Flipped Classroom in China, my experience with VIPKID

Alright, by now some of you have seen the flurry of Facebook posts about a company called VIPKID. It is a relatively new company having only been active since 2013 which naturally makes people suspicious. Many people often wonder if this company is legit, can your really make up to $20 an hour? Do they actually pay you? What hours do you work? And, can I replace my current income with a VIPKID income?

Well, I can now answer some of those questions as I currently teach for VIPKID.

The hiring process is simple. You submit your resume through their website (use my recruiters link, we both get a bonus if you're hired) VIKPID Apply Now. You DO NOT need a teaching credential but you do need to have at least a B.A. or higher in anything thought Education is preferred. They also require that you have at least one year of experience working with kids though this experience can come from anywhere, even babysitting. After you submit all of this you will usually receive an email inviting you to schedule a practicum. The practicum is for one hour, they give you the materials you need to practice with. Your elevator will pretend they are a young ESL student and will evaluate how well you teach the lesson. Most people will complete two practicums but a few people will only do one, it just depends on your score. If you're hired you will need to sign a 6 month contract agreement and will take part in some training videos/quizzes before you are able to open you're slots for booking.

The booking page looks like this: 

All of the orange spaces are what we call 'Peak Hours' which means that if you click on these as open for booking, you are very likely to book and teach during those sessions. All of the green lines are classes that I am booked to teach, the white ones with time notations are open classes that are not booked yet, the orange ones are time slots that I have not opened. As you can see I teach mainly the early morning hours, evenings, and weekends. This is because I live in the west coast which is 14+hours difference.

So how does the pay work? A LOT of people try to claim that VIPKID is a scam and that you only make $7-$8 an hour. This is NOT true, you make $7-$8 a class. Each class is 25 minutes long and so if you teach two classes back to back (like I often do) you are actually making quite a bit more than you thought. You also get a bonus of $1 for showing up to each class, and $1 for finishing each class at the 25 minute mark (up to the 28th minute) as well as several monthly incentives. You can also get a raise for each renewed 6 month contract and if you take on additional roles within the company (such as practicum elevator).

Here is a break down of my pay:
Since I have a degree is ESL and I have a few years experience I started at $8.50 per class.
If I teach 2 classes back to back: $8.50 + $8.50 = $17
Add on the bonuses for attending/completing: $2 + $2 = $4
I just made $21 for ONE HOUR of teaching...yes I make $21 an HOUR.

And you can see just how many classes I'm teaching up there and this is a slow week. I taught 82 classes last month, that is 41 hours of teaching. I made $861 this past month. And this wasn't including the additional $200 I got for their Thanksgiving incentives, and I even won a contest and received an official VIPKID shirt mailed to me to wear while teaching.

My current pay from Dec. 1st to Dec. 7th! I've already earned almost $250.

Its not a lot of money, no. Not compared to what I made as a public school teacher. But it is more than enough to help pay down some debt, save up for a vacation, make some car payments. And it is certainly much more fun than my public school job was. I also have the satisfaction of sitting in my PJ bottoms while I teach and being able to stay at home with my kids, I don't need childcare for my job so this is one less expense I have to worry about!

This is what my 'classroom' looks like:

 For contractual reasons I cannot show you what the computer classroom actually looks like, but if you decide to apply to join VIPKID you'll quickly learn how much fun it actually is. I've been with VIPKID for almost 2 months now and so far I love it.

On a side note, VIPKID recently teamed up with TESOL. You can read about that here, they are offering VIPKID teachers membership with TESOL which further paves the way for VIPKID becoming a game changer when it comes to online ESL education. Check out the article here on the TESOL website.

Final Judgment: It IS legit, they DO pay you, the kids are awesome and appreciate your time as do the parents. So far I have had nothing but great experiences with VIPKID and I'm looking forward to continuing to teach with them for a very long time. Remember to use the link at the beginning of the article if you decide to apply so that we both get a bonus!

Sincerely,

Andrea K. Gill