Popple Review
Popple <—- (Click here to Apply) is based in South Korea. They hire native English speakers to teach Korean students from 5 years old to adults. Their classes are all group classes with a maximum of 6 students. They want teachers who can work from 4 pm to 10 pm Korean time from Monday to Friday. Teachers can work more hours if they would like. Pay starts at $17 USD per hour and if you work for 2 or 3 years you can earn a maximum of $30 USD per hour with bonuses and working different roles.
Please leave a comment or review of Popple.
20 Comments
Shauna-Rae
I have never in 12 years of online teaching been treated so badly. Please be wary when dealing with this company. They are threatening to sue me because I got a much better offer from a huge well respected company. I gave notice and they remove my business account. My motherboard died and I did everything in my power to keep teaching. I was called a child and have been short paid a few thousand for this month which has a devastating effect on my financial obligations. My manager has now threatened to sue me. His partings words were ok bye. That is extremely childish. Please note the red flags here.
KayleighS
I have been with Popple for two years now, and it has been a wonderful experience with a warm atmosphere. Now, I not only teach but also handle teacher recruitment and management, which is another advantage of working with Popple as it offers additional opportunities. Regarding pay grade, I have no complaints, but I would like to remind those who joined the company from 2023 onwards to review the UPDATED WAGES. Please note that this is NOT an official advertisement from the company. Additionally, some individuals who have written negative comments here may have been interviewed by me. However, what surprises me the most is that with hundreds of people applying every day, and among them, many individuals who just paid some money online and obtained TEFL believe themselves to be genuine “teachers.” Seriously! It is even more shocking that many of these applicants lack proper English skills themselves. The company has the right to remove these fake teachers from their student base, and how would you tell them apart with just papers?
Sharon Ruis
Kayleighs. While I agree that many out there with a crackerjack TEFL and a B2 Level of English seem to think they are teachers, many academies, including this one, are exploiting professional teachers by offering incredibly low pay rates. I understand pay now starts way below $17 USD per hour. If you want monkeys applying that is what you are going to get. If you want to attract professional, qualified, experienced teachers then rates should start at nearer $20. Starting rates should reflect your quals and experience, so your rate should be higher for more qualified or experienced teachers. Pay rates in much of the English-speaking world have increased but these Asian schools are continuing to decrease their pay rates so you are tending to get the bottom of the barrel or desperate to apply. Even McD’s with no quals pays more than this place pays per hour, so why would anyone apply to be exploited?
Popple is a SCAM
The post by anonymous was clearly posted by an admin of popple. Almost a year since the last class was completed and I still have not been paid. They never booked me for more than 3 hours a week and lied every step of the way. The job is a scam, they might hire you, they might give you a few classes but they probably will not pay you.
Jason
Maybe you should update your ad? Since it is completely false. Also you should mention how you take classes away and another teach will conclude them. And definitely mention how the pay is considerably lower than what is mentioned here. Most importantly tell the people that you will remove them from the platform and not bother to pay them. Kate and James are both liars. Don’t waste your time working for thieves!
Anonymous
I currently work for this company and am fully booked and the staff have been nothing but professional and transparent. I suggest teachers who are not good at teaching find another job. Payment is prompt and they go above and beyond if you are good at your job. I could not be happier.
Patricia
I was also strung along for several months after signing the contract. It was nearly 5 months before I had my first class. They would contact me through an app at all hours of the night, expecting me to prepare classes to do at 4am my time. I would respond when I woke up only to be told that I took too long to respond. All in all I was only ever given trial classes. I was never paid for the work I did for them and never offered a suficiente amount of classes. It was a waste of time jumping through their hoops to be essentially robbed of payment. This company is illigetimate and will not last. As others have stated DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME! I saw the reply comment on here threatening to sue the person who posted it and after my experience with poople I am certain they were telling the truth.
Jason
I was working for Popple when out of nowhere what few classes I had were taken from me leaving me no classes at all. A month passed and finally I was offered ONE class. When I asked about my previous classes I was told they had been concluded, but not by me! The expectations they had for my response time was laughable considering they left me high and dry and then expected me to be there at a moment’s notice. Also and probably the worst is that I was NEVER paid for the last week I worked. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME HERE. It is not stable and the person of contact is extremely rude and unprofessional. I spent more time planning my classes than I did teaching. I was not paid for training and they do not even round up. This is a scam!
TeacherGuy
Don’t waste your time! I have to second what some others here have said in effort to save other teachers some time.
I was also strung along for a long period of time by this company (2-3 months). The pay started at $15 an hour and at first it seemed promising, but more and more time went by without being assigned classes. A month or so after doing my simulation class and signing a contract I only had one student.
Then, one of the HR members contacted me and asked if I would be willing to sign a new contract – one that decreased my pay rate to $13 an hour, but absolutely guarunteed me, in writing, a set of new classes to be signed immediately, details listed and all. They said it was because their “sister” company was shutting down and the HR exec I spoke with begged me to understand, times are tough for everyone following covid, etc. etc.
I signed the new contract and, of course, weeks went by without being assigned any new classes (I think I recieved one new student within this time, and they only showed up for one class). I asked the HR executives about it, to which I only ever received excuses – “Please be patient, we’re under a lot of pressure, please understand, times are difficult for everyone”. They basically refused to honor the contract they pressured me to sign.
I never recieved the classes because after asking a third time and telling them that I could only wait so much longer, they simply said “It’s ok! Don’t worry, you don’t work at Popple anymore so no need to worry about it :)”
Long story short, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME, this is obviously a company that maybe has a handful of regular teachers but often strings along other individuals to fill the gaps and constantly lies to keep people doing favors for them. It’s not worth it, and the pay isn’t even that great.
Btw, to any Popple employee reading this – this is not slander, everything I’ve written here is true, and I have proof of you violating your own contract which you made me sign, so……..yeah.
Mike S
Their pay is low. Not paid for 30 min break. They say paid up to 12$ per hour IF you have students show up. You can’t leave your seat for the entire 2.5 hrs. So max pay is 30$per 3 hour period. 10$ and hour job. Not worth it for experiencesd and qualified teachers. Don’t waste your time.
MG TEACHER
Love working here. I started out with 15USD/HOUR and after 2 years with working with them I’m getting paid 19 USD. Classes are super easy and no daily reports to write, curriculum provided. No complaints!
MK
DO NOT waste your time with Popple. They strung me along for MONTHS.
To stay anonymous I won’t reveal the dates.
They hired me last year. In the teacher training zoom with a few other new teachers we were told we would be starting in a couple weeks. A couple weeks came around and I heard nothing from anyone. I messaged Tricia, the HR coordinator, and she said “Like I explained during training the new teachers that have just applied will start getting classes mid next month. We will probably assign simulation classes before getting assigned regular classes”. NONE of this was said in the teacher training zoom.
Two weeks later I got a message (all this communication is done on the Telegram app – strange for a company not to use email) from Tricia saying “Hey, hope all is well. We want to assign you your simulation classes on the following days: There were exact dates and times listed by her. She continued with “Please let me know if you could take this class”. I replied 50 minutes later with “Hi Tricia – That class date will be ok. Do you know when the first day of regular class will be?” She replied 3 DAYS LATER with “Hey, sorry to tell you that another teacher has already agreed to take this class right before you, but the next simulation class will be yours.” I was shocked at how long it took her to reply and the ‘first come, first serve’ policy was NEVER mentioned. I replied with “Ok, thanks. Can you please tell me when the first day of term is? Is there an annual calendar?” She replied with “the 28th of this month starts the next semester. We want our teachers to finish simulation classes before then.”
So I was being told that classes would start one month later than we were told in our teacher training.
FOURTEEN DAYS LATER I had not heard anything about when my simulation class would be. Finally, I messaged Tricia and said “Hi Tricia, can you please tell me when my simulation class will be?” The next day she replied “Could we do this Friday?”
Two hours before my simulation class (besides the PDF they teach from, ZERO INFORMATION about the simulation class was given) I get a message for Tricia saying “We have already finished scheduling this months classes, based on teachers that have applied first and finished simulations. We start scheduling next set of classes mid next month, which is when you will probably be assigned.”
Let me put that last sentence in caps – “WE START SCHEDULING NEXT SET OF CLASSES MID NEXT MONTH, WHICH IS WHEN YOU WILL PROBABLY BE ASSIGNED.” PROBABLY
3 days later I messaged her and said “Hi. Can you please tell me when I start teaching?” She said “Hello, as I mentioned before (she DID NOT MENTION this at all, ever) we are assigning classes to those teacher that have applied first, starting in July. Since you finished your simulation and have applied this month (NOT TRUE – I signed my contract more than 6 weeks before this) you will have to be patient and wait your turn. As I’ve mentioned before, I will try to assign you classes mid-end of next month.
I replied with “Hi Tricia. Please assign me classes as soon as possible. Thank you.”
5 WEEKS LATER I get a message from her saying “Thank you for being patient [name], we are getting ready to open our website which will be done very soon, then we will open your classes.”
WOW !!!!
POPPLE ENGLISH
The review here include many false information and the company will take legal actions if you do not remove the comment or write only what is true. This individual has left out tremendous information about his own wrong doings and the harm it caused our company and students.
Defamation is a serious legal matter that can result in significant harm to our company’s reputation and financial well-being. We take such matters very seriously, and we intend to take all necessary legal actions to protect our company’s interests.
Koos
Stop threatening people. You don’t pay your employees. You are liars.
TeacherJ
This organization is not exclusively seeking English-speaking individuals solely for monetary gain. The team is comprised of highly skilled professionals with a strong commitment to educational philosophy and possesses fluency in English, with the majority having received overseas education. The company maintains a high standard, which may initially appear daunting; however, it should pose no challenge to seasoned educators. Communication is highly valued, unlike other Asian enterprises, and the company offers a variety of roles such as teacher management and curriculum development, which are attractive opportunities.
Kai
I found about popple here and have been working here for 8 months now. I love the staff, they are really prompt with communicating with you and the pay is good. The pay is a bit different between part time and full time. I started out part time and switched to full time and pay is good and consistent.
Alice
The contract is pretty straight forward and I like how we don’t have to write daily reports like other companies. The TAs (teacher’s assistant) are Korean American teachers that assist you and they write the reports. I still have to write monthly reports, but don’t mind that much. They pay you using paypal so make sure you have paypal account.
Patrick
Staff members are nice and easy classes with good hours and pay. I started last August as part time and this year I am full time and I plan to work here for long term.
chbro2023
I was lured in by the high pay, however, what I found was completely different. 2 weeks in, I already had 3 sessions cancelled on me, one with absolutely NO ONE showing up (Teacher Assistant) and not getting any response from anyone for 24 hours. There was a 14 hour time difference for me. They would leave me messages on the phone messaging app at all hours of the night and schedule classes at 2 or 3 am my time, expecting me to teach a couple of hours later. This is after I set up a specific time to teach, which they did not seem to understand. It was the most unorganized company I have ever worked for. The pay is not consistent. Dont expect to earn as much as they say you will. Needs a lot of restructuring.
HB
Yes, there are some good points and bad points working here. No daily reports, you have a TA in every class. BUT I hate paypal. They take a huge chunk of your earnings with their fees. They need direct deposit. Regarding TAs, I had 2 no shows. I also was sitting there waiting for class to start with Noone showing up bc They forgot to tell me. They need to tweak their training, there isn’t any really. I would get notices at 2 or 3 am scheduling me for classes at 5 am. No time to prepare and not much sleep for me bc of it. I asked for some sort of notice before my bedtime in est , they didn’t listen. They just kept doing it. Got my hours wrong at first. I had to communicate the correct hours with them. If they fix some of these problems they will be an EXCELLENT place to work. Maybe they will in time and with your feedback.