DadaABC Review – A Scam Or Legit Teaching Job [Must Read!]

Welcome to My DadaABC Review. Online ESL teaching jobs are the bread and butter or many of the young 20 something travel crowd that I have encountered in my decade+ of living in South East Asia. 

Increasingly, they are many Teachers in the good ol' US of A are starting to work from home taking on teaching gigs. 

Is DadaABC a scam or are they legit? 

I'll answer that and much more in this detailed review of DadaABC.

But first things first, allow me to give you a very warm cordial welcome to my blog and thank you for seeking out independent reviews by independent bloggers. 

This is how you find out exactly what a company and opportunity is like, avoid getting scammed and find a genuine way of making money online.

So, let's check out DadaABC and find out all you need to know about this company!

DadaABC are an online English Language learning centre founded in 2013 by Hui Zhi, and are headquartered in Shanghai, China.

They provide on demand English Language lessons for students aged from 4 years old to 16 years old. 

Only Recently they undertook a step to rebrand themselves as Dada dropping the ABC. Currently they still operate using the DadaABC.com domain. 

Dada are no small fry website - or teaching agency. They are a huge corporation with over 1,000 employees and have raised US$863.9 million in 6 rounds of funding.

The business Portal Owler estimate their revenue as US$5.5M per year.

Similar sites to DadaABC include: 

• VIPKid
• JiuQu
• 51Talk
• Jiliguala

The majority of their students come from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. They also have a lot of students from South Korea, Japan Germany and France. 

The Salary for teachers is in the US$15 to US$25 range. 

DadaABC is a regular job where you will be teaching 4 year old to 16 year old's English. Your status is that of a freelancer or to be more accurate an independent contractor. 

Being good with children looks like it is something that would hold you in good stead with this Job.

Let's talk now about the requirements for the job as a ESL teacher with DadaABC.

Job Requirements

There are some requirements for the job as far as both technical equipment and your qualifications go. Let's first talk about the equipment that you must have access to, which are as follows:

• Laptop or Desktop computer
• Webcam
• Headset with Microphone
• High speed Internet Connection
• Google Chrome Browser
• Dada Class Software

Personal Qualifications: 

• Native English Speaker
• Bachelor's degree in any subject. 
• Resident in The USA.
• Able To Commit 2 Hrs Per Day 2 Days Per Week Minimum. 

Although Bachelors degree is stated as minimum Education requirement the option of selection associates degree is available. I cannot confirm though if they accept an Associates Degree. 

The Recruitment Process 

Getting A job with DadaABC you will have to go through their 6 stage hiring process which is as follows: 

1. Complete your online application form
2. Undergo a Skype interview.
3. Participate in some Training & testing
4. Get a Job Offer From Dada.
5. Sign and agree to a 12-month contract to teach with Dada.
6. Take Part in a trial half hour tutoring session.

Pass all 6 stages and you are good to go as far as getting a teaching job with this company goes. 

The online application process is very straight forward and consists of a number of questions - nothing is out of the ordinary and is what is expected of any other Online ESL Job you have applied for. 

• Your Name, D.O.B, and Gender
• Highest Degree Obtained
• Upload a Photo - Optional but advised
• Your Contact Number - And Skype ID
• Your Country & City Of Residence
• Your Time Zone
• Upload Your ESL Certificate and CV (Resume) 
• Your Main Employment Details And Teaching Experience 
• Details regarding Your Ability With The Chinese Language, none is fine, some is advantageous. 
• Details Regarding Your Availability 
• An Introduction Video - (entirely optional but advised).
• Select the Age Range in which you prefer to teach

What Are The Working Hours?

As an independent contractor you can of course choose your own hours. However, you are required to plan your availability 6 months is advance.

If any changes occur in your schedule you have to give DadaABC at least 30 days notice. 

This actually fairly normal as they are trying to schedule teachers to classes and students. I do think they could chill out and relax the planning of availability 6 months in advance though and make it in blocks of 3 months. 

Do keep in mind that strictness they have with their schedule does lead you to more solid income for a more pro longed period of time due to more guaranteed classes. 

The general working hours can be a bit awkward due to the time zone. 

Monday To Friday.

18:00hrs To 21:10Hrs - China Time which is 06:00 To 09:10 EST

Saturday & Sunday

10:00AM To 12:05PM - China Time Which Is 22:00 To 00:05 EST (Previous Day Friday Night-Saturday Morning) 

14:00 Hrs To 16:05 Hrs - China Time Which Is 2am To 04:05 AM EST. 

18:00Hrs To 21:10 Hrs - China Time Which Is 6am to 09:10 Am EST. 

As you can see based on Eastern Standard Time the working hours can be pretty awkward. 

What Is The Job Like?

One of the plus points is you are not left in the cold with DadaABC as you are given all the teaching materials that you will need for your classes. You are also free to improvise and use your own materials. 

If you wish, your class preparation time can be an absolute minimum of zero but I do advise checking out and looking over the material rather than doing it on the fly. 

Having lived in Asia for ten years plus now and volunteered teaching in schools over here I can personally tell you that there is a certain emphasis on making classes fun, particularly for the younger kids. 

Your students will be in the 4 to 16 years old age range, and while you do get handed lesson plans and teaching materials you can change that slightly to be more suitable for both yourself and a particular class or private student. 

There are 3 class types that you will be teaching, which are: 

1. Trail classes: These classes are the shortest and last only around quarter of an hour. Mostly these are revision classes. 
2. Elective Classes: These last around half an hour and tend to centred on a specific topic or language area.
3. Major Classes: These last over half an hour and tend to be a course with regular students at a fixed time and days. 

The more major classes you get the better as you will have a more regular and fixed income and teaching schedule.

All of your classes are taught by webcam and thus during your classes you will need to shut down all other windows, apps, software and tabs as to not eat up your bandwidth and Processing power. 

My own personal suggestion is to "hardwire" your connection with a cable during your class for much faster connection with your router and tether your mobile as a back up!. 

Belts and braces!.

It would also be a good idea to reset your router and reboot your computer before classes. 

How Much And How Do Dada Pay You?

The current salary for teaching with Dada is US$15 to US$25 per hour. This actually fluctuates slightly due to exchanges rates as your payment are made in the Chinese currency RMB. 

Expect some variations in what you will be paid. Over all, over a prolonged period of time it will balance out. 

You win some, you lose some, some months the exchange rate will go in your favour, some it will go against you. 

There is a quite a difference between getting US$15 an hour and getting US$25 per hour. How Dada calculate out how much to pay you is based on your training sessions and your mock session. 

Thus, it is advised to really up your game, bring your A game to the interview and hiring process. After all salaries are only reviewed every 12 months and there is a big difference over that period between been granted US$25 hr than US$15 hour. 

Just 6 hours per week will net you an extra US$3,000 over that one year period if you you get assessed at US$25 per hour than US$15 per hour. 

Any salary increase from year to year will be based on your punctuality, performance and attendance. 

Something that stands out with DadaABC is their Standby pay. If you are scheduled for a certain amount of classes say 3 hours of classes and have half hour downtime - or standby between classes you will be paid half salary for that waiting period between classes. 

If you are on US$25 per hour your half hour standby time between classes will earn you US$6.25!. 

Your Earnings will be paid every month of the 15th. You have a number of options for getting your money: 

• Paypal
• WeChat
• AliPay

As I mentioned earlier you official status is that of an independent contractor and you will be liable to pay your own taxes, if any. 

Dada Vs VipKid

Many ESL teachers have been searching for and are curious about the advantages and disadvantages of working with Dada & VipKid and wondering which one is best. 

In my own opinion there is no reason as why you cannot work with both companies and get even more work from home, you just need to manage your classes and time effectively as both operate in the same time zone. 

If you are looking to be working full time from home and get in more teaching hours then it is perhaps better checking out teaching agencies based in another time zone such as Europe and Central and South America and spread your classes through out the day. 

For example, evening classes in Europe (6PM to 9PM Central European Time) is Mid Day to 3pm Eastern Standard Time. 

Click Play and watch the video to understand the differences between DadaABC Vs VipKid and which is better for you. 

Something I always search for. There is no listing for Dada or DadaABC on the Better Business Bureau database. 

However, this is to be expected as they are not based in North America and technically do not conduct business stateside. 

After digging around the internet and the usual complaints boards and teaching forums the most common complaint was a pretty obvious one 

Awkward teaching hours!

This is something that varies from person to person but I can see why and how dragging your butt outta bed at 5am to be all bright eyed and bushy tailed to teach some 5 year old kid English can be a pain in the butt!. 

Connectivity Issues

This is something that seemed to rear its ugly head frequently, even when you are sorted and going lightening speed your students may have some issues!. It can interupt lessons and be frustrating. 

No Guarantee Of Classes

This is is what makes the job a bit unreliable as you are not actually guaranteed classes. This is actually I said earlier it is not a case of Dada Vs VipKid or Dada Vs JiuQu English it is more Dada & VipKid & JiuQu - who gives you the work wins!.

Be proactive in regards to your career as an online ESL teacher and fill out your schedule!

Based on Eastern Standard time you can work out a schedule a little like this:

• 6Am to 10Am - Chinese Schools 
• Mid day to 3 or 4pm European Schools. 
• 18:00 To 21:00 Central & South American Schools

Although you will hear US$25 her being thrown around a lot of what you can earn as a Teacher with Dada and US$15 being the minimum.  

The current average salary is US$18 per hour based on a the average earnings of 36 teachers. Which is not too bad working from the comfort of your own home. 

I have seen no suggestion anywhere that DadaABC does not hire South Africans. As long you meet the requirements of being a native English Speaker, which is the case with Citizens of South Africa, hold an undergraduates degree and pass the recruitment process I see no reason as why as as a South African you would not be hired by DadaABC. 

Yes, 

part of the requirements set by DadaABC are that you hold a minimum of a bachelors degree.

Although for some reason or another you can select Associated Degree from the drop down menu. It may be that an associates degree is accepted. This is something that I cannot confirm. 

I can tell you that JiuQu English do not oblige you to have a degree but must be "working towards a degree". 

There is a lot to like about Dada, let's mention the main points here. 

• It's a Global Opportunity. In reality once you get the job you can be anywhere in the world and teach. You can even Teach while travelling!
• The Lessons Are Prepared For You!. This is great - no wasting of your own personal time preparing for lessons. You just get on with the teaching side!
• The Pay Pretty Good For ESL Job!. I've seen many ESL jobs paying much less, pennies!. Dada seem to pay a very reasonable rate. 

Naturally speaking there are some dislikes to DadaAbc.

• If you are based Stateside the hours can be awkward.
• No Guarantee of hours or classes. 
• Needing to tell your schedule 6 months in advance. 

Absolutely!. Yes you can make money with DadaABC - up to US$25 per hour in fact with the average as stated by Glassdoor as US$18 per hour.

This is a regular employment opportunity where you will be considered as an independent contractor. You can definitely make money with Dada! No doubting it. 

It is entirely up to you how much you work. 

DadaABC is not a scam.

Not by a long shot, They are a legitimate company and business that offers you, should you pass the recruitment process the possibility of regular employment. 

If you are an ESL teacher and want some of those "I teach online bucks" then give Dada your best shot. 

Just remember to be fully refreshed and ready when it comes to your training, trail and mock lessons as it is during this period your salary range will be assessed. 

Something you could give serious consideration to is setting up your own ESL resource online helping both teachers with teaching material and students with learning resources.  

Should A visitor buy something based on your recommendation, you can say hello to some lovely commissions. Even while you sleep!.

Build up a site that gets 800 visitors per day and you can start to add in a second source of income for you ESL site - Display ads!.

That is one easy way to make a site with two sources of income. Keep building it and it can certainly surpass your regular salary - not bad for side hustle!.  

It is something you can easily do between classes during your down time!. Making Money online is easy!.

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