How to apply to teach English with DaDa

DaDa, formerly DaDa ABC, is one of the largest online English teaching platforms, providing classes for tens of thousands of teachers around the world. In this guide, we’re going to show how to submit your application to teach with them.

DaDa is an online English teaching platform based in China that offers a 1-1 teaching experience for their students, with each class lasting for 25 minutes. DaDa only hires teachers who are English native speakers and have a Bachelor’s degree. DaDa students are typically between 4-13 years of age, so understanding how to teach children, or at least having an interest in teaching children, would be helpful if you’re applying with this platform.

Since DaDa is a Chinese platform and their students are based in China, you will be required to work in Chinese hours. They have a fixed schedule but they allow teaching to choose the shifts they want to work in from their available slots. You will be teaching recurring students each week. They pay between $14 and $25 (US dollars) per hour, depending on your teaching qualifications, experience and performance during the demo class.

What you’ll need before applying:

Magic Ears sets certain requirements for potential. Before you apply you should check these requirements.

* While they have a preference for native English speakers, it can be possible to get hired by DaDa as a non-native English speaker if you’re able to demonstrate that you’re fluent in English, have a relatively neutral accent, and that you have great online teaching skills.

How to apply:

Here’s a step-by-step guide showing how you can apply to teach with DaDa.

STEP 1: Registration.

Make sure to carefully enter your email address and a password that you can remember. 

STEP 2: Application form.

After registering, you’ll be taken to this application form. On this page, you will be asked to fill out your personal information (such as your name, nationality, date of birth, etc.) and answer a lot of questions about your teaching qualifications, experience, and teaching style.

It’s important to add a great photo here. The recruiters at DaDa are looking for teachers that can instantly make a great first impression with students. As such, you’ll need to make sure that you submit a welcoming and friendly photograph to show how great you’ll be with your students.

You will also need to indicate if you have an English teaching certificate, such as a TESOL/TEFL certificate or any other local teaching qualification. If you do, you will need to upload that certificate.

Additionally, you can upload your resume as well as a self-introduction video. It is not mandatory to upload the video, but if you are serious about teaching with DaDa and having your application be successful, we highly recommend that you record a video introducing yourself (you can record it on the application page) and upload it during the application process. The video should be between 1-5 minutes and should include the following information:

1. A brief self-introduction
2. Reasons why you wish to be an online English teacher
3. Your ideas about the education industry

At the end of the application form, there are a few more questions to answer, which are optional. You don’t have to answer them, but it can help your application be more successful, so we highly recommend that you do!

After you fill in and submit the application, it will take DaDa around 24 hours to review it. You will then receive an e-mail with the results.

STEP 3: Interview

Congratulations! If you passed onto this step, it means that your application with DaDa has been successful. The next step you need to pass is a 30 minutes interview. During the Skype interview, you will be asked to talk about your teaching qualifications and experience.

STEP 4: System training

After you pass the Skype interview, the next part of the process will be internet connection testing. In order to teach with DaDa, you need to have a computer with a webcam, a headset with a well-functioning microphone and a stable internet connection (at least 2mb/s upload speed and at least 10mb/s download speed). Your internet speed will be tested. Your recruiter will then show you how to use the DaDa teacher portal.

STEP 5: Live teaching demo

The next step of the application process is passing a 30-minute teaching demo with a live student. This part is very important as it will not only determine whether you are a suitable teacher for DaDa’s requirements, but it will also determine your salary. In order to make your demo lesson more interesting, make sure to prepare a fun background for your lesson and include a few prompts in your teaching (such as flashcards or fun toys)!

STEP 6: Accepting the offer

Congratulations! If you passed all the steps of the application process successfully, an offer will be extended to you. Contracts to teach with DaDa are usually either for a 6 month or a 12 month period, so make sure you can commit for this amount of time before accepting.

A few things to take into account when applying to teach for DaDa:

• Make sure that you can work on Shanghai hours.
• Think about your schedule thoroughly before committing to how many hours you can work per week.
• There are penalties for connectivity issues or missed classes.
• The required attire to give your classes is a blue collared shirt.