PandaABC
PandaABC Review
Panda ABC / Teach Future looks like Teach Future is a recruitment company for Panda ABC. They do hire non-native English teachers though. They teach 25 minute classes to groups of 4 students and require teachers to work at least 7.5 hours per week during peak time in Beijing. (Peak hours being Monday to Sunday 6-10pm and weekends 9-11am) They want teachers with a bachelors degree, a TEFL/TESL certificate and one year of teaching experience. They pay $20-25 USD per hour.
Please leave us your comments and information about PandaABC.
20 Comments
Jo
I have been working with Panda for a whole year as a non-native teacher. As of January 2021 their payment scheme will be doing a complete 180. For all teachers, native and non-native, the fixed base rate will be anything between 3 to 5$ per hour, with an extra variable rate that depends on how full your schedule is (but you have to have an extremely busy schedule to get anywhere near a decent payrate – and it’s not like you can control your bookings as they are in charge of booking your classes for you) and some monthly bonuses depending on your KPI score (which are crazy hard to obtain). This means your pay is different every month, and is usually very low unless you are able to work 6 – 7 days a week with at least an 80 -90% booking rate. No longer worth working for them…
Freddie
They do not hire people outside of the Philippines right now. I was told pretty much the same thing as others. I applied, they sent me en email to schedule an interview and the first thing was asked is my nationality and I stated I was a US Citizen and they said we are not hiring in your country only Philippines.
Deirdre Murphy
Hi I tried the link today, I filled in the application form, attached my C.V and uploaded my video but when I tried to press the save and send button I got a pop up box telling me to complete my personal details which I had already done. I refreshed and tried again but no luck. Has this happened to anyone else?
MG
Yes I keep getting the same error code. Is there an email address the contact them beside using the chat box?
Liz
I interviewed with them a couple of days ago, I’m from a non native English speaking country but my English is native since I lived almost my whole life in the United States, I did an amazing interview, the recruiter congratulated me and all she had to say about the interview was positive things, at the end she said she was going to send me an e mail in the next 24 hours and this is the e-mail I got:
Dear
Thank you for participating in the interview with us for the Online English Tutor position at Panda ABC. We appreciate the interest and efforts you have expressed in the interview.
It is clear that you are a motivated and passionate individual with some important skills to offer. Unfortunately, we have to conclude that your experiences do not match the position we’re offering perfectly now.
Thank you again and we wish you success in your continuing job search.
Best Regards,
Panda ABC Recruiting Team
So in my opinion they DO NOT hire non-native speakers. Like I said my interview was perfect and I DO SOUND LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER.
But because I was honest about my nationality they didn’t hire me.
PS, I am currently working for 51 talk and I’ve been working for this company for over 2 years already.
F
Thanks for giving these information,I had like your experience 2 days ago with Zebra english ,They didn’t hire non-native speakers .
Driss Saber
Hello everyone over there. I am a non-native teacher English from Morocco with good experience in the field teaching for about 6 years. I handled different ages and levels. I did TKT years ago and a one-year training with the state. For the meantime, I teach high school students. Do I qualify to teach with Panda?
Thanks for your answer
Maya
Hi.
I am really surprised about some negative comments about PandaABC. I’ve been with the company for over 6 months now and I’ve had a very quick and straight forward interview process. I am 75% booked with more classes in the works. I will say that once my supervisor changed my number of classes exploded and I started working much more.
Also there are some mistakes in the actual description of the company. They pay $20 per hour flat. With bonuses I guess it can get to be $25 but I never got any bonus so far (almost impossible to get) …. However, you can count on $20 which is quite good. Working hours are 7-9 p. Beijing Time. They are asking for 2 hours of commitment per week.
Their teacher support is awesome. Supervisors are really quick to respond.
NO DISCRIMINATION!! Really big plus there because of multiple bad policies elsewhere. Race, gender, age…. doesn’t matter. Feel free to apply.
As far as hundreds of teachers being fired – I do know that this happened but it was more like 20-ish of them, and they kept the more popular teachers. So if students didn’t respond to you, I guess the company decided to let you go. This is good business model, if you ask me.
But the biggest plus is that they hire GOOD teachers – native or non-native. If your English is solid you’re in. South Africans are very welcome too.
ESL teacher
Can you tell us about their recruitment process?
Talia Day Pieterse
I would not recommend Panda, I went through the whole process, got hired, but then 80% of their teachers got “the letter” stating that with holidays coming up they wouldnt need so many teachers etc etc. They then fired hundreds of their teachers, kept a lot of their money (because you have to earn 100 usd per month before they pay you), and fired a lot of their supervisors. A lot of the teachers on the FB pages were scouting for other companies after this happened. The company really did not do well in 2019, and I have never heard back from them again.
annoyed_me
I applied for the company, passed the mock class but after submitting my requirements, they didn’t get back to me. I already gave them by personal documents like passports, pictures, resume and such but didn’t hear of them since.. I’m already wondering if this is a scam or legit company.. I’m non-native by the way..
Nina
Can someone please say how do they make the payment of the salary ? Through PayPal or bank account ? I just received an invitation to the interview. I am a non-native speaker, I do not have experience teaching online and I don’t have a degree in English language, I am a Law student, undergraduate.
Telly
I don’t think they hire non-native speakers as they are short-tempered and impatient when dealing with non-native applicants.
Teresa
The interview was a disaster as I could not see the interviewer. There was something wrong with her camera and the interview had to be postponed. It was no better on the second attempt and I could not show what I could really teach. It was a terrible experience and through no fault of mine.
Niki
HI,
What is their email id..Or do we need to apply on their website.
I am a non Native( from India) with 13+ years of experience in training in Corporates..I am a Commerce graduate with a post graduate degree in Business Management..I am undergoing the 360 hours of International Diploma in TEFL.TESOL with Asian College of Teachers.
mikedveenstra@gmail.com
You have to click the link and go to their website to apply.
Maggie Mvula
I am a Zambian female aged 23 with a degree in English but with no experience except for the teaching practice I did for three months. I graduated on second December 2016 and I have been looking for a job. Can I qualify for an international teaching job?
mikedveenstra@gmail.com
Hi Maggie, I think you qualify but do you have a TEFL or CELTA certificate? You also have to be careful with some of these companies, but it doesn’t hurt to apply and see what they say.
Edith
Hi Mike, may you please elaborate on “be careful” part. I also want to apply to teach online. I have a Degree, 150hr TEFL master and more than 5 years teaching experience.
mikedveenstra@gmail.com
Hi Edith, I wrote be careful because there are a couple Chinese companies that have discriminatory practices. They might say they want non-native speakers, but they are not willing to pay them as much as native speakers. I am not sure if PandaABC is one of these companies as it is new. To be fair to them, I haven’t heard any bad reviews yet.