My Love/Hate Relationship With VIPKID
Waking up at 4:45 am with my first alarm, I wait for the soon to be second alarm at 4:53 which is the latest possible time that I can get up, and roll out of bed. My two cats know my schedule and are up, encouraging my slow, sleepy movements down the stairs toward their food bowl for their early morning breakfast. I have just enough time to boil some tea and get my instructional props out to spread across the table before the 10-second count starts and hits 3, 2,1. This is my love/hate relationship with teaching with VIPKID’s online platform.
Leave It At The Door
I worked in hospitality for 5 years in my 20’s and we used to have a saying “leave everything at the door.” This basically means whatever issue you have, don’t let your customers know it. I also bring this with me to VIPKID teaching. As soon as the classes start I become ‘Teacher Nate’ who always gets enough sleep and is so excited to teach and spend short 25 minute classes with anyone who is on my schedule. In between classes, I return to being myself, sometimes shutting my eyes for three minutes or pouring myself a third cup of tea.
I have been teaching with VIPKID since April 2019 and I read on forums about other teacher’s love-hate relationship with the platform. Lack of bonuses or raises, confusing changes in company standards, the pay being too low, or because we teach in China the class times are typically inconvenient to our schedule (early in the morning or late at night). I sympathize with all of these problems and have felt most of them at certain times myself. But on the other hand, I make my own hours, I can work in my pajamas, I’m able to travel around the world and consistently have a great source of income that sustains my life.
***Read more about my first 9 months with VIPKID here
The VIPKID Students
My true passion and love for VIPKID come from the kids I teach. They are the ones that give me the energy in sleep-deprived way-too-early mornings to forget about all of the worries and give them the best experience I can.
I have taught 567 different students over the course of 3000 classes (76,925 minutes) in the 457 days I’ve taught with VIPKid. I have found some challenging kids who refuse to speak or who throw objects at their own Ipads or computers thinking it will somehow reach through to hit me in the head, and yes, I instinctively duck and dodge those items.
On the other side, I have found amazing students who at the age of 6 will speak 3 languages and who have the best personalities. I also get to know their brothers, sisters, babies, and Mom and Dad, who will connect with me outside of the VIPKID platform. They will email to tell me how their kids are doing outside of our classes together.
I have helped with submissions with papers for English speech competitions and have reviewed instructional videos for one young filmmaker who likes to teach people how to make coffee. One student is even a fan of our Youtube channel and watches our vlogs, commenting underneath words of support. This all helps to create a deeper connection between me and my students.
Revolving Door of Students
Some of the students you love will leave you without a goodbye and some of the kids that are the hardest to teach will stay for 100’s of classes and remain difficult. I feel that each kid gives an opportunity to learn and become a better teacher. Regardless of how hard a kid is to teach, I remind myself that I am getting a paycheck every 2 weeks, whether my classes are good or bad. This is also part of online learning and not everyone is going to have a connection with you. But it is important to at least put on a good show for as long as you can.
Financial Stability
During Covid-19, which has been economically damaging to hundreds of industries online and offline, VIPKid has been our lifeline. VIPKid has provided support and increased teaching hours with the children moving to full homeschool and 100% of their classes being online. In a time of crisis, we have actually paid off more debt and saved more money than before. I am also able to get a new perspective of life through the eyes of my students on the other side of the world. The parents have shown so much support, even sending a box of n95 masks to my parent’s house to make sure they were well protected.
Overall my love-hate relationship with VIPKID will keep evolving but for now, I pinch myself that this is something that I can be paid for doing.
Want To Learn How To Teach With VIPKID?
If you are interested in learning more about teaching English and making money with VIPKid, we can set up a time to chat if that helps. Please use my referral code to sign up if you want to teach with VIPKid and you found this article helpful! As always I am here if you have any questions and thanks for reading.
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