Teach English Online ✔️ How to Apply + Palfish Interview Tips!

After finishing my first few lessons as an official Kids Course Teacher, I thought it would be a great time to share a fresh take on the application process, as someone who was recently been certified!

I know there are already a lot of blogs and such floating around the internet from veteran teachers on the platform but honestly, even after reading A LOT of informative posts, I was still a bit confused about the process.

So here is a complete step-by-step guide to becoming a fully certified Palfish, Official Kids Course Teacher.

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Quick Summary 

To become an English teacher on Palfish, you need to be a native English Speaker and hold either a teaching qualification or be TEFL certified.

The application process is pretty simple including some general questions, recording a welcome message, completing a sample lesson (which they call the interview) and some easy quizzes.

Below you will find all the info you need to become an English teacher with Palfish!

1. Eligibility

To teach on PalFish, you don’t need much but if you want to be an Official Kids Course Teacher, it is required that you are a native English Speaker and have a TEFL/TESOL or teaching qualification.

If you are not a native English speaker, you can still teach the “free talk” portion of the app however I have found that there is not a lot of traffic here and unfortunately you need to get onto the official course if you want to make money from the app.

2. Getting your TEFL/TESOL Certification

PalFish accepts college/university certifications of any teaching degree, if you are already qualified, there is no need for you to obtain a TEFL certificate.

If, like me, you are not already a teacher. Don’t be scared off by the hundred-dollar price tags! I have no idea how companies manage to get away with selling their courses for this much when they frequently sell the same courses at heavily discounted prices on voucher websites.

I completed my 120-hour Tefl with International Open Academy course online for $20 and it was just what I needed (and didn’t take me 120 hours to complete).

Although I’m not entirely sure what the minimum course length for a full qualification is, most people I have seen has at least the 120-hour version and that is sufficient. When looking up the courses, just make sure that an accredited TEFL/TESOL certificate is included at the completion of the course.

3. Download the app

Use my code 44170351

One of the first confusing things it took me a second to figure out, is the fact that Palfish is ONLY in app form and ONLY available on your phone or tablet.

There is no online or desktop platform. This sometimes makes the process of filling in your profile more difficult but it makes the actual teaching side WAY more easy and traveler friendly!

You can teach anywhere in the world, simply from your phone!

4. Fill in your info

Besides your basic info like name/date of birth etc, your profile introductions are what the parents will look at, and decide whether or not to choose you as their teacher.

Text Intro:

Here you can write all about yourself, your qualifications, experience, and what you can help students within the English language.

1. Copy and paste your text into google translate and add this to your bio. A lot of the parents don’t speak English so having something they can easily read should be a good help.
2. Use A LOT of emojis. It draws the eyes and attracts kids
3. Space it out. Make it visually inviting and easy to read. Having too much information crammed into a small space won’t help you get people interested.
4. You can go way over the character count here. It has a little number in the corner indicating how many characters over 100 you have gone. Feel free to continue writing as much as you like. It will still appear on your profile.

Audio Intro:

This is for the parents to listen to how you speak and decide if they are able to clearly understand you and have a feel for your personality.

Try and speak clearly but naturally, and include some inflections to make you stand out and sound engaging.

It doesn’t have to be too long and can be very similar to your text intro but do try and make it a little different.

Auto Reply Message:

This one isn’t very clear as to what you are actually supposed to say. I believe it is the message that will play to free chat clients to fill the lag between them calling and you answering.

I have not had any free chat calls as of yet and I don’t actually think they are that common so this section isn’t too important.

Just record a short message saying hi and quickly introducing yourself, you can always change it later!

5. Book Your Interview

Not really explained anywhere in the app is the interview process. When your profile has been accepted you will be asked to book an “interview” and presented with a number of time slots.

You won’t actually be interviewed by anyone, this is more of a recorded test class.

Once you have booked a time slot, you will be granted access to the classroom with all the materials, slides and instructions that you will have in the “interview” as well as when you begin to teach students on Palfish.

I would advise you to book a slot around 1 hour later. This gives you plenty of time to have a look through all the slides you will be teaching and familiarise yourself with the platform. The classroom itself is really easy to navigate and gives you a little tutorial on how to use its features.

Don’t be freaked out by the teaching itself. Everything you need to do is completely spelled out in front of you on the interactive slides and even tells you exactly what to say!

6. Complete Quiz & Open some time slots

After you’ve recorded your “interview” it is usually reviewed and verified within a day. (Mine took overnight because of the time difference.)

In the meantime, open up your “available times” in the schedule and set your alarm for the next morning. While you sleep, it is likely that you will be scheduled for a “trial” lesson for the following days.

After the interview verification, they ask you to read the FAQs, Training guide and complete a short quiz about PalFish policies.

A lot of the questions are really obvious and for a couple of them I had to check with the guide but it took no longer than 5-10mins.

7. Start Teaching and build your following!

Thats it! Now you are a qualified PalFish Kids Course teacher. In the first 2 days, you will be given high priority to teach “trial” lessons in order to get you going and give you some exposure.

Trial lessons are free for the student to try out the platform, however, you will still be paid for the lesson!

FAQs about Teaching English with Palfish

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