english teacher

english as a second language teacher

teacher

VIPKid

I worked for VIPKID for a little over 4 months. At first, I was very excited as the company seemed to provide a great experience for both teacher and students.  The PowerPoint presentations we used seemed colourful and kid friendly (minus the millions of mistakes and content that did not make any sense).  I got to meet some really great students in this time, and I had many regular students booking me every week.  You will get a lot of "bad" students too, so be prepared to get frustrated.  

I hated when I had to wait 15-25 minutes in the classroom for a student to show up, yet if I didn't show up for a legitimate reason, I was penalized.  During November and December, I reduced my hours to the minimum because I suffered a pinched nerve and was not well, but I tried to show up to the majority of my classes.  By December, I went over the allowed # of cancellations and no-shows, so they cancelled my last 2 classes, and just sent me a letter that I have been terminated.  I was unable to write back in fresh desk, so I replied to the email directly to explain my situation, but did not get a response.  I at least wanted the chance to say goodbye to my most dedicated student who came a very long way from the very first time he started.  This showed me that they do not care for their teachers, but definitely not for their students either.  I care about my students success, and I felt so bad when they cancelled my final class with that student.  I would have at least said my goodbyes and praised him for his remarkable progress.  However,VIPKID likes to make money more than having it's students learn. It is a business, not a school.   In fact, I have seem short video excerpts of some teachers (who are probably not qualified teachers) that act like clowns. I had high reviews each time that I was reviewed by VIPKID, and then I was terminated.  It makes no sense.  

I have over 15 years of teaching experience, and I think I would rather spend my extra time with my family and loved ones rather than with a company that doesn't respect me.

I’ve worked for VIP for just under a year. It was slow at the start getting students but things started picking up as my time continued. You definitely have to be an entertainer and a teacher with this job. You are going against and competing with literally thousands of other teachers.  I am a full-time teacher but I was able to make just under $21,000 with this job so I am definitely not complaining. To do this I basically worked 7 days a week for 3 hours a day. 

That being said the per class amount you get is just so so. Before, they had said that they would re-negotiate your salary after you have taught for one year and only if you met certain requirements (for example, you have to have taught a certain number of classes within the year, you have to have missed no less than three classes within that year, etc). I was told by them that now they do not adjust your salary and what you make on your first day as a base salary will be the same no matter how long or how well you do with them.  That is very frustrating.

 The bottom line is this: if you are a skilled, energetic teacher who doesn’t mind getting up early or staying up late at night then it is a good side job. I would not recommend this as a full-time employment, however. 

I've worked for 3 different online ESL teaching companies since Dec.2018 and VIPKid is the only company I still have remained with and will continue to do so. Although the salary is lower than the other two companies I worked for, there is a certainty regarding what is expected of teachers, the supports available to teachers, many opportunities to advance in teaching qualifications, and a payment framework that is consistent, accurate, and on time. This wasn't true with the other two companies I worked for (one company had a confusing management style that created errors in payment, schedules, and teacher expectations. The other company had poor management-teacher and management-parent communication - what they told teachers vs. what they told parents, at times was contradictory - and unfair payment methods that penalized teachers to the extreme extent). For VIPKid, there are many more pluses compared to minuses with VIPKid in comparison to the other two companies I worked for.

This company started out great, you make your own hours and work from the comfort of your home. It's a bit tough to make any decent money from them AND have a social life as you'll have to be working on China time zone.
Then I started to see some flaws in the companies professionalism and how they treat their employees. You are not allowed to call in sick. If you are under the weather and cannot muster the energy to be high level, silly and goofy with the children you have two options - cancel the class and take a $10USD deduction per class missed (and you are only allowed 5 cancellations per contract term). Or suck it up and teach the class, but if you get a negative feedback from a parent, you will also get penalized and potentially loose money from that as well.

I have been working for VIPKIDS for the past few months and I love it.  You get to stay at home and work in your pajamas.  There is a great Facebook community of fellow teachers for support and the students are very cute and fun to teach.  You also get to learn a little bit about China from your students.  It's very rewarding and alot of fun.  

The interview process can be quite difficult therefore you need to really prepare for the mock interviews.  Strong internet connection is also important because you get dinged or poor ratings from parents if your internet connection is not strong.

I had a really bad experience applying for this company.

I passed the initial demo then I booked the first demo class after which I was asked to book a second demo and I had gotten a really good feedback with some minor issues like using less full English sentences etc. I even got a Congrats email asking me to book second mock interview.

When I logged in to schedule a second mock class, I got a message your account has been locked. I then emailed the technical team and after a day I got an email saying, "You have failed the mock class and we apologize for the mixed messages".

So unprofessional for such a big organization, initially they should have sent an email themselves instead of giving "mixed messages". I'm so shocked if I had not emailed the technical team they would not have bothered to even let me know.

The selection and interview process was great. The online classroom was great and worked well. 

The process the become a teacher was supported and understandable.

Once you became a teacher however there was no support and they do not provide any help to get classes booked. 

I reached out multiple times and the only suggestions they made were to open more slots in a standard email with a list of 'tips and tricks' to get bookings. This did not change the situation and after 23days of open slots they still provided no help to match students with new teachers.

Do NOT expect a certain amount of teaching or salary per month. It is not guaranteed!

I put HOURS of my own time into VIPKid. I made a great intro video, obtained as many certifications as I could, obtained TEOSL basic and advanced, and read VIPKid blogs. I am a good teacher - great in fact - but I could not get enough bookings. I waited patiently - I am in my 8th month now - but... still not nearly enough bookings. I wrote to the company three times, but they didn't seem to care. I felt alone and under valued by VIPKid. They have tens of thousands of teachers, so why would they care about me? I don't like that kind of culture. I recently closed all my open slots and took a job with a local tutoring company. My experience with VIPKid was a total waste of time. I am hugely disappointed.

Pros:
- High hourly wage
- Pick your own hours
- Virtually no prep involved
- Great students
- Meaningful work
- Low stress
- Work from home (no commuting!)
- Work from anywhere there's an internet connection (Going out of town to visit mom & dad for a few days?  Work from their place if you like!)

Cons:
- Early morning work - depending on which time zone you're in, this can range from being so-so to really awful (I'm in EST, which means peak teaching times for me are 6-10 am)
- No benefits
- Very strict teacher attendance policy (you need to stay healthy)
- It may take some time to build a regular student base and become fully booked (the hours are not guaranteed)

Interview process takes 10 days with no compensation. I spent a lot of time and money on collecting materials, practicing for the interview and reading information. They also recommend that you watch a lot of videos. After reading the material and watching videos, you have to take a quiz, then 2 more mock teaching lessons, which are really interviews. I was told I was hired then I was terminated after the 2nd "mock lesson" /interview. It was very heart-breaking and costly. I spent over $100, which considering that I did not get a job, was also disheartening.

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