My 1st 2 Months as a VIPKID Teacher
This post is all about my teaching experience – highs and lows – during my first 2 months as a VIPKID teacher, a work from home job.
The boys went back to school in August. We weren’t homeschooling this year. The house was quiet. I began looking for something to fill my time and earn a little money while they were in school. I really was looking for something outside the home to be social and keep active, but I found a job titled “Teach Chinese Students English!” and clicked in. I remembered right away that I had a childhood friend on Facebook that I knew did this. I immediately contacted her with some questions and the main thing I found was that she LOVED it. Loved it after two years and 3,000 classes.
I had to try it.
I applied right away. I’ll admit the whole hiring process is a little daunting. A tad stressful. You have to do demos in front of live mentors after you learn and practice a mock class. I had to quickly put my classroom background together. I had to make sure I had a good webcam, headphones, and ethernet cord for my computer. It took 2 weeks from when I applied to when I signed my contract to begin.
My 1st 2 months as a VIPKID Teacher
I am now 60 days in (51 days since I had my first class) and have had 110 slots filled, taught 85 classes, and 71 students.
Cons as of 2 months as a VIPKid Teacher:
You wake up early. There is no getting around it. This is their busy time because it is evening hours in China after school. I live in Mountain Time which isn’t great. Tomorrow is my first daylight savings time change and the hot hours for me to teach are 4:00-6:00am. Eastern time zone people have it made. I was getting up for 5:00am classes these last two months and I’ll tell you that I really didn’t mind getting up, but by lunch? I needed a nap. Friday and Saturday evenings, which is their weekend are hot too. I like working then so that is a Pro I guess.
May be slow to get started. This is the biggest complaint I hear. Teachers wait days, weeks, even months to get their first class. Then it usually starts to snowball. My first class came at exactly 1 week and I feel fortunate for that. I will share what worked for me for those interested.
No shows. You got up early, made your coffee, turned your computer on, were pumped to go. Then no one shows up. ahhhh! Which leads me to Trials…
Trials. (kids testing out a VIPKID class before joining.) I actually think Trials are a Pro in general, but what can make them a Con is the ‘no show’ rate is higher. VIPKID can also schedule you a ‘booking pending’ which means you have no idea the student or trial class you will be teaching until last minute and 90% of the time it was a ‘no show’. The good news is I haven’t seen these ‘booking pendings’ in awhile. I think VIPKID was on a student signup craze and that is why I was getting scheduled these.
Kids that are difficult. It’s not fun to close a class thinking well, that wasn’t fun. You don’t have a way to block who schedules you. They choose you. I’ve only had this a few times because….this leads to me the
Pros as of 2 months as a VIPKID Teacher:
The kids are amazing! They make you smile and laugh and they draw you pictures and show you their favorite toys. And they send you cards like this below. This was my first ecard I ever received from a student. Her first ever trial class with VIPKID. I went to sleep with a smile on my face!
It’s fun. I think it’s fun to decorate my background, to find props to use in class, to make rewards, even the few minutes it takes to prep and plan for classes is fun to me.
The pay is good. In a normal hour (each class is 25 minutes) I make $20/hr. Many times I will make more. A few times I will make less. Again, I can share the differences with those interested.
You set your own hours. Loooooove this! I can add classes last minute. I can close spots that aren’t filled.
Yes you get paid for no shows and cancels!
Intro Video
That was my 1st 2 months as a VIPKID teacher in a nutshell! Here is my intro video I made to show parents who I am. You can see my simple class background.
To get started with VIPKID:
4 year bachelor’s degree or higher.
You do NOT need a teaching degree. I don’t! But must have ‘teaching experience’ like tutoring, mentoring, coaching, church leader, etc. for at least 1 year.
Apply here. Referral code: COURT0286. I get paid for referrals which is a PRO. It also means I’m happy to answer your endless questions. ha!
vipkidcourtney @ gmail.com is my email for those interested and have a burning question or two. I know you do.
I like to make things fun and not all about me because my readers ARE awesome!
Happy Thanksgiving this month too!
$5 Starbucks gift card – 2 Winners!
This post, My 1st 2 months as a VIPKID teacher, is my own thoughts and opinions. This giveaway will end on Nov. 21, 2018 at midnight MST. Winners will be drawn via rafflecopter. Once a winner is drawn I will contact them and they will have 48 hours to reply before I draw a new winner. Giveaway is open to anyone in the US/Canada. You must be 18 years of age or older. Giveaway is not affiliated with Facebook & I release them of liability. Winner will be posted in the rafflecopter widget.