In case you didn’t know, I am a VIPKID teacher! I just signed my second contract, meaning I have been teaching for over six months already – wow! By now, I think I have gotten the hang of things, at least I hope. There are some essential things you need once you are a VIPKID teacher, or an online teacher in general for some of the companies similar to VIPKID. Here is my Top 8 list of things you need to be a VIPKID teacher:
1. Educational Background
As you are going to be teaching, a true must is an educational background! Think back to when you were a kid in elementary school. Your classroom was decorated, probably, head to toe in letters, motivational posters, school rules, shapes, numbers, etc. There is nothing worse than sitting in a stale, empty room resembling a jail cell. While your classroom may be virtual, you still want to give an air of a real classroom. It is essential to have something fun and exciting behind you. It can be as simple as an alphabet poster or colorful map of the world, or something elaborate like a drip pan with wrapping paper and magnets covering everything. Your classroom, your rules! You also need to have your name showing visibly, i.e. Teacher Erin in block letters.
However, this is definitely something your interviewer and mock mentors will be looking for and grade you on. When I did my interview, all I had at the time was a giant map of the world behind me and I wrote out my name on a piece of paper and stuck it behind me. Voila! Now that I am teaching for VIPKIDS, I have a more elaborate background of an Alphabet poster, two white boards, and my name written out in both magnet letters and hand painted letters I got from Guatemala. It certainly isn’t the fanciest, and I am okay with that! I often get the tag “great classroom environment” so I am sticking with what works!
2. Props
This is another absolute must have when teaching! You are teaching kids via the internet. It can be hard to capture their attention if you are just lecturing them, even if you use TPR and are expressive. Props can truly enhance a lesson, and is a reason why teachers in brick and mortar classrooms also have an array of props and realia to use in class. A lesson on farm animals is that much more fun when you have little toy animals or magnets to show the students. When it is a students first trial lesson and they are scared? I throw on my silly pom-pom headband and that makes them smile/giggle and loosen up. You do not have to go overboard with these things (although it is easy to do! There are so many cool things out there!). I have animal, dinosaur, cars & planes, and Disney magnets that I use for lessons and for rewards (double whammy!). I have a play set of food and some puppets and stuffed animals, and that is all I need really!
3. Reward Systems
Props are a perfect Segway into reward systems. A lot of the props I have can double as rewards – students just love getting ice cream scoops, or different animals incongruent with the built in stars VIPKID has. A secondary reward system is absolutely required when working with VIPKID – the kids and the parents expect this and you can receive bad feedback if you do not use them. This is another way to encourage the students and to reward them for speaking and listening in English!
I switch it up between some of the props I mentioned above, to Disney princess cutouts, to robot cutouts, to My Little Pony cutouts, etc. As you can see, cutouts tend to be a big thing. Thanks to a VIPKID Props and Rewards group. I am in on Facebook, I have gotten some great rewards to print, laminate, and cutout for my rewards. I highly recommend it it, as new ones are constantly being added! It is a great way to shake things up. I also like to use different rewards for the holidays – build a turkey for Thanksgiving, find the stars in a set of Christmas pictures. My all time favorite has been ordering Red Pockets super cheap on Amazon and filling them with $! I have leftover yuan/RMB from China and put a 5 up to 100 in pockets. I also put USD in different pockets too – $1 to $100. I assigned each packet a number, wrote numbers on my dry erase board and asked them to pick a number every time they did well. The kids absolutely LOVED it. They would get bummed when they picked $1 or 5 RMB and they would freak out when they got 50 or 100. Definitely my favorite award system by far!
4. Headset
A headset is also a requirement according to VIPKID. Now this is where some teachers differ however. VIPKID wants you to have a headset with microphone. Those iPhone headphones you have will not cut it. However, as I mentioned before some teachers do not really listen to this – whether they don’t want to buy a headset or they hurt their ears, etc. Just know, if there are ever. TI issues when it comes to sound, there is a good possibility it will be blamed on you if you do not have a proper headset and microphone. It is really frustrating when it is required for teachers but not for students, I get it though. I got a pair for $20 of Logitech headphones from Amazon that mute because I cough, drink coffee, search for props in-between lessons and don’t want to be overheard if my student is already in the classroom. Just don’t forget to unmute yourself…which I tend to do at least once a week!
5. Stable Internet
There are no ifs, ands, or buts abut this one. Obviously you are teaching online and you must have stable internet connection in order to work for VIPKID. They have a requirement of at least 20mbp download speed. They also require you to be plugged in via Ethernet cable – something that is becoming more and more difficult as laptops are doing away with those ports. Macs currently do not have them, so I pretend I am hardwired in (shh!). However, VIPKID has now created an iPad app for teachers to use, which means no plugged-in connection, so the Ethernet requirement may change. Currently, only laptops, desktops, and iPads are supported – no Samsung tabs or other knockoff iPads and absolutely no phones! Believe me, once when I was trying to avoid an IT problem and I tried logging into the class and nothing would load. The Fireman, the people who help out with classroom issues, knew and told me I couldn’t log on with my phone. Womp Womp.
6. Good Webcam
This goes without saying, you must absolutely have a webcam to teach and obviously it should be a good one. If you look like you are in the witness protection program because your webcam is so warbly, it is time to get a new one! Any that are built in on your laptop should be fine if it is newer or you can buy an external webcam if you prefer for better quality. Remember, these students are learning a foreign language and your mouth and your actions are really important. The students must be able to see these things in order to mimic or reproduce. I get my mouth all up in my webcam when over enunciating and they do it right back – it helps to be clear!
7. Lighting
Lighting is also extremely important when it comes to teaching, you know, so the students can see you. You don’t want to look like you are being interviewed but don’t want to give away your identity much like above. You want everything to be bright, NO shadows, and positioned so your face can clearly be seen. Overhead light is the worst light you can have due to it creating shadows across your face. I currently use my room lamp that has 5 heads on it that all shine at me and my face. It sometimes causes a glare when I hold my dry erase board up, but other than that it gets the job done. Some teachers use professional photography lighting, others use selfie light rings (yes, those exist!), do what works best for you and your computer. This is something you will be critiqued on in your interview and mock classes, so be mindful!
8. Flashcards
I cannot tell you many times I used flashcards – has to be one to two lessons a day, especially if you teach Level 2. I have alphabet flashcards, number flashcards, even shapes and color flashcards! They are great to just grab and incorporate into a lesson (hellloooo prop!) and they are obviously pretty useful when it comes to lessons. Again, you can find very cheap flashcards at Amazon, local Dollar Store, even Target. I personally think this is an essential in the classroom, however this one is not required. I got three sets from Amazon – letters, shapes/colors, and numbers and they have been one of the best purchases I have made for classes. There are a lot of free options online or you can certainly make your own if crafty!
And there you have it! My top 8 list of things you need to be an ESL teacher. There are certainly other things you can use when teaching for VIPKID and possibly some you can omit. The thing is, it is YOUR classroom, so make it how you want it.
Have questions? Let me know in the comments below! Looking to apply to VIPKID, check my link and I can help!
