VIPKID is the online ESL job I work for. The students live in China, and the teachers are either American or Canadian.
I’ve played around with several different light set ups since I started teaching online, often getting creative when I traveled and taught from other people’s houses. About a year ago I decided to make the plunge and buy proper lighting! I had started producing video content and reached out to a friend with a popular … More Lighting Problems Solved
I wish I knew more Chinese, I really do love the language. I like to run messages from the VIPkid IT staff (called the firemen as they are always busy “putting out fires” in order to allow our classes to run smoothly) through google translate. I look at the pinyin for any character I don’t … More Little Friend 小朋友
I did not even know the face swap option existed until I clicked on it by accident and suddenly my student and I were both staring at a blowup picture of my face instead of the PPT! It took us both a little by surprise. VIPkid recently officially switched from the web browser to computer … More How to use the PPT/ face swap feature in the VIPkid classroom
I have talked a little about Chinese culture, and face, in previous posts (See Communication and Cultural Understanding Writing Culturally Appropriate Parent Feedback). It is not surprising, given the cultural differences, that we might receive feedback or information in an unexpected way. When it comes to mock/ certification classes, even though these lessons are given by … More How to interpret your Mock Class/ Certification Class feedback
Burnout is a real issue among VIPkid teachers. When we first start out, we seem to think that switching to VIPkid as our main source of income means replacing all of our brick and mortar hours with VIPkid hours, meaning we are often trying to fit in 40 hours a week, or more! It’s important … More VIPkid Full Time: work life balance
After working for VIPkid for more then three years, and never having an issue with pay, I did not think much of my payment being a few days late, thinking there must be a problem processing it at my bank. I contacted VIPkid, who assured me that the payment had not been returned to them, … More Payment Problems: saved by Teacher’s Voice
When I started asking my trial students to repeat “I am happy!” at the end of class just after saying goodbye, I noticed that my conversion rate increased. Sometimes it is the smallest changes that make the biggest impact, so I asked some other teachers what small changes they had made to increase their trial … More How to increase trial conversion rates with VIPkid
Welcome to VIPkid, you have the best job ever! You no longer need to choose between work and family, YOU CAN HAVE IT ALLLLLL! Or can you? Being a working parent is not easy, and working for VIPkid is no exception, so here are some of the key things to keep in mind if you … More The parent’s survival guide to VIPkid
I have found that sometimes my microphone fades in and out on different applications. I have had issues with VIPkid’s system on and off, and have gone through three different head sets, as the tech team kept on telling me that there was a problem with my head set. I believe there is a window’s … More VIPkid sound problems
I am taking my husband, one year old, and myself to Europe for just under four months. I have not been saving up, I have not had to sell all of my belongings, and I will not be going into debt on this trip. I will be working by teaching English online for VIPkid. I … More Lighting in the VIPkid classroom: angles matter
"China" Figure it Out 