PalFish: my experience by @sheisthelostgirl

Author:

Beth Johnstone – travel journalist and photographer – @sheisthelostgirl and sheisthelostgirl.com.

Beth began travelling in 2014 has been travelling around the world full time for five years, taking photographs, writing about the places she’s been to and immersing herself in new cultures. She has a huge wealth of knowledge.

Beth and her partner (fellow traveller and photographer) Jake both work for PalFish.

Do you need to speak Chinese?

This is definitely the most asked question. And I’m going to tie my answer in with another highly asked question… the kids are only from China. As it’s a Chinese company, you wont come across students from any other countries. So you aren’t expected to be able to speak Chinese. You only need to be fluent in English and it needs to be your first language (native speaker). I only know three words in Chinese. The app uses games and pictures along with only English speaking. It’s called total immersion English.

Do you earn good money?

I was earning over 3500.00 USD per month when I did 40 hour weeks.

How many hours a week do you work and how are they split?

I was working 40 hours a week when I was doing this job in Thailand. It was easy to work those hours because the time difference was so similar to China.

Now I’m in Europe, I’m finding that the best times are between 10am and 3pm which is after school time in China. If you’re in America, New Zealand, Australia etc.. you’ll have to work out the times according to Beijing time. Jake and I both work for the same company in a tiny space, so we cant teach at the same time. So we split our hours up. Now he works for the first few hours and I work for the second few hours

Does the salary fluctuate a lot each month when you are starting off?

Yes definitely! The first two months for me weren’t a steady income at all. I felt like giving up. But after two months, my full time hours came through. It’s one of those things, you’ve got to keep at it and it will pay off. But I guess that’s like most jobs, you just need to keep going.

There are so many TEFL courses out there. How did you chose?

You do need a TEFL course and there are so many out there ranging from £$500 to £$15. The one I did is from Wowcher and wasn’t expensive. I recommend the “International Open Academy” one as it comes with the certificate code which you need for teaching online. At the moment that course is £19.

What happens with tax?

You’ll need to register as self employed with HMRC (if you’re from the UK). Where ever you are from you’ll need to register as self employed.

Can you choose your hours?

Yes, you can choose your hours. As long as they aren’t during sleep time in China. I’ve done months where I’ve worked 40 hours a week and some where I’ve worked 10 hours a week. Obviously, its good to try and keep it the same each week if you can, so students can book regular classes with you.

It might be do-able if you want to work during the night (UK time). After 3pm (uk time) the students will be asleep 🙂 So you have to look at the time difference and see what’s best for you.

How are the lessons chosen?

The children do a little test before the class, the company decides what level they’re on and all the lessons are pre-made. You just need to log on and take them through each slide.

Were you nervous when you started? Do you have awkward moments?

I was sooo nervous when I started, but there aren’t really any awkward moments… and, trust me, I’m an awkward person. You kind of just smile through it. Just remember that the kids are probably way more nervous than you and its our job to make them smile 🙂 I’m pretty goofy at all times and they just laugh at me most of the time 🙂

For more information on working for PalFish check out Beth’s super informative website for: a full guide to PalFish and how to pass the PalFish interview.

Sheisthelostgirl.com is also packed with insightful travel tips from around the world.