: Magic Ears would rather you rest than teaching uncomfortably. You will NOT be penalized for having to cancel due to illness.
- Emergency Cancellations: This includes natural disasters, power outages, family emergencies, etc.
- Cancellations within 24 hours, but prior to 2 hours, will be penalized $10;
- These cancellations need to be made at least 24 hours in advance avoid penalty.Non-Emergency/Non-Sick Cancellations: You get 2 days of non-emergency/non-sick cancellations per month.
- Cancellations within 2 hours will be considered as absent, which is $20 penalty and can result in a class suspension of up to one week. 2 absences within one contract (6 months) can potentially result in contract termination.
- Open Slot Cancellations: Open slots can be closed and opened at any time without penalties
What’s the payment period and method?
- Payment period – monthly
- Payment method? PayPal or bank transfer
Melanie Huddleston says
There were things I liked about the company however at random times you’ll hear of lots of teachers being blocked without notice for ridiculous reasons. It’s not mentioned publicly because teachers do not want to get fired.
I myself was just fired for ONE parental complaint that my passion for teaching was low. My overall score was very high, and I should have been getting 2 promotions. No one ever gave me a real explanation and they have refused to discuss it with me. I recommend if you do work for them do not allow them to be your only company. Random banning happens especially when student bookings get lower. You can be fired for literally no reason. According to their new rules I should have been demoted if my OPV went down a lot. It NEVER did. I have had low ratings EVERY teacher gets them for some reason at this company. But, rather than even try to demote me they FIRED me for ONE complaint and had they watched the class the kid (my only bad rating for weeks) was very grouchy and refused to even smile that day. Again BEWARE! If you search you’ll find a lot of others that have had similar things happen. I contacted American admins and they refused to discuss it probably because they too are afraid to get fired.