VIPKid teaching hours

One of the best reasons for teaching with VIPKid or another online English language company is that you can decide the hours you will work! Many people even fit these hours around a regular 9-5 job to bring home a bit extra each month.

In fact, because VIPKid has classes 24 hours a day and on the weekend, no matter where in the world you live, you’ll be able to find a time that works with your schedule.

And don’t worry, once you put in your home time zone the VIPKid portal will automatically do the math to calculate classes based on your current time zone.

Want to teach with VIPKid? Sign up here with my referral link (thanks and feel free to email me growingglobalcitizens@gmail.com with questions).

So what are VIPKid teaching hours?

You’ll see hours referred to as Beijing time. In reality, all of China is in the same time zone (crazy, considering how big the country is!). This is China Standard Time, as China doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time. If you are in an area that observes Daylight Savings Time, you’ll need to move ahead an hour during this March-November period.

A few years ago there was a major government crackdown on the online education industry that killed off a lot of online companies. The Chinese government doesn’t allow students to take classes during certain hours (after 9:00pm) but it seems like now in 2026 companies and families are finding a way around some of these very harsh rules.

Also, there are a few students who live in countries outside of China who book outside of the popular times. VIPKid has opened some programs in Korea and Saudi Arabia recently, so if you get certifications for these programs you’ll have a wider choice of teaching times.

VIPKid has also started expanding into the US market, creating or partnering with small group tutoring programs or book clubs like Book Nook. In the future there may even be subjects like math and Spanish! This means an expansion of possible teaching times for teachers, including afternoon or evening hours in North America.

Seasonal changes

For about a two-month period from January to early March, students have Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) school break. During this time there are many students wanting daytime classes because they aren’t in school.

During Chinese summer break in July and August, booking requests for daytime hours will again increase, although overall bookings may decrease because students are enjoying their summer vacation. Another period of slow bookings is during exam weeks, when many students will cancel classes.

Check out other English teaching opportunities in my post about three different companies.