VIPKid Pros and Cons - Is this the job for me?

I've been with VIPKid for over a year now. I'm currently on my 3rd contract as an independent contractor with the company. Over time, I've compiled a list of pros and cons that come with the job.  I'll do my best to revise this list as I receive questions and suggestions from you.  Hopefully my list will help you decide if teaching for VIPKid is a good fit for you. 

* The following are based on my opinions and personal experiences.

Pros:

·      Set your own schedule – you can change it each week but they like you to set it at a month in advance if possible.  I tend to go in and change it as I go if needed.  If you need to make changes though, you need to do it before a child books your class or else you’ll have to cancel the class (you have 6 cancellations per the 6 month contract).

·      Meet extremely adorable Chinese children who are mostly excited to meet a foreigner and learn English.

·      Education is very important to the Chinese so they have great respect for their teachers.

·      The lessons are created for you in powerpoints (PPT’s) and include Teacher Directions (TD) on every slide.

·      If you feel that there are mistakes on the PPT’s or with the lesson content or that the child is placed in the wrong level, you can let VIPKid know and they listen to you.  You can submit tickets very easily and they respond within 24 hours.  This makes me feel like they care about my feedback and they value my opinions.

·      After a few weeks you get the hang of their lesson plans and it doesn’t take much time to prepare for a class.  I can do it in 5 minutes.

·      I get to work from home while my kids sleep so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on their lives.

·      You can earn $14-$22/hour.  You get paid per lesson, and this rate is determined after your interview and demo class.  You receive bonuses for your attendance (showing up and teaching each class) and participation.  If you teach over 30 classes a month, you receive an extra $.50 per class ($1/hour) and if you teach 45 or more you receive an extra dollar per finished class ($2/hour).

Pay Rate	Per 30-min	Remarks
Base Pay	USD 7-9	This is decided based on your credentials and demo lesson performance.
Attendance bonus	up to USD 1	This is based on showing up on time and teaching the lesson according to schedule.
Finished Class Bonus	up to USD 1	This is based on the number of classes you finish in a month. We use this to assess your teaching quality. If more students continue to book with you, you are rewarded.
Total per 30-min	USD 7-11
Total per 1 hour	USD 14-22

·      If a Trial student you teach purchases classes after you teach them, you receive a $5 bonus.  So make trial classes fun and engaging.  I learned not to worry too much about the material and more about having fun and making it a good experience for the child and parent.

·      You don’t have to communicate with parents.  The only thing required of you is submitting feedback that the parents can see after each lesson.

·      Stay current with good teaching techniques including best practices for ESL students.

·      The company sends out a weekly update to keep you in the loop.  There is also a forum to ask questions and get ideas from other teachers.  There's a new site called the Hutong which has made it even easier to ask questions, get answer, interact with other teachers, etc.

·      You receive a paycheck once a month for having fun on video chat with kids.  This job doesn’t require sales or marketing or excessive amounts of time. (If you are good at marketing, referral bonuses are nice.)

·      Flexible Schedule - You can work as little or as many hours as you want.

·      They have a team of people to help with any technical issues at all times.

·      They have an APP that makes viewing your schedule very easy.  You can even view upcoming lesson material via the app.

·      You can see feedback from previous teachers so that you know more about a student before teaching them.

• You get a $2 bonus for each class you teach with less than 24 hours notice.  (When you create your schedule you can choose this option. I only do it if I’m already teaching a class at 5:00 and no one at 5:30 yet. In that situation I would check the box for the 5:30 class to tell them I’m fine teaching with less than 24 hour notice (this is because I’m already up and teaching someone previous.)  I wouldn’t open up a slot at 4:30 though because I don’t want to have to wake up earlier and check my schedule to see if I need to actually get out of bed or if I can continue sleeping until my class at 5.  But that’s my personal preference and what works best for me.)
• There are a lot of opportunities for growth within the company, especially after you complete one contract. They're constantly improving things, offering teachers to test new features and programs, etc.  They always have a monthly incentive which gives you a change to earn extra money on top of the classes you teach. It's a fun company to work for.
• I've personally met with the CEO and Co-founders of the company. They truly care about is teachers. They do everything they can to make our jobs easier. In the last 9 months this company has grown exponentially and it's always making changes for the better.
• Lesson Prep - You cannot view lesson plans (PPT’s) up to 2 weeks in advance. (I usually view them 15-20 minutes before I teach.  Or after I’m done teaching for the day, I quickly view the PPT’s for the next day before doing anything else.)  Other teachers suggest keeping an outline of each lesson so you can reuse your ideas the next time you teach it.  This helped me when I was starting out so that I could quickly review a lesson before teaching if I hadn’t looked at it since the day or night before.) The lessons are so similar that now I can view a PPT and feel ready to teach it in 2-5 minutes.

Cons:

·      Some mornings it can seem really early, especially if you were up late for a family thing or have a sick child.  There are mornings where I wake up wishing class is cancelled but have to teach anyway.

·      Sometimes students don’t show up for class but you are required to wait in the classroom until it is confirmed a student no show.  (The pro side of this is that you can do other things on your computer as long as you’re still in the “Classroom”.  So I’ve learned to open another tab and prepare the next day’s lessons while waiting for a student or read an interesting news article, read the scriptures, etc.)

·      You don’t plan the lessons – you need to follow the lessons provided.  (But you can still add your own style and creativity in teaching the content.) Some people wish they could teach their own content. This personally isn't a Con for me. Well... there are some slides where you will think to yourself, "What?! Why am I teaching this and how do I teach it?!"

·      You get docked $10 every time you don’t show up for a class or if you cancel within 24 hours.  (So don’t do this.  It’s only happened to me once – when my Internet Service Provider was down and there was nothing I could do.  I was new and didn’t know how to notify the company.  But now I know and can share the knowledge.  But that’s a rare awful situation that I hope never happens to anyone else.)

·      You don’t get to choose your students so you’re not guaranteed the work you want.  You have to teach for a while before parents and students discover you and start booking you.  It takes most people about a month to have a regular schedule - meaning have the times you make available completely booked. The more time slots you can open, the better your chances.

·      Each student has a trial class before becoming a VIPKid.  If a Trial student doesn’t show up, you have to wait in the classroom for 15 minutes but you only get paid half of your normal pay rate per class.  I.E. If you normally get paid $8/lesson, you would only get paid $4 for a lesson when a trial student doesn’t show up.  This is rough at first when you are gaining a student base.

·      Sometimes you have to restart your computer and clear the cache on your browser to ensure that all features on the platform work.

·      You have to get used to teaching online through video feed.  Sometimes there are video delays and an echo which are annoying but you can still teach through them.

·      You don’t know your exact classes until 24 hours beforehand.  You can be scheduled for a time you marked available up to 24 hours before that time so you have to diligently check your schedule every day to be sure that you don’t miss a class.

Here’s the Recruitment FAQ - it’s less wordy and more factual:

http://teacher-recruitment.vipkid.com.cn/faq.shtml

Mock 2 - Letter Pp - Example and Slide by Slide Suggestions

You've made it to Mock 2! Congratulations! If you are asked to prepare and teach this lesson, VIPKid thinks you will be an excellent teacher for the emerging language learners. You must have a kind personality, and talk clearly enough for beginners to understand. That's awesome!

Either you saw my video so you're here to get more suggestions, or you're here and may want to see my video.

Mock 2 Video Demonstration

Disclaimer: This is how I would teach the class will little to no preparation. Carefully review the lesson objectives, vocabulary, and sentence patterns. Follow the Teacher Directions found at the bottom of the PPT you are given, then add your own teaching style to that. This video was made primarily to help my referrals with pacing and ideas on how to go through the activities without using a lot of incidental language. (*"What is this?" "This is a ___." may be considered incidental language for this lesson. I used it because most students I teach at this level understand what I'm saying and asking when I use those sentence patterns.)

Intro: I normally ask, "What is your name?" "My name is ____" and help them say that whole phrase. THEN I ask, "How are you?" You may also ask, "How old are you?" but that one is a little harder for most kids to answer so you don't need to spend time on it.

Reward Slide: I purchased that from Target for $3. But don't spend money!!! I normally use a sheet protector with a colored paper inside and draw bananas, apples, etc. I was not making this video to demonstrate how to give rewards. I suggest giving a STAR every 5 min. Give your secondary reward in between the stars, especially after a student uses the desired sentence pattern. Warm up song: Sing a section and have them repeat. Alphabet Chant: Excuse my voice haha - I had just taught 6 classes. If you have props for the objects named, use them. i.e. real banana or apple. For other items use TPR (charades) like I tried to do. You can come up with your own actions, you don't have to copy mine.

Review: In my mind, the goal is for the student to do this on their own. I model the first one to save on incidental language and lengthy explanations. Model, do it together, let the student do it on their own. Since it's review, the student may be able to do all 3. Make sure they say the letter name and sound each time.

Circle It: Same concept as Review slide. Feelings: Model "How are you?" "I am/I'm ____." I used a monkey. You can use a puppet or other toy. Encourage student to answer independently. Use facial expressions to solidify understanding of vocabulary. Pp: Circle big and small p one at a time, saying "Big/small P/p" several times. Make the sound /p/ as well. Be sure NOT to say "puh". Sorry if I did... don't copy me. On the next slide, trace the letters while making the /p/ sound. You may start tracing, then move to showing them how to write by modeling on your white board. Make sure they start with the line down then the circle. You may draw several p's on the PPT with the student for extra practice.

Vocabulary: Panda, pepper, pig. Teach word. Circle picture and say word while making action or showing a prop/realia. You may say the word "Panda /p/ /p/ panda", listen, then say the target sentence: "Panda starts with /p/." I would start by writing "_______ starts with ___" on my whiteboard. Oops - it's more effective to start by showing that in my opinion. By the third vocab. slide the student should be able to answer with the complete target sentence independently.

Point & Read: Use a whiteboard, printed or written page with "ap", or sheet protector. For extension, add "b" or "p" (or c or d, etc.) in front of "ap" to let the students blend and read on their own. Some teachers use plastic easter eggs to write on for blending practice. Write 'ap' in one color and the beginning consonant in another.

Activity Time (You can say this or not.  It's not needed to say anything on this slide.  This is where you will pause and chat with your mentor.  Consider their feedback and do your best to implement it as you teach the rest of the lesson.  You score big points for showing you can improve and try new things.)

Odd One Out: Be sure to use the target sentence - I didn't use it every time. Make sure YOU do. (I didn't read the teacher directions before recording this.) P

Words: At the end, I should have asked, "What starts with P? /p/ /p/ P?" Then show the pen and paper again. Have a third object on hand to show that starts with p in case the student can't tell you one.

Sit or Stand: Just do thumbs up or down - it's easier to model or explain in my opinion. But you can model sit or stand. You just stand up when you say the wrong one. You model the expected behavior on the first two then follow the student on the last two. Have the student use the target sentence when you can or you can extend by asking, "What is this?" "This is a ____.".

Fill in the Blanks: Model with the whiteboard, paper, or sheet protector.

Matching Fun: You could start by circling P and saying "P, /p/ /p/ P". What starts with P /p/ /p/ P?" If they can do it, great. But chances are you'll need to model for at least 3 objects. I like to say "match" or "circle". I even draw a check mark on the correct objects. I draw an "x" through objects whose beginning sound isn't /p/. The student will most likely copy what you draw. Say the target sentence for EACH object! If you run short on time, having the student do one or two independently is sufficient. You don't need to do all of them.

Picture: "What do you see?" "What can you see?" Act out the question. Circle a vocabulary word. After wait time of a few seconds, model and say, "I see/I can see a ____." Then ask again, circling another object. Elicit full sentence responses. Student may say "pepper". Correct them by saying "I see a pepper". They may say "I see pepper." Repeat again, emphasizing "I see AAAA pepper." I extended by talking about the sleeping panda.

Goodbye: I'm dying right now.... I did not know the tune for the life of me!!! Sorry! I believe it's the same tune as the hello song. Maybe I'll edit that in later.... oops!!!! If I'm short on time I just sing straight through and hope the student follows along for a bit. If you have time, do it line by line, allowing time for the student to copy.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have additional suggestions or if you have any questions.  If you would like to schedule a live practice with me, join my Facebook Group VIPKid Hiring Coaching - Ace Your Interview and Land the Job.  Good luck!