- 07 Sep, 2026
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- 14 Mins Read
Mandarin Chinese Tutor
Mandarin Chinese Tutor
Apex Academic Centre is looking for Mandarin Chinese tutors to teach online across South Africa, from young beginners to adults learning for work. You set your own hours, we bring you the learners.
MyAPEX · Become a tutor
This is an ongoing opening and one we have never been able to fill locally. Qualified Mandarin tutors are rare in South Africa and almost entirely concentrated in a few cities, so online is the only realistic way a learner elsewhere reaches one.
About the role
Mandarin learners at Apex range from children whose parents want them to start young, to adults learning for business, to heritage speakers who understand a great deal at home and cannot read or write. Those are three genuinely different jobs and the first lesson has to establish which one you are doing.
You would teach one to one, online, on Apex’s own platform. Lessons are booked through MyAPEX and you accept the requests that fit your diary. Mandarin tends to produce long running weekly bookings, because progress is slow and steady rather than sudden.
What you would be doing
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Teaching Mandarin one to one across listening, speaking, reading and writing, at the level the learner is actually at.
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Teaching tones from the first lesson and correcting them relentlessly. A learner who is allowed to be approximately right for six months is very hard to correct afterwards.
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Deciding with the learner how far to take characters. A business learner who needs spoken fluency and a school learner sitting a written paper need different balances of pinyin, characters and speech, and this should be an explicit decision.
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Supporting heritage speakers separately. They usually need literacy and formal register rather than the beginner course, and putting them through one loses them quickly.
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Giving real speaking time in every lesson, rather than talking about the language in English.
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Keeping communication on the platform. All lesson communication and homework runs through MyAPEX, which is how Apex keeps a record for the parent and the learner.
What we need from you
Near-native or native fluency in Mandarin, including reading and writing.
Teaching experience. Speaking a language and teaching it are different skills, and learners can tell the difference within one lesson.
A relevant qualification. A teaching qualification, a degree in Chinese, or a recognised language teaching certificate.
Strong English, since you will be teaching beginners who have no Mandarin to build on.
An advantage, not a requirement: SACE registration. Many of the strongest tutors are graduates, postgraduates or subject specialists rather than registered schoolteachers. Where you do hold SACE registration, Apex verifies it and shows it on your profile, and parents do look for it.
A laptop or desktop, a webcam, a stable internet connection and a quiet room to teach from. Apex checks all four, and being able to write characters on a shared screen is a real advantage.
Helpful but not required: experience preparing learners for a recognised Chinese proficiency examination, and experience with young beginners.
What Apex verifies before your first lesson
Verification is a condition of engagement
Apex verifies who you are and what you are qualified to teach before you take a booking. A self-declaration is not enough, which is why we ask for documents rather than assurances. What is checked depends on how you teach: in-person tutoring carries one additional requirement, because the lesson happens face to face.
- Identity. Your ID or passport, and that the name on it matches your qualifications
- Qualifications. The certificates behind the subjects and levels you want to teach
- Police clearance. Required for in-person tutoring
- SACE and other credentials. Verified and shown on your profile where you hold them, as an advantage rather than a requirement
- Equipment. Machine, camera, connection and teaching room
Screening is a continuing condition, not a once-off. The detail sits in clause 4 of the Tutor Terms and Conditions, and there is a full walkthrough in What it means to be a verified Apex tutor.
How the work reaches you
Learners come to you
You are matched on subject, curriculum and the hours you have actually marked as available. You accept or decline each request.
Paid on the 2nd
Tutor fees are paid monthly, on the 2nd of the month, per lesson actually delivered. If a date falls on a weekend or public holiday, it moves to the next business day.
You set the hours
No minimum, no fixed timetable. You tutor as an independent contractor and you decide how much work you take.
Questions tutors ask before applying
No. Applications are made through MyAPEX, where you build a tutor profile once: your subjects, your curricula, your qualifications and your availability. Apex no longer accepts CVs or applications by email, because the profile is what parents read when they choose a tutor.
Apex tutors are independent contractors, not employees. You set your own hours, you accept the bookings you want, and you are responsible for your own tax and statutory obligations. This is set out in the Tutor Terms and Conditions you accept when you register.
It depends entirely on the learner, and agreeing that upfront is part of the job. A business learner may want spoken Mandarin only, while a school learner sitting a written paper has no choice. Say on your profile what you are equipped to teach.
Fluency alone is not enough. You need to teach well and to meet the screening requirements, which include SACE registration or eligibility to register. If you have a teaching or language qualification and real teaching experience, please do apply, because this is a genuinely scarce skill.
You complete your profile on MyAPEX and upload your documents. Apex verifies them, and once you are cleared your profile goes live and you start receiving matched requests in your subjects. You are not charged anything to apply or to be listed.
Ready to join the Apex tutor team?
Apply through our MyAPEX platform. Create your tutor profile once and we will match you with learners in your subjects as new jobs come in. We no longer accept CVs or applications by email.