Happy 2021! We know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath to hear how many teachers have used the Practice Room since its launch in October. We’re excited to reveal that the answer is 66,749 teachers! A huge congrats to Krista BAS, Rebecca FNH, and Bonnie BAF, who were the three teachers who guessed closest. You’ve each won a swag pack!
We’re kicking things off this year with a ton of exciting updates—it’s officially time to start preparing for Lunar New Year!
A note from Jessie Chen as we start the new year
As we begin 2021, Jessie Chen, VIPKid’s Co-Founder, wanted to share her reflections from the last year and what we can look forward to in 2021.
Read Jessie’s letter here.
If you find yourself wondering “what’s going on in China?”, this monthly desktop calendar is perfect for you! For each month of 2021, the Six Apple Program will provide you with a desktop calendar featuring a Dino doodle, important dates in China and the USA/Canada (you choose your version), and VIPKid events.
Head to your Six Apple page and click the green calendar under the "Lifestyle and Local Discounts" section to get the January calendar! Just download the image, then set it as your desktop background.
We’d like to remind all teachers to press the “Finish Class” button before exiting the Major Course classroom. After each New Major Course lesson, students participate in a 15-minute pre-recorded review class with three other students. Hitting the "Finish Class" button is what triggers the recorded review class to begin for your student, which creates a smoother classroom experience for students and parents.
Thank you in advance!
If you hover over the “Class” tab in your Teacher Portal, then click “Bookings” → “Booking Requests,” you’ll see a new button called “Request Records”. Clicking this button will show you all of the Booking Requests, Monthly Booking Requests, and Monthly Reservations you’ve received within the past three months, as well as what action you took for each of these requests.
We hope this helps you manage your schedule more easily! Click here for more information.
For the entire month of January, you can earn tokens for attending the following workshops: “Mastering the Art of Teaching “Regular” Students”, “Tick-Tock! Time Management”, “TPR & Demonstration: Key to Student Retention”, “Student Engagement”, and “Writing Effective Feedback”. All attendees will be assigned 20 tokens each.
If you are within your first 60 days as a VIPKid teacher, you can receive 10 tokens each by attending the "New Teacher Kick-Off: Getting Started" and "New Teacher Kick-Off: Teaching Strategies" workshops.
Please note that multiple attendances for the same topic will only be counted once.
Click here to register for a workshop!
What is the difference between Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, and Spring Festival?
When does Lunar New Year fall this year, and when do school holidays begin and end?
What will happen to my bookings?
How should I celebrate with my students?
For the answers to these commonly asked questions, check out our Lunar New Year hub! This page will be updated regularly with videos, resources, downloadables, and more, so go ahead and bookmark it so you don’t miss out! You'll also be able to find this link in every Weekly Teacher Update until the holiday ends.
We are so excited that we are officially in 2021!
The theme for January Meetups (and into February) is Lunar New Year, which falls on February 12 this year. To celebrate, we are going to be having an Ox Dino sweepstake! Five lucky winners will be receiving the exclusive VIPKid Ox Dino. This sweepstake will be in addition to our regular monthly Meetup sweepstakes.
Here are the details:
1. Host or attend a Virtual Meetup between January 1 and February 12 to be entered into the sweepstake and make sure to get checked in through the mobile app.
2. Winners will be announced in the Weekly Teacher Update in February and contacted via email about receiving their Ox Dino!
Here are some ideas to celebrate virtually:
Host a lantern- or New Year couplet-making Meetup to help decorate your classroom
Check out the downloadable resources in the Library (new resources are coming soon!)
Share ideas on how to celebrate Lunar New Year with your students in the classroom
Check out the new Community Events page that is updated weekly to reflect all upcoming events and Meetups! If you aren’t seeing a Virtual Meetup that works for you, you can also host your own!
Our Teacher Service and Support Teams are always keeping a pulse on what's trending in the community
In this Weekly Update section, we’re digging deeper into issues affecting teachers within the last week and providing clarity whenever possible.
Click here to see our responses to the following trending topics on our homepage:
1. Reports of Sound Issues in the Online Classroom
2. Reminder: Update your iPad App by January 6 (Beijing Time)
