As you probably already know I have been teaching for VIPKID since the first week of October of last year. I am about to hit my 6 month mark and am entering into my second contract. In these past 6 months VIPKID has changed dramatically.
For the better!
Since I began 6 months back, these are the changes that VIPKID has fully implemented:
No more 15 class minimum. You can teach as little as you want or as much as you want. But like any job be prepared to only take on as much as you can handle as the 6 class cancellation/no show policy is still in place. Additionally be aware of your ability to constantly produce top-notch output. These kids are excitable and their energy is felt even through the screen. You will suffer teacher burn out much faster if your focus is to teach as much (and earn as much) as fast as possible. Take it easy, only teach what you can handle. Recently I went back to doing early mornings. My son is old enough now that he generally sleeps through them and rarely wakes up which means I've been able to take advantage of those peak (98% booking rate) classes.
For instance, my work week currently looks like this:
I take alternating Mondays and Tuesdays off to sleep in and refresh myself.
You don't have to wear orange. They decided that you are no longer required to wear an orange shirt unless you want to however it is highly recommended to promote teacher unity within VIPKID and the families and students that depend on us. I often bemoaned the color when I first started but now you'll never find me teaching without my official orange VIPKID shirt.
International TESOL Association partner. VIPKID is now an official International TESOL Association partner which is a BIG deal in the world of ESL teachers. Membership in TESOL, especially as a partner, means that you are the cream of the crop.
Background Checks. VIPKID has realized that children are especially vulnerable to online exploitation. They now require that all of their current teachers and all new incoming teacher pass a background check. This is a huge deal because it helps to safeguard these children. I often see things I wouldn't normally see while teaching because of the cultural differences, Mia has no problem going to the potty while holding her iPad to take class. Grandma doesn't mind changing clothes in the background. And more, much more. On top of this VIPKID is one of the first foreign education companies to require this.
Pre-VIP. In the past few months VIPKID has rolled out their Preschool Curriculum. These lessons are specially designed for the 3 - 5year old crowd that had been *somehow* sneaking into the regular VIPKID curriculum and (amazingly) finding it too difficult. With the addition of Pre-VIP there are even more options for teachers to expand their hours. I have found myself being booked for odd daytime hours (I am PST) as while my regular students are in school, these little guys are at home and free to take their Pre-VIP kid lessons.
I requested to become a Pre-VIP kid teacher because of this and, yup, I'm now officially a PreV teacher as well. I get roughly 8 to 10 PreV a week.
Jack Ma Foundation - Rural School Project.VIPKID is now running a pilot program where VIPKID is being offered to groups of students in public schools! The teachers are required to know at least a little Mandarin Chinese (because the locations are rural, meaning the teachers and students will most likely know very little to zero English. Another requirement is the ability to be able to teach for 1hr time blocks instead of the usual 25m. So far it is off to a good start!
Teacher Phone App and the Teacher Browser: VIPKID now has a fully interactive Teacher App (you cannot teach from it) that you can use to check your schedule, cancel classes, review previous teacher and parent comments, and receive notifications from. The Teacher Browser allows you to teach your classes independently of Firefox or Chrome. I love using it and ever since I started using it I have had very few IT issues and you can access all your usual teaching tabs through it as well. I use it for every class I teach now.
Incentives. Every month VIPKID offers additional bonus incentives. You can work extra classes or aim to get top notch ratings, it is different every month but most people can earn a little extra cash. Right now for the month of April they are making it rain (cash) by offering up to $5 extra per class taught over your usual amount for the "peak peak times" (BJT 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30pm) which means if you taught only 5 classes you can get up to $5 extra for every class you teach beyond that.
For the better!
Since I began 6 months back, these are the changes that VIPKID has fully implemented:
No more 15 class minimum. You can teach as little as you want or as much as you want. But like any job be prepared to only take on as much as you can handle as the 6 class cancellation/no show policy is still in place. Additionally be aware of your ability to constantly produce top-notch output. These kids are excitable and their energy is felt even through the screen. You will suffer teacher burn out much faster if your focus is to teach as much (and earn as much) as fast as possible. Take it easy, only teach what you can handle. Recently I went back to doing early mornings. My son is old enough now that he generally sleeps through them and rarely wakes up which means I've been able to take advantage of those peak (98% booking rate) classes.
For instance, my work week currently looks like this:
I take alternating Mondays and Tuesdays off to sleep in and refresh myself.
You don't have to wear orange. They decided that you are no longer required to wear an orange shirt unless you want to however it is highly recommended to promote teacher unity within VIPKID and the families and students that depend on us. I often bemoaned the color when I first started but now you'll never find me teaching without my official orange VIPKID shirt.
International TESOL Association partner. VIPKID is now an official International TESOL Association partner which is a BIG deal in the world of ESL teachers. Membership in TESOL, especially as a partner, means that you are the cream of the crop.
Background Checks. VIPKID has realized that children are especially vulnerable to online exploitation. They now require that all of their current teachers and all new incoming teacher pass a background check. This is a huge deal because it helps to safeguard these children. I often see things I wouldn't normally see while teaching because of the cultural differences, Mia has no problem going to the potty while holding her iPad to take class. Grandma doesn't mind changing clothes in the background. And more, much more. On top of this VIPKID is one of the first foreign education companies to require this.
Pre-VIP. In the past few months VIPKID has rolled out their Preschool Curriculum. These lessons are specially designed for the 3 - 5year old crowd that had been *somehow* sneaking into the regular VIPKID curriculum and (amazingly) finding it too difficult. With the addition of Pre-VIP there are even more options for teachers to expand their hours. I have found myself being booked for odd daytime hours (I am PST) as while my regular students are in school, these little guys are at home and free to take their Pre-VIP kid lessons.
I requested to become a Pre-VIP kid teacher because of this and, yup, I'm now officially a PreV teacher as well. I get roughly 8 to 10 PreV a week.
Jack Ma Foundation - Rural School Project.VIPKID is now running a pilot program where VIPKID is being offered to groups of students in public schools! The teachers are required to know at least a little Mandarin Chinese (because the locations are rural, meaning the teachers and students will most likely know very little to zero English. Another requirement is the ability to be able to teach for 1hr time blocks instead of the usual 25m. So far it is off to a good start!
Teacher Phone App and the Teacher Browser: VIPKID now has a fully interactive Teacher App (you cannot teach from it) that you can use to check your schedule, cancel classes, review previous teacher and parent comments, and receive notifications from. The Teacher Browser allows you to teach your classes independently of Firefox or Chrome. I love using it and ever since I started using it I have had very few IT issues and you can access all your usual teaching tabs through it as well. I use it for every class I teach now.
Incentives. Every month VIPKID offers additional bonus incentives. You can work extra classes or aim to get top notch ratings, it is different every month but most people can earn a little extra cash. Right now for the month of April they are making it rain (cash) by offering up to $5 extra per class taught over your usual amount for the "peak peak times" (BJT 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30pm) which means if you taught only 5 classes you can get up to $5 extra for every class you teach beyond that.
Can you have a retail fraud misdemeanor and still teach with them? I have been cleared and teach as a sub in my community.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know they only check for child abuse. They do not look at your financial situation at all so this should not be an issue.
ReplyDeleteHi.
ReplyDeleteGreat article.
Well written.
This site: https://mirapic.com/ can be useful in finding backgrounds.
Peace!