teaching – Jen Holtkamp

Last fall, I started teaching English online with VIPKID (this is partially the reason this blog was neglected for a few months!) If you’ve ever job searched online, you’ve seen postings for online English teachers. There are quite a few companies and I kind of always thought they were scams. A friend in our ward has been with VIPKID for a few years and assured me it’s not a scam and now that I’m a teacher with them I can also assure you it’s a legit and great way to earn extra income.

My favorite thing about it is the flexibility! There’s not a minimum of required hours or classes so I set my schedule. I open my time slots between 8:30-11 pm after the kids go to sleep. I still play soccer on Thursdays and Fridays so if I have a late game, I can adjust my schedule.

I also love teaching the kids. I work with the older kids, they are usually between 8-12. Most all of them take English in school and have been studying for a few years so they have a good background. Most all the kids I’ve taught have been excited about learning and are well behaved.

Things to know about getting hired at VIPKID:

-You need a Bachelor’s degree

-You need to be eligible to work in the US or Canada

-You need at least a year of previous teaching experience (not necessarily teaching English. It can be tutoring, coaching, etc)

-You need to be a native English speaker

-You need a computer, internet access, working camera and microphone (I use this headset)

Things to know about working with VIPKID:

-Each class is 25 minutes long, one on one with the student.

–All the lessons are prepared for you! There are about 25-30 slides you go through with the student. All the slides have instructions that only the teacher sees.

-After each class, you write feedback.

-You are paid a base pay, plus a base for each completed class. There are more incentives as well. My base pay is $8 per class. The base pays range between $7-$9 per class. The base pay is determined by your trial class during the application. Teachers are paid every month.

-Part of the application process is teaching a trial demo class (to a VIPKID teacher acting as a student or film yourself teaching an invisible student).

-VIPKID has a mobile and desktop app which make it easy to check your schedule, see information about the student and preview the lesson.

-During the lessons, there is always tech support who they call Firemen. They are always available to help with technical issues (for example your microphone, camera, if the student can’t hear you, etc).

-VIPKID utilizes “TPR” which means ‘total physical response’. This method uses hand gestures in coordination with language teaching. A simple example, is pointing to your eye while saying the word ‘see’.

-Students earn rewards (5 stars) and teacher use reward systems they create, here’s some examples of ones I’ve made:

VIPKID reward chart

-Lessons are not guaranteed. You may go a while when you’re first hired with open time slots and no booked lessons. It took me about 2 months before I started getting regular and more consistent bookings.

Teaching English online VIPKID

The Bottom Line:

If you meet all the requirements, enjoy teaching and working with kids and need a flexible schedule, VIPKID is for you! It’s not enough income to pay a mortgage but it’s a great wage especially since there’s no lesson prep on your part.

I’ve tried to address all the questions I had when I was applying and when I first started teaching. Overall, VIPKID is a great program with awesome students! It’s been a great way for me to make a little income, connect with students and not have to leave my house or kids since they are asleep when I’m teaching. If you’re interested in applying, start here!

My referral code is ‘JENNI1230’ or you can click any of the links above.

Ever since having the opportunity to learn Spanish on my mission, I knew I wanted to teach my future children Spanish. I love the language and cultures of the many Spanish speaking countries around the world.

There’s been lots of back and forth research as to exactly what the benefits may be, but one that is known is that it’s easier for a child to learn a second language early on than later in life. Our hope for raising bilingual kids was that they would be able to understand and converse in both English and Spanish and eventually would be able to attend a bilingual (dual immersion) school. We would love in years down the road to be able to take out kids back to Paraguay and Guatemala and have them be able to understand and language and be exposed to cultures we loved on our missions.

The main concern we’ve heard is that they will be confused with two languages or won’t know English. Language development is different with every child and most little kids will often get English words confused or conjugate verbs incorrectly. Some people have thought our kids don’t speak English (because they know we speak Spanish). That isn’t the case however. There have been times our kids are shy or don’t want to talk but it has nothing to do with the fact that they are learning two languages.

We’ve made a decent effort to speak to both Brent and Tessa. Brent speaks more English in general, for example if we ask him something in Spanish, he will usually reply in English or sometimes Spanglish. He goes to an all English preschool, church and doesn’t have any kid friends who speak Spanish. Both kids understand Spanish and Spanish kid TV programs. When they talk to each other, they usually speak in English with some Spanish words. Neither has mastered Spanish verbs, which is more advanced in most languages than nouns.

The two most important factors for us are starting early and consistency. Since English is our native language it took a little getting used to speaking to a brand new baby in Spanish. Once we got in the habit, it’s been pretty easy to keep it up. When children are young like our kids (4 and 2), they love learning new words, reading books and learning about the world in general. We try and speak Spanish to them as much as possible at home and in public. We don’t teach both words but rather just the Spanish word. They pick up English words just as monolingual kids do since they are exposed to both languages (verbal, written, TV, other people, etc). While we haven’t been 100% consistent, I feel like we’ve seen the benefits of our efforts.

It has been really fun and interesting to see them learn and develop in both languages. I love listening to their Spanish words and hope to be consistent enough that it will stick with them.

raising bilingual children