YiYi English – Too Good to Be True? Yes.

By David Unwin •  Updated: 07/04/21 •  Teach Online

YiYi English Review – Too Good to Be True? Yes.

Yiyi English is a Chinese based company looking to hire both enthusiastic native and non native English speakers to teach students in China. They have numerous appealing selling points to attract teachers: Things like not being a native speaker, no experience required and not requiring a TEFL certificate all are ideal for inexperienced teachers.

But for us at Teach and GO, these are all red flags and to ignore them is a mistake and it’s no surprise the emails we’ve received regarding this company. Things like lack of payment, unprofessional corespondence and not showing up for interviews and demo classes for teachers.

In general, we suggest avoiding Yiyi in part because they appear to disregard their own countries regulations regarding online teaching and ESL. A TEFL is required in addition to a bachelors degree to work with any Chinese based company because you still need to meet the legal requirements to teach in China, even if it’s remote.

Yiyi English Job description

YiYi English offers classes for students to learn with native speakers or non-natives who have near native pronunciation)and promises to provide flexible teaching schedules.

However, feedback we have received as well as Glassdoor feedback regarding this company have surfaced from teachers working with YiYi about not being compensated accordingly, making this online teaching company a risky option.

As with most Chinese based teaching companies they expect the following if you’re employed with them:

Payment

With regards to payment it can range anywhere from $13 to $20 an hour. There is not a lot of transparency with this company and we want to emphasis a lot of teachers have complained about not being paid, being under paid and having no idea how much they are supposed to be compensated in the first place.

By contrast, VIPKID is quite upfront about their pay and in the app it keeps track of how much you earned so there are no surprises.

Hours

Hours at YiYi are early morning, however the company does the booking and scheduling for you on your behalf and then reports to you what days and what time you must teach.

Also, they book for two weeks in advanced which can make them quite an inconvenient choice as you give up a lot of flexibility in your schedule.

YiYi English preferred requirements

What requirements are needed for employment with YiYi English? There are quite a few and are all fairly standard for Chinese based companies.

The intangible aspect they also want is simply to have a good personality for students, be enthusiastic, happy and motivated.

How to apply

We don’t recommend them and as such won’t link to them for you to begin the application process. They also ask illegal questions like your age (age discrimination is illegal in the US, but still a common practice in Asia).

But if you are curious they follow the standard process of scanning and interviewing potential candidates.

Submit your resume and video introduction

You’ll have to fill out an online form where you give your personal information like your name, age, number and where you live. You’ll also have to upload a resume as well as an introduction video on how you would teach students to pronounce the phrase “supercalifragilisticexplalidocious” from the movie Marry Poppins.

Which in short is silly and borderline stupid as English teachers focus on phonics, reading comprehension and more advanced concepts like the differences and use cases of different tenses.

Interview and demo lesson

Upon completion of the application process, if they decide to move forward with your application you’ll have an interview and a demo class to complete over Zoom.

From here you either pass or fail this process. Once you pass you’ll be given a 6 month to 1 year contract and YiYi will being scheduling classes.

YiYi English Pros and Cons Conclusion

To conclude, YiYi English is too good to be true. With average pay at best, it may seem like the go-to option for non native speakers, but the lack of transparency and the illegal questions they ask in the hiring process make them a company to avoid.

Not only do they not respect American law by asking applicants their age, they also disregard the laws of China which state that English teachers must have a TEFL or TESOL in addition to a degree.

Pros:

Cons:

In short, take caution when considering applying to YiYi English.

David Unwin

I've taught as an ESL teacher in Thailand for 5+ years at all levels of education, from elementary to University. I was also one of the first 1000 VIPKID teachers. Here I create content on teaching abroad, online and helpful tips for the classroom. Learn more.