Magic Ears: Everything You Need to Know
(Update) I do not recommend applying for this job due to recent events in the online industry. Kids are so cute, aren’t they? Don’t you just love interacting with them? Would you like to be paid to have fun while teaching 4 -12-year old Chinese kids? If you answered “Yes” to those questions, Magic Ears could be the online ESL company for you.
Too many aspiring online TEFL teachers are heartbroken when they apply to a company only to be rejected before reaching the interview stage. If your resume doesn’t contain key qualifications, it will be rejected. To give yourself the best chance of progressing through the application process and getting the job, I highly encourage you to read through this list of FAQs and responses.
1. Do I Qualify To Be A Candidate?
To qualify to work for Magic Ears, you should be a native speaker from an English-speaking country. You will need to have a Bachelor’s degree or higher and a 120-hour ESL certification (Magic Ears offers an accredited 120-hour advanced TESOL course for $20 USD). Teaching experience is not required, but it would be an asset.
**If you are a resident of California, you are not eligible to apply due to the AB5 Bill. Click here for more information.
2. Do I Need To Have Teaching Experience?
No. Teaching experience, although preferred, is not required. Magic Ears provides online training for new teachers.
3. How Much Money Can I Make?
Pay is per class. If you are hired at the Bronze base pay level, you will make $7.50 per lesson plus bonuses. See the image below for the company’s base pay policy and bonus incentives. Your base pay will depend on your qualifications. How much you make per week or month is up to you. You control your schedule. So, the more lessons you teach, the more money you make. You can expect the company to offer periodic monetary incentives to sweeten the pot. You can also bring in referral bonuses with your referral link.
4. When and How Will Magic Ears Pay Me?
As with most Chinese online schools, Magic Ears pays on a monthly basis. Payment is made through Paypal or bank transfer on the 10th of each month.
5. What Does A Magic Ears Teacher Do?
As a Magic Ears teacher, you will deliver 25-minute English lessons to a group of four students. The students’ ages will range from 4 to 12 years old. The lessons are already prepared. So, all you’ll have to do is review the lessons and prepare your props. Once each lesson is completed, you’ll be required to leave class feedback for each student. The feedback needs to be submitted within 18 hours of completing a lesson.
6. Do I Have To Find My Own Students?
No, students are randomly assigned to available teachers by the Magic Ears system. Open those time slots and the students will come!
7. What Kind Of Schedule Will I Have?
Hooray for flexible scheduling! How often you work is up to you. You can work any time you want from 9 PM to 9 AM EDT. The times that have the most demand are Sun-Sat 7 AM – 8:30 AM and Sat-Sun 9 PM – 10 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Although it’s suggested that teachers be available for at least 10 hours, there’s no minimum teaching requirement.
8. How long is a Magic Ears teaching contract?
Contracts are for 6 months. Renewal is dependent upon satisfactory work performance.
9. How Do I Apply?
The application process consists of a series of steps taking place over several days. After registering and submitting the application, you’ll need to schedule and perform a demo lesson which can be recorded (you only) or live (performed with another teacher pretending to be your student). The next step will be attending a private online coaching session to get some tips and pointers, and then you’ll perform another short teaching demo. After that, you’ll be assigned a trial lesson. Upon successful completion of the trial lesson, you’ll fill out a background check (3-5 days). If your background check is fine, you’ll be offered a contract. Once your contract is signed and submitted, you’ll be a full-fledged Magic Ears teacher!
1. The email with which you applied (check your spam folder).
2. The Teacher Portal (logging into the website).
Once you start the application process on the teacher portal, you can use the “Contact Us” link in your portal to easily reach out to us at any time during the application process.”
If teaching with Magic Ears sounds like a good deal to you, you can sign up by clicking the button below to use my referral link (referral code T200462).