VIPKID Vibes: Top 5 Best & Worst Things About Being a VIPKID Teacher

I hit another milestone recently. 500 days. It’s unreal. Here are my stats at the time of posting this:

So, how are things going? What do I like? What don’t I like? Let me tell you. If you’re considering this company, maybe this will help.

The Top 5 Worst Things About VIPKID

5) The Lack of Insurance/Benefits

If you’re on your spouse’s insurance, this doesn’t phase you, but if you’re el singleo, this could pose a problem. When it comes to benefits, well, there aren’t any. There are no sick days or vacation days or snow days. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. There is no 401k, nothing is taken out for SS or taxes. These are things you have to take care of on your own. All those behind the scenes things that a company would do for you, you are now responsible for. Think of yourself as self-employed. VIPKID is your business.

4) The Reliance on Technology

You are at the mercy of your computer. Power goes out? Computer crashes? Internet is down? None of it is your fault, but VIPKID doesn’t care. If you can’t teach, you don’t get paid. I’ve had one “teacher IT” since I started, so I’m pretty lucky. I restarted my router before a block of classes and for some reason, it really slowed things down. So I got stuck with an IT. Bad thing is, my speed was back to normal like 2 minutes after my class was cancelled. I finished the class, pled my case, and didn’t get anywhere. They are reluctant to change teacher ITs. I’m over it, but it was frustrating at the time. There are certain precautions to hopefully avoid an IT, but sometimes, things happen.

3) The Isolation

VIPKID Vibes: FAQ for Newbies, Part 2

I’m back with more insight to hopefully answer those burning VIPKID questions.

First, an acronym glossary. In no order, sorry.

• SN = short notice (An extra $2 for classes booked within 24 hours)
• SNS = student no show (Within 24 hours, you get paid!)
• SIT = student IT (You get paid!)
• TNS = teacher no show (You don’t get paid. You pay them, actually.)
• TIT = teacher IT (You don’t get paid. For obvious reasons, it’s best to type this one out)
• T2T or T2T Feedback = teacher to teacher (This is the feedback other teachers leave for a student to give future teachers a heads-up. Don’t put too much weight in this info.)
• B&M = brick and mortar (How teachers who also work in a “real” classroom identify themselves)
• FAS = find a star (A popular game used as a reward system)
• PPT = peak peak time (The lame name given to the most popular time slots to get classes)
• BJT = Beijing time
• MC = major course (These are the majority of the classes you’ll teach. It just means it isn’t a supplemental class, like Grammar or Reading.)

Other terms to know:

VIPKID Vibes: FAQ for Newbies, Part 1

Now that I’m on my 3rd contract for VIPKID, I figured I have enough knowledge to make a FAQ post. I’ll start with the most common questions I see from new teachers.

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What is the flower icon on my profile?

On the teacher app, you’ll see a flower beside your name. This is the number of followers you have.

What does that mean? A parent can “follow” a teacher and be notified when you open slots. As far as I know, that’s the point.

Can you see who is following you? No.

Does your follower count affect your bookings? I haven’t really noticed a difference, to be honest.

What is that other icon? The things that looks like a v in a circle is the number of tokens you have. Which brings me to…

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How do I earn tokens?

Hutong challenges! Which aren’t “challenges” at all. They consist of clicking links, skimming information, or typing a quick response to a question. And while they aren’t worth many tokens, they do add up.

Parent feedbacks. For every 5 apple rating you receive, you earn tokens.

Attending workshops. I haven’t done a workshop in a while, but I believe you earn 4 tokens?

Random incentives. When I renewed my contract, I got 100 tokens. Sometimes they have surveys in exchange for tokens.

Why are my tokens in different places?

I’m not sure why they haven’t streamlined this, but the tokens you earn from Hutong challenges are kept separate from those in the portal. In the Hutong, you’ll need to click on Rewards and do an exchange. They’ll move your tokens (by 100 or 500) to the portal.

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What are the tokens for anyway?

VIPKID Vibes: Mastering the Short Notice Game

It’s been weeks since I’ve posted about VIPKID. Thanks for your patience. This isn’t an update–I’ll do one of those next time for my 1 year anniversary! OMG.

Today, I wanted to share my thoughts on Short Notice bookings.

To make some extra cash for doing the exact same amount of work, I’ve started opening more Short Notice bookings. In an effort to keep this simple and to the point, here’s a list of Pros and Cons.

 

Pro: An Extra $2

An obvious pro, and let’s face it, the ONLY reason anyone would do this. Two dollars isn’t life changing and might not seem worth it, but consider this. If you book just one short notice class a day, and you work six days a week, that’s an extra $48 a month–for working the same amount! This is doable. I had five short notice classes last Friday alone.

Con: You Can Lose Money

Keep in mind, this is a gamble. If you decide to wait to open slots until the day before, you risk them not booking at all. So instead of gaining an extra two bucks, you lose that AND what you would’ve made for the class. I do not recommend doing this until you already have a pretty full schedule. And I would definitely start small. Try one slot a day, at different times a day, and see how that works out. Then the next week, do a few more. Have I lost money? Absolutely. But by the end of the month, I made more than I would’ve without any SN.

VIPKID Vibes: Will VIPKID Make Me a Morning Person?

In short…

I’ve been with VIPKID for 216 days now, and let me tell you, it’s still a struggle every day. Every. Day.

I’ve always hated getting up in the morning. It’s painful in every sense of the word. You’d think after a certain period of time, my body would adjust and it wouldn’t be so bad, but that has yet to happen. Why not go to sleep earlier? Seems simple enough. But it doesn’t matter. I can get 8 hours of sleep and I feel the same as I do with 5 hours. I don’t understand it.

VIPKID Vibes: The Moment When, Part 2

The moment when…the kiddo comes to class ten or more minutes late.

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The moment when…you’re having class with a new student and one of your regulars appears in the background.

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The moment when…you miss an incentive by two hours. I don’t want to talk about it.

VIPKID Vibes: The Unfortunate 4 Apple Rating

Happy Teacher Tuesday! Just a quick update this week…

After 241 5 apple reviews, I received a 4 apple. The reason I even mention this is to let you know that when it does happen to you–and it will, eventually–it’s going to be OK. Yes, it will sting and bruise your ego a bit. And seeing your 5.00 average drop to 4.99 is tough to look at. But it’s actually not that big a deal.

A four is still good. It’s even labeled “Good” so there’s nothing to feel upset about.

What is hard to deal with is not knowing why. There have been plenty of classes when I’ve thought, if there was ever a 4 apple class, that was it! This class, however, went fine. Or so I thought. But the parent left no tags and no message, so I have no clue what she didn’t like about it.

Don’t let a four apple review bother you too much. Don’t dwell on it. Just move on. If you feel like you had a good class, that’s all you can do, right? Keep doing what you’re doing.

#preach

UPDATE: Feeling down about 4 apples? Retail therapy helps. Buy yourself something:

VIPKID Vibes: Newbie Teacher Essentials (and Wishlist Items!)

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If you have yet to apply, go for it! If there’s anything I can help you with, let me know! Here’s my referral code if you choose to use it. Thanks!

LAURE0409

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Thanks for spending some time here. Happy teaching!

VIPKID Vibes: 500 Classes and an Unexpected Problem

By the time this is posted, I will have taught 542 classes. It is day 160.

I am very fortunate. And I don’t take my numbers for granted. Everyone’s journey is different with this company, and while I started pretty slowly–by my own standards–these days I’m pretty much fully booked. And fully grateful.

So what is this unexpected problem?

Too many classes.

VIPKID Vibes: After 400 classes, this is what I’ve learned…

This morning, I taught my 413th class with VIPKID. It’s hard to believe. Here are ten things I’ve learned along the way.

Some classes last 7 minutes. Some last about 70.

I have a few students who I just love. I look forward to seeing them, and class is a blast. Or I meet a new student who is just all around awesome. Maybe they want to talk to you about their day. Maybe they want to show you something they made. These are the seven minute classes. Then, there are classes that feel never-ending. This could be for one of several reasons: the kid is misbehaving, the kid is mute, the lesson is super boring/difficult, the kid is super slow and you have another class to get to. Point being, rarely does a class actually feel like 25 minutes. (27-29 if you’re me. I can NEVER finish at 25.)

Completely opposite reactions to the same reward is totally normal.

I love doing rewards! Some teacher don’t like them, or they don’t even bother with them. But I must say, I love matching rewards to the student’s interests–once you find out what they like–or matching to the lesson topic. I like creating rewards too. As it turns out, sometimes I am much more excited about the reward than the student. There are some students who just do not smile. They show no emotion despite the reward, whatever it may be. And that’s OK. Because the next kid you show that reward to is going to love it. I’m always curious to see the reactions. You never know what to expect.