VIPKid Distance Learning Resources

Since the first school closures earlier this year and the transition from brick-and-mortar classrooms to virtual learning seemingly overnight, the VIPKid Community of online educators sprang to action. Teachers on the VIPKid platform have reached out at a grassroots level to support classroom teachers in their communities who have transitioned to distance learning and find themselves teaching online for the first time.

As towns and cities across the country make decisions about what school will look like this fall, we want to lend a hand where we can. To that end, we have curated learnings and best practices to share the unique expertise of our community of teachers who facilitate more than 200,000 online classes per day on the VIPKid learning platform.

Whether you’re new to distance learning or a seasoned veteran teacher looking to add more pizzazz to an online classroom, we’re here to help! Below are links to videos and resources compiled on the topics we’ve heard about most from schools around the country: 

Creating an Online Classroom for Distance Learning

Commonly Asked Questions about Distance Learning 

English Language Learning (ELL) Instructional Strategies 

Share these with your colleagues, friends, and neighbors, and let us know if there are other topics you’d like to know more about. 

Creating an Online Classroom for Distance Learning

Not being in the same physical location as your students have the potential to exacerbate the ‘distance’ in ‘distance learning,’ so setting the right tone for your classroom environment can have an even greater impact on feeling connected to one another. Seemingly small adjustments to your physical space and technical setup will help establish the feeling you work so hard to regularly create at school.

For additional ideas for setting up your virtual learning environment, check out these top 10 online classroom items and tips to create a cozy space on a budget.

Commonly Asked Questions about Distance Learning

Teaching through an online platform may feel more challenging, but the same tools you use in your physical classrooms are what will make you feel successful here. You go to great lengths to create a positive and supportive learning environment by building an individual connection with your students and meeting each one where they are – now you just need to tweak your expertise to accommodate your new digs.

The following video addresses the questions we hear most often from teachers transitioning to the online classroom.

How can I build rapport with students in the online classroom?

How can I help a learner who struggles to pay attention?

How do I create an effective online learning space?

English Language Learning (ELL) Instructional Strategies

Concerns about learning loss with these changes in routines and expectations are understandable, and we know there will be extra worries for our students who need additional support. VIPKid’s online learning platform connects 100,000 English teachers with 700,000 students across the world, so we’ve pulled together some specific techniques for working with ELL students in an online classroom.

Experienced teachers on the VIPKid platform outline tried and true strategies for ELL students that you can implement in an online classroom setting.

Professor Jun Liu is the Chief Academic Officer at VIPKid and President of the VIPKid Research Institute. Prior to joining the VIPKid team, Prof. Liu served as president of the largest professional organization for teachers of English, TESOL. Here he shares guidance on the types of motivational tactics we should lean upon in our strategies for English Language Learners.

Go even deeper with the ELL experts with these additional resources:

• In this TESOL Fireside Chat, Prof. Liu speaks with VIPKid Founder and CEO Cindy Mi about her vision to build a global classroom, elevate online teaching, and increase access to and equity in distance learning. He also chats with several educators on the VIPKid platform who share their perspectives, challenges, and solutions as teachers of English to speakers of other languages.
• In Total Physical Response and Physical Modeling our team provides more information on the method of teaching language or vocabulary concepts that reduces student inhibitions and lowers stress by using physical movement to react to verbal input.