My Thoughts After Two Years Teaching With VIPKID
What Have I Learned?
First and foremost my intention and path was never to become a teacher. I found myself in opportunities that might look to lead into this career path when I was younger, like running day camps for the YMCA or teaching about trees and ecology to volunteers who pulled ivy. I should have seen the writing on the wall a long time ago as my grandfather, mom and sister are all teachers, but I always thought “this is not for me.”
As I ventured out into the world of traveling and writing 3 years ago, I found that it takes a while to build a brand or website that generates a sustainable income. Once again I found myself drawn toward teaching. It was a nagging email that I would always erase from a company called VIPKID. I had signed up a year earlier but never moved past the initial email sign-up because of their requirement to have a mock class, where a grown up acts like a child and you teach them for 10 minutes. I could not get myself mentally ready for this.
If you do not know the story of how I landed my job with VIPKID, feel free to check out my entry, failure, and eventual acceptance into this wonderful company in my first post here: VIPKID journey.
Stumbling Through The First Few Lessons
I remember as if it was yesterday, entering the VIPKID platform and navigating through the somewhat familiar buttons. They had been there in a trial class but I had never activated them in a real-life situation. I entered the classroom 5 minutes early and remember barely finishing on time.
After my first class, I thought ‘how could it be physically possible to teach back-to-back?’ The idea was exhausting to think about. This was actually the only question I had for my advisor from VIPKID, who helps with any initial questions that you may have. She said “you end at 25 minutes and prep in the remaining 5 minutes for your next class.” I said “okay,” but in my mind, I was thinking ‘that sounds crazy and I will never do that.’
Cut to two years later where I can knock out 10 classes back to back without a wink of sleep. If I have a gap in my schedule it is a strange feeling. I will usually set it up with a short notice class just to feel like my schedule is complete.
How Hard Was It To Turn Into A Teacher?
With little to no experience teaching online, turning into an online teacher was initially a bit intimidating for me. First, you need to improve your screen presence. Learning how to be an actor and an English teacher all rolled into one. I found that learning how to act in front of the camera was key. Subsequently, this also helped me to talk and feel comfortable when I am on camera for our Native Nomads Vlog on YouTube.
The next step was relearning all of the English terms that I have not used in years. Terms such as possessive pronouns, similes, present continuous tense, etc. Working in the landscape architecture world for seven years prior to teaching with VIPKID, I did not necessarily need to know the names of verb tenses or the grammar rules of writing in order to bid for a job.
Therefore, I found myself in immediate need of a refresher on the entire English language, which was a humbling experience as I had to relearn everything. In the past two years, I have learned so much from teaching with VIPKID. At 37 years old I did not think I would ever need to study more within my native language, but here we are and I feel I am a better person for doing it.
Teaching In Odd Places And Learning To Prepare For Emergencies
Around a year into teaching with VIPKID, I wrote an article about my love-hate relationship with the platform, which was somehow noticed by their corporate office. It was basically about why I chose to stay with the platform. One of my main reasons was that I am able to continue traveling while working.
Unfortunately, the world was struck with a global pandemic and all travel was halted for over a year of my 2-year contract. During the pandemic, my schedule was overfilled with children in China stuck at home. With only online education to fill their typically busy schedules of music, math, English, and a thousand other extracurriculars, they had turned to VIPKID.
During the pandemic, while we were stuck in Merida, Mexico, we suffered two hurricanes and subsequent power outages, which made things extra difficult for me at times. I had to create my panic button (aka my “oh sh*t kit”) for those times when things went from fine to a blackout in the drop of a hat.
Dealing With Unruly Students Who Push Your Buttons
In the past two years, I have definitely had my share of unruly students who have thrown things at their own computer screen, along with swearing at me (in English, which in my opinion is positive because it is still learning). There are also the students who refuse to talk to me or participate.
I have become like a steel vault in my emotions. I have learned to take any and all punishment from the students in order to successfully get the lesson across. I have learned the art of the stoic, stone face, which will not steer off course at any cost, in terms of teaching these kids English. The trick is to pretend that you did not hear them and remain unfazed by their rude actions. When they see that it does not affect you they will carry on with the lesson fairly quickly. The majority of my students are great and are willing to sit with me for our class. However, it is just a few unruly students who find their way into my classroom.
Have I Gotten Better Over The Past Two Years?
With any job that you do for over a year (or even a couple of months), it’s easy to fall into autopilot, doing just enough to get you through the workday without ruffling any feathers, or more importantly, getting fired.
IVIPKID is consistently introducing new content to teach, which helps me greatly stay engaged. From new levels of educational content, to teacher certifications, to the most recent addition of group classes, there is plenty to keep me going.
So the question I ask myself is “have I gotten better?” To be honest, I hope so. I hope I can give more to my students with every year that I am employed. My nerves of teaching or speaking on a screen are long gone. I am extremely comfortable with most situations because I have seen the best and worst of what a student can give me, and I have figured out how to handle it.
What About Teaching Props and Reward Games?
I have had the same teaching props since the beginning of teaching with VIPKID, with just a couple of additions. I built my collection of laminated animal, fruit, flower and seashell props from my now retired reward games. I continue to use these props in new ways, because if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
In terms of new reward games, I have discovered a huge help from the VIPKID Slides Facebook Group. They supply an endless amount of creative and fun games to play with students.
I have used either my iPhone or iPad to display these games during class. The VIPKID Slides Facebook Group was honestly the best thing I discovered to enhance my teaching with VIPKID. I ask my students “what game would you like to play today?” Their faces light up with the excitement of building a robot, dinosaur or even watching some NBA snippets of cool basketball shots.
Stuck With Me For The Long Haul
Getting to know your students is the very best thing about teaching with VIPKID. Over the last two years of teaching with VIPKID I have seen many students come and go. I recently started taking note of the number of classes I have taught individual students. I found numbers as high as 220. Using simple math at 25 minutes per class – I have spent almost 100 hours teaching a single student. If you had told me that would be the case when I first started, I would have never believed you.
With certain recurring students, I have seen an extreme transformation in their English-learning journey. A couple of students who could barely speak a single word of English are now reading fluently. They are able to carry on conversations with other students. They have excelled to the point that they are now learning about civil rights in America, or soil and earth science, which is one of my favorite subjects, by the way.
Keeping My Composure Despite Panic
Life will not always give you everything you need. Things such as a quiet, peaceful and stable environment, perfect internet connections or power outage-free areas do not always come through. And with 5,445 classes not everything works out perfectly.
I have found ways to center myself and continue focusing on the small, necessary tasks at hand, while an utter state of panic surrounds me behind the scenes. Read the full real-life story of a blackout I taught through in Mérida, Mexico in this post outlining by “Oh S*&t Kit.”
In the beginning of my teaching career, if a bird was singing too loud I could see the panic build up in my eyes. However, now after two years on the job, I could teach through a hurricane as long as the lights stayed on. Even then I would have an auxiliary battery charged up and ready to go for my USB ring light and computer.
The show must go on without as much as a hiccup, and every chaotic situation must stay behind the scenes, out of the view of my students. I might even incorporate the hurricane or tornado into my lesson if it brings my students a little extra fun.
Financial Goals: Met Or Unmet?
Our financial goals while traveling were the reason I initially started to explore working with VIPKID. We needed money to buy plane tickets, Airbnb rentals, food, a house rental and everything in between. I had tried running an online retail store with little to no profits and found our savings going down as our credit card debt was going up fast. Soon we found ourselves with $11,000 dollars in debt, with no real, reliable way of bringing in enough income to keep the dream alive.
But we didn’t want to give up. VIPKID stepped in and made it all possible.
At first, it was not a lot of money but it was stable enough to pay the minimum payment on our credit cards. After about four months of teaching, I was able to start saving while paying our debt down aggressively. Because of VIPKID, we were able to pay off the $11,000 and start to build back our savings. We were even able to start investing some of that money in future accounts and long-term stock trades.
One of our other goals after falling in love with Mexico was to become residents here. Because of the consistent income made through VIPKID, we were able to meet the requirements to lead us on the path to permanent residency (we now both have our Mexican temporary residency).
Another financial benefit to VIPKID has been the ability to teach anywhere in the world as long as we have electricity and wifi. We are able to balance out flights, food costs, hotels and tourist activities with a relatively low amount of hours teaching every morning while traveling. This light schedule keeps our afternoons and evenings free to explore and have a little bit of fun before my 9:30 pm bedtime.
Has VIPKID Changed Over The Past Two Years?
Throughout this pandemic, the VIPKID platform has seen an increase in teachers with job losses in America and Canada. Also, the move to remote work has become more appealing with the quarantines and restrictions on movement. I have followed along with a lot of the social networks as time has progressed and have seen teachers who have taught for years suffer the loss of a full schedule, or in the worst-case scenario, they were diagnosed with COVID-19 themselves.
VIPKID has tried to be supportive throughout this time, but sometimes the strict cancellation and no-show policies have hurt some teacher’s relationship with the platform. This is obviously a unique time and everyone is having to deal with events that are unknown to us.
I continue to believe that it is the students who pull me through any company changes. My students are why and how I keep my passion alive for teaching with VIPKID day after day.
So Why Do I Think You Should Become a VIPKID Teacher?
If you are looking for a career that is rewarding, and free of anyone telling you what hours you have to work, then VIPKID might be a great option for you. If you are looking for a great side hustle to complement other work commitments, allowing you to pay off debt, build your savings or help pay off a house mortgage, then VIPKID could also work. If you want to explore a lifestyle of travel (understanding that travel is limited in these unprecedented times), and need the funds to make it happen, then teaching with VIPKID is also a wonderful option.
If you have any questions at all, please let me know and I would be more than happy to walk you through getting started with your own journey teaching with VIPKID.
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