VIPKID

Have you ever thought about being a VIPKID Teacher? Do you even know what VIPKID is? Although teaching full-time and being on TeachersPayTeachers brought in money, with the excessive amount of student loan debt I have, I was in need of even another job. I discovered VIPKID, talk to a few teachers who have done it, and decided to give it a try.

While going through the process, I had a lot of questions, and was constantly googling the answers. I decided to keep a log of my experience to help those who are wondering about VIPKID. This log should help you get a better understanding of what VIPKID is, the process to become a VIPKID teacher, and the benefits of it! If you are looking for a mentor, or have any questions at all, feel free to email me at cuomolexi@gmail.com and I am happy to help, no matter where you are in your VIPKID journey.

Please click my referral code if you plan to join, and enjoy reading about my journey.

Sunday, July 30th
"I thought about applying for VIPKID"

Today, I was a victim of Facebook advertisement when my attention was diverted from the cute dog pictures my friend was posting, to a job that paid me "Earn up to $22 an hour to teach!" I am a teacher, I need money, how hard could it be? This was the first day I thought about VIPKID. When the advertisement caught my eye, my interest cautiously increased. I love teaching kids, and teaching Chinese kids how to speak English sounded fun, but working for a company that was not American made me nervous. What did I do? I reached out to someone who commented in the Facebook Ad who works for VIPKID and was offering to help. I messaged them, was told it was a great job, then got overwhelmed at the thought of working for a Chinese Company and threw in the towel.


Sunday, September 24th
"I researched VIPKID"

Today, I went to pay my bills. Pursuing a career in teaching, I always knew that I would never be rich, but today was rough. I had been teaching summer school all summer and was sitting comfortable for a while, but now that those paychecks have come and gone, my stress of a small salary with big students loans came back. I needed to find a way to make money but had flexible hours. I thought back on VIPKID and instantly thought because on "$22 an hour" then thought back on working for a foreign company. This is when I took my second step in becoming a VIPKID teacher and Googled the company. This is what I found:

1) Forbes Top 5 Work From Home Company 
     Forbes is one of the most respected business magazines in America and worldwide. They ranked VIPKID #5 on the top work from home companies.

Read the article here

2) Glassdoor Gave it Four Out of Five Stars
      For those of you who don't know, Glassdoor is a business oriented website for employees to rank their employers. No one pays these employees to do this. This website is meant for potential employees to see right through the "glass door" and learn about the company from the people who already work there. Any of you who have held any sort of job know that no job is perfect and that when asked to rate a job, you are likely to be critical. Receiving a 4 out 5 stars is a high ranking from glassdoor. When you read the reviews from Glassdoor you see that most employees love the job, like the company, and enjoy the flexible hours. Although there are some complaints about the company, like there is for all jobs, this company seems to have strong support from its employees.

Visit Glassdoor here 

3) Other Teachers Love it
        As an active teacher, I am part of many Facebook groups for teachers to support each other. These include TpT groups, AP History Teacher groups, and many more. When researching VIPKID and I wanted to speak directly to other people who work for the company, without going through a website and reading their reviews. After talking to many people in both groups, I discovered these three things:
1) The positive reviews given from employees on websites about VIPKID were legit.
2) VIPKID pays well and has flexible hours, like it claims
3) VIPKID is a safe company to work for.

After all the hours of research and debating, I finally decided to bite the bullet and apply. Thus, my journey continued.


Monday, September 25th
"I applied to VIPKID"

I applied to VIPKID and was moved on to the next round.

The day you apply to VIPKID can be stressful. If you do your research you realize that when you apply a computer will decide if you qualify based on key words in your resume. After hearing this, I worked on my resume for hours. Then when it came time to upload my resume, the application asked me for my current employment. I submitted the one section of my resume that describe my current teaching position, hit submit, thinking I was going to be moved on to another screen. That's all it took, I was accepted. I wasted hours working on my full resume, all they wanted was my current experience, and because I was a teacher, I was accepted.

To apply, click here 

Wednesday, September 27th
"I filmed my Mock Lesson"

Today I filmed my Mock Lesson. I had two options when it came time for the mock lesson, I could either have a live interview with someone from the company and then do a mock lesson, or I could submit a mock lesson filmed on my own. I was very nervous at this point and decided to film the lesson on my own and guess what, I passed on the first round!! This is how I passed:

1) I read over the mock lesson multiple times, and took notes on what I should do.
         The lesson will ask you to say certain things and to instruct students to say and do certain things. I practiced so I was able to accomplish all the goals of the lesson.

2) I watched YouTube videos of people teaching the same exact lesson.
      This is actually not recommended by VIPKID. There are many VIPKID teachers that will record Mock Lessons to help you understand how to teach them. I found this helpful because it helped me with pacing of the lesson, how slow to speak, and how much energy to show. VIPKID does not recommend watching them because sometimes teachers don't do everything correct (because they are human). My recommendation would be to look at the comments below the video. If people watched the video and they passed, they will go back and thank the teacher. If they watched the video and do pay, they pay leave advice for the teacher.

3) I practiced, practiced, and practiced.
       I filmed myself running my lesson about 4 times. I did this so I could feel confident and work out the kinks. This was probably the most important thing I did because, even as an experienced teacher, I had a lot of kinks. The first time I filmed I knocked down my lamp in the middle of the lesson! I then knew not to have it positioned there.

4) I used lot of props and made my own reward system.
      All little kids love toys and VIPKID knows that props help keep students interested in lessons. I used a lot of props because it showed that I wanted to really engage the student and put thought into the lesson, which showed I really wanted the job. I also made my own rewards system, to show, again, that I put a lot of thought into the mock lesson, that I was creative, and that I really wanted the job.

5) I smiled a lot and had a lot of energy.
       I had a lot of energy and did not stop smiling during my lesson. A smile is contagious and this is what they want to see. On the feedback I got after my mock, they commented on how they liked how much I smiled.

6) I made a backdrop.
      I wanted "my classroom" to seem inviting, so I made a back drop that looked so. I did this by going to the dollar store, buying some pretty borers, adding some flowers and some good lighting.

About 5 hours after I submitted my mock lesson I was emailed saying I passed and to move on to the next step.

Friday, September 30th

"The Quiz"

After you pass the mock lesson you must take the VIPKID quiz. This quiz is designed to get you to read the protocols for VIPKID and to understand how the company works and your role in it. You can take this as many times as you want. I suggest sitting and reading the information they ask you to read, then open a new tab for the quiz, while keeping the reading tab open so you can double check your answers. Many people will not even read the information first, but I found it helpful understanding what I was about to get myself into. 

**I have officially become a VIPKID Teacher and will continue to update this blog to explain, step by step, how I passed everything on the first try. If you would like more information right away email me at cuomolexi@gmail.com**