My Experience with VIPKID after a Full Year of Teaching
This week I hit an anniversary that I never really thought would happen. Over a year ago I first heard about VIPKID and honestly I dismissed it pretty quickly. It sounded a lot like a scam and I was in need of a “real” job. Honestly the gig sounded like it would be a pretty good fit for me, but all of it sounded a little too good to be true, not to mention exhausting. $14-$22 an hour, working from home and early hours. Something kept pulling me back to the application though. I read every online review I could find, talked with another teacher and with my Mom. Eventually I decided, why not give it a try. The worst that could happen is it be a scam and me have a few wasted hours. A year later, I’ve signed my third contract with VIPKID, taught over 1300 twenty-five minute classes and met more than 500 different students from China. Best of all, I still love this job!
What is it actually like to teach English over the internet?
In the first couple months working with VIPKID I also tried working with a few other companies but in my experience VIPKID is the company that has the best teacher support and my favorite curriculum so they are the one that I have stuck with and the one I will be talking about today. That being said, although this job is wonderful and I love it so much, this job is NOT for everyone. There are ton of perks like teaching from home, planning your own hours, etc… but if you are not prepared for the other parts it can become a very frustrating job. Today I wanted to talk about a few things to keep in mind when you are thinking of working for a company like VIPKID!
Working with a Chinese Company
Something a lot of new teachers get mixed up with and have a lot of misunderstandings with is the fact that they are not working for an American company, this means that VIPKID does not necessarily always have the same policies or practices that a similar American company might have. This means that sometimes some things can occasionally seem unfair if you don’t remember this detail, but also keep in mind that they are running a company from the opposite side of the world so some policies are simply so they can manage so many teachers all the way from China while their teachers work from home in America and Canada.
There also is a cultural difference that can be a huge if you are not prepared for it. The Chinese tend to be very blunt. They are generally very forward and will not dance around an issue to save someone’s feelings. This actually can be really nice in a business setting but only if you are prepared for it ahead of time.
In the year that I’ve worked with VIPKID though I have seen them grow a lot especially in helping their teachers out. They send out weekly updates listing everything from what is going on in the company, tips and tricks for teaching or getting booked, special incentives or contests that are now available and updates to policies and resources. I’m always impressed with how VIPKID is constantly trying to improve the teacher experience by listening to suggestions from teachers and then either taking suggestions or at least addressing different concerns.
What is the job like?
One of the biggest advantages to working with a company like VIPKID is that it gives you the freedom to open which ever time slots work best for you between 9:00am and 10:00pm Beijing time. During those hours you can open as many or few as you would like. Parentsin China then will book lessons with teachers of their choice in their choice of the time slots that the teacher has made available. Teachers are advised to open time slots four weeks in advanced so parents can see what is available, but parents are unable to book classes further than two weeks in advanced.
Once a class is booked a teacher will be able to view the class’s powerpoint and become familiar with the material. Classes are taught in an online classroom with a powerpoint filled with the lesson’s material, a video feed of the teacher and child and a chat box. The above illustration shows the basic set-up of a what the classroom looks like. Lessons last 25-28 minutes allowing enough time to open the next classroom if you have classes booked back-to-back. After a lesson you have 12 hours to fill out a short feedback to the parents and the next teacher about how the child did during the lesson. The feedback can be brief or detailed as you want mostly just to let the parents know how their child is doing and making sure that the next teacher is aware of anything specific to the child.
During lessons, teachers follow the set lesson from the curriculum that clearly outlines what the child is supposed to learn throughout the lesson. Teachers are given the freedom to teach the material and work their way through the lesson in their own teaching styles. They are encouraged to use props, puppets, white boards, rewards, songs, etc… This help create a fun environment that makes the child’s experience both educational and
entertaining.
Payment
Teachers are paid once a month for the previous months classes by direct deposit between the 10th and 15th. Teachers receive their base pay per class taught and at least half pay for students who don’t show up for their scheduled class. Teachers can also earn up to a two dollar bonus per class as well as bonus’ for new students or teachers that sign-up with VIPKID. In addition, VIPKID frequently has fun incentives that allow teachers who participate to win or earn even more. Teachers will not get paid for classes they do not attend, cancel or have major IT problems with. In the year that I’ve taught with VIPKID I have never had a problem with being paid the correct amount that I’ve earned. VIPKID has also been very religious about making sure that they correct any monetary mistake that they have made as soon as they can.
Common Complaints from Other VIPKID Teachers
Like I said above, VIPKID is not the perfect job and there are definitely some common complaints that teachers have about working with them. Most seem to stem from teachers misunderstanding their contracts and the misunderstanding what being a contract worker means versus an employee. Fully understanding the policies and contract can solve a lot of problems that new teachers run into.
One of the biggest complaints that VIPKID teachers have is the cancelation policy. Because VIPKID’s business is completely dependent on teachers showing up for classes than it makes it necessary for them to have a fairly strict cancelation/no-show policy. Parents choose their child’s teachers and will frequently find their favorites and then always try to book those teachers around their very busy schedules. This leaves a very disappointed parent and sad student when a teacher doesn’t show up for class. Despite this, VIPKID still allows 6 cancelations/no-shows per 6-month contract (these are meant to cover accidentally missing a class, minor sicknesses, minor emergencies and other preventable cancelations). These 6 cancelations/no-shows do not include teacher IT problems (internet problems, weather disasters, power outages, etc…) as long as you can provide sufficient proof that you were trying everything on your end to attend. (screen shots, short video clips, notes from power companies or news stories) The 6 cancelations/no-shows also do not include actual emergencies like deaths/funerals, ER visits, going into labor, etc. as long as you can provide sufficient proof that it was an actual emergency.
Another common complaint that teachers have is that VIPKID requires a lot to proof when teachers try to get a cancelation or no-show invalidated which can sometimes feel like a breech of privacy. VIPKID is running a company with over 20,000 contracted teachers from the opposite side of the world so unfortunately they can’t afford to just take everyone’s word without some form of reliable proof. The more official the document and larger number of different sources generally will make it more likely that emergencies will not count it towards the 6 cancelation/no-shows. That being said, there will be occasionally times that they still won’t be able to accept the proof that is provided in which case a teacher can end up with a cancelation or no-show that doesn’t seem fair. But a good rule of thumb is to give more proof than you could ever think they would need and generally things will go smoothly.
Another complaint that I’ll cover is that information can sometimes be a little inconsistent or sometimes contradictory. This is sometimes true. The company has grown extremely quickly and they’ve had to frequently change policies, rules and guidelines to meet the various needs. Unfortunately this means that it is common for teachers to have different information about different policies and for there even to be occasional contradictory information on the websites. The best policy for teachers is to be familiar with their contract, teacher guidelines and then read the weekly updates which provide the most reliable information to teachers. If you have any specific questions you can send in a ticket they are good about getting back to you and answering each of your questions and correcting wrong information on their website.
One last complaint is that it can be a very slow process to start getting booked. After a teacher is hired it is a little hit or miss whether or not they will start getting fully booked the week they start or it will be a very slow start with few to no bookings their first couple months. This is again due to the fact that parents get to choose their teachers. The booking department will generally try to help new teachers with this by booking trial lessons with them, but there is no guarantee that teachers will get booked. Most teachers tend to have a slow first couple of months but I know of very few teachers who were not completely booked with full schedules within a few months as long as they were patient and did everything they could to make sure their profiles were correctly filled out and inviting. The best advice to new teachers is mostly to just be patient, the bookings will come.
Getting Hired
Unfortunately, the hiring process at this point is a little hit or miss. Applicants need any kind of bachelors degree and then teaching experience (ESL experience and experience teaching children is best). After being approved in the initial application, applicants go through an interview and then two mock classes. If they pass these steps they will be able to sign their first 6 month contract and begin teaching. Where a lot of disappointment comes in is when applicants will be led to believe that if their interview goes well they are hired. Unfortunately, they also have to pass the two mock classes that they teach to evaluators and it is still possible to fail the mock classes(the evaluators are not always consistent in their evaluations of mock classes). The good news though, is if you don’t get hired the first time you apply you can apply again within a few months. I’m sure VIPKID will be working on making the hiring process a little more consistent in the coming months.
In Conclusion
To finish up this super long post I’d mostly just like to say despite it’s difficulties, odd hours and sometimes miscommunication VIPKID has become an amazing part of my life. Teaching these children is one of the most rewarding things and VIPKID has given me the opportunity to do so in the easiest and simplest way possible. They continue to reach out to their teachers to improve the overall experience in turn have earned my stamp of approval!
