Teachers tips

It’s no secret that if a VIPKID teacher refers another teacher, they earn $100 per successful referral. VIPKID is a rapidly growing online English teaching platform that serves over 500,000 Chinese students. This number is always growing; I have new students sign up for classes every other day. Since the demand for classes is so high, VIPKID is always looking to hire qualified teachers (those with a bachelor’s degree and an American or Canadian accent). VIPKID outsources the recruiting and orientation process to their current teachers because who better knows how to teach with VIPKID than the teachers themselves? Referring teachers are expected to help their referrals through the entire process, step-by-step. For our time and effort, VIPKID gives us $100 per successful referral (the teacher MUST teach classes with VIPKID to get your incentive). Many teachers choose to forgo this option and stick to solely teaching. For the first year that I taught with VIPKID, I didn’t put any effort into orienting new teachers. As a veteran teacher, I am shifting my focus a bit. I still teach 28 hours per week, but I also want to help others find this company and start their remote careers as well. In an effort to spread the word about VIPKID, I posted a few links to my social media accounts. Unfortunately, this didn’t produce any results. It isn’t as easy as slapping links and a quick description of the company onto your social media sites and crossing your fingers.

I’m sure you’re wondering what the heck I mean by this. Of course, you know how to count on your fingers. Well, believe it or not, students in China actually count on their fingers DIFFERENTLY than we do in America. In the video below, I show you exactly how to count on your fingers the Chinese way. In my opinion, it is very helpful to know how to count with your fingers the way the Chinese way because many young students are still learning how to count. Using the proper signs will help them understand the numbers in English. I also use these numbers to help me teach the question, “how old are you?” I’ve found that many beginner students don’t understand this question. To help them understand what I’m asking, I typically say, “how old are you?” If they don’t respond, I say, “are you.. five years old? Or six years old? Or nine years old?” while showing them the different number signs on my hand. Nine times out of ten, the student will pick up on what you are asking if you use these number signs.

One of my favorite games to use in my VIPKID classroom is called the phonics game… I invented that super clever name all by myself, can you tell? The phonics slide game has helped me teach my students how to blend words and has helped their pronunciation as well. It also helps me keep my students’ attention; the phonics slide is typically placed around the 16-minute mark of each class. This is prime time for the student to lose interest. Use this game to rope them back in. Check out the video below to learn how to play the phonics game with your student: In most cases, your students will be able to blend words easily and independently. Playing the phonics game will be possible because they already know how to blend these words and it just adds a little fun to the lesson.