Thousands of people in Ohio have been impacted financially by the coronavirus pandemic. For those whose companies have closed, there are some jobs you can do from home, like teaching English online to Chinese students. Most schools in China are still closed and students are turning to virtual classrooms to keep up with their education.
Many of those classes are taught by American teachers, like Jessica Detwiler, of Youngstown. She says her class volume has nearly doubled since the schools have been closed.
She teaches through VIPKid.
It's based in China, but hires teachers from all over the United States and Canada. To qualify, teachers need to have a bachelor's degree, but don't need formal teaching experience. Experience with forms of teaching, like coaching a sports team or instructing a Sunday school class are permitted.
Teachers also don't have to speak Chinese.
Once the teacher is accepted, they get to choose their own schedule and students book classes with them one-on-one.
Each class is about 25-minutes. Teachers can make around $10 per class and up to $22 an hour.
Detwiler says before the school shutdowns and because of the time difference, she was only able to teach a couple of classes early in the morning. But now, she can teach for several hours at night too.
"Some of these parents, because they're not having traditional school, they're loading these kids up. Some of these kids, i will teach every single day in the morning or at night, you know. Its just, whenever they can get in they're signing up and the requests come through and I can't even take them all,” Detwiler said.
700,000 Chinese students use VIPKid. So if you've been laid off, your job is on hold, or you're just looking to make some extra cash, this might be a good option.
Jade Jarvis is a reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
