People often ask what hours you can teach with VIPKid. Because you are an independent contractor, you have a great deal of flexibility. You can choose to open as many or as few class times as you wish. There is a strict cancellation policy; however, so be sure that you only open times you are able and ready to teach!
Below I’ll map out the different times that are available for teaching, along with which ones are most likely to result in bookings! If you are interested in a high-level overview, check out these one-stop shops:
- VIPKid Hours (Eastern Time)
- VIPKid Hours (Central Time)
- VIPKid Hours (Mountain Time)
- VIPKid Hours (Pacific Time)
All of the below times are based on Daylight Savings Time since that’s our current time as I’m writing this.
Overall Teaching Timeslots
To set the stage, the window of time that’s available for teaching is based on when children are awake in China. This is 8:30 am – 10:00 pm seven days a week. Roughly speaking, that’s early mornings and late evenings in North America.
| Beijing | Eastern Daylight | Central Daylight | Mountain Daylight | Pacific Daylight | |
| Start Time | 8:30 AM | 8:30 PM | 7:30 PM | 6:30 PM | 5:30 PM |
| End Time | 10:00 PM | 10:00 AM | 9:00 AM | 8:00 AM | 7:00 AM |
Of course, many of these times are more popular than others. That leads us to the prime booking times.
VIPKid has two different distinctions for popular booking times.
Peak Timeslots
As you might expect, the least popular times for booking are when children are in school. That’s why times outside of school hours are considered peak timeslots.
Because of this, “peak” hours in North America are early weekday mornings and evenings/overnight on weekends.
M-F Weekday Mornings
| Beijing | Eastern Daylight | Central Daylight | Mountain Daylight | Pacific Daylight | |
| Start Time | 6:00 PM | 6:00 AM | 5:00 AM | 4:00 AM | 3:00 AM |
| End Time | 10:00 PM | 10:00 AM | 9:00 AM | 8:00 AM | 7:00 AM |
Friday/Saturday Overnights (China Weekends)
| Beijing | Eastern Daylight | Central Daylight | Mountain Daylight | Pacific Daylight | |
| Start Time | 9:00 AM | 9:00 PM (Fri/Sat) | 8:00 PM (Fri/Sat) | 7:00 PM (Fri/Sat) | 6:00 PM (Fri/Sat) |
| End Time | 10:00 PM | 10:00 AM (Sat/Sun) | 9:00 AM (Sat/Sun) | 8:00 AM (Sat/Sun) | 7:00 AM (Sat/Sun) |
In the Teacher Portal, these hours are designated as “Hot”
PPT Timeslots
Within the “peak” designation, there is an even smaller subset of hours referred to as “PPT” timeslots. These are the most desirable hours for Chinese students, and they are usually the first to be booked. If you are trying to gain teaching hours, these are the most important times you can open, and they are available seven days a week.
| PPT | Beijing | Eastern Daylight | Central Daylight | Mountain Daylight | Pacific Daylight |
| Start Time | 7:00 PM | 7:00 AM | 6:00 AM | 5:00 AM | 4:00 AM |
| End Time | 9:00 PM | 9:00 AM | 8:00 AM | 7:00 AM | 6:00 AM |
These are designated in the Teacher’s Portal as “Hot” with a flame next to them.
Often, VIPKid will run incentives and contests for being available or opening short notice timeslots in these “PPT” timeframes, so it’s always in your best interest to open these as much as possible.
I hope you found this helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments below! If you haven’t yet applied with VIPKid, be sure to check out Completing the VIPKid Application.
If you would like help through the process, I would be happy to be your mentor.
Happy teaching!
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