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Teach with VIPKidNearly 600 Teachers from 42 States attended the conference that celebrated connections and cultural exchange.
The VIPKid teacher community celebrated its sixth (can you believe it’s been six already?) Journey conference in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. It was the biggest showing yet, with nearly 600 teachers attending from 42 states!
The enthusiasm, passion, and energy of the attendees was palpable from the start, but reached even greater heights when VIPKid Co-Founder and CEO, Cindy Mi gave her ever-inspiring keynote address – a speech that leaves us feeling empowered, excited and slightly emotional every time. She spoke about connections and cultural exchange, explaining how these inspired her to start VIPKid:
“Growing up I felt empowered having a connection to the bigger world as I learned a new language. This is part of the magic that you as teachers bring to VIPKid. Each and every one of you helps bridge cultural connections for your students.” – Cindy Mi
Speaking on the fact that over five million classes are now taking place per month, Cindy views these interactions as having an impact reaching far beyond just the classroom:
“Access to the global classroom has enabled learning and cultural connections at a historically unprecedented scale” – Cindy Mi
“My favorite moments of Journey are really just seeing how what we are doing is impacting the world and impacting other teachers and their families … it really is invigorating to be here.” – Lauren Snider
Journey featured introductory remarks from Christopher Powers, Executive Director, TESOL International Association and keynote speeches from Jun Liu, Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer and SEVP of VIPKid and Zak Dychtwald, author of Young China and Founder of Young China Group. The day was filled with opportunities for teachers to engage and learn. Attending the day-long conference meant teachers embraced their inner student through breakout sessions on navigating the online classroom, improving student learning outcomes, understanding the business of VIPKid, and learning about Chinese culture.
Shannon Mabry, a longtime teacher on the VIPKid platform from Georgia who has met no fewer than several hundred other VIPKid teachers (who said teaching online means having no colleagues?) at all six Journey Conferences she has attended, likened the event to a meeting of the online and offline world:
“One of the things I love about Journey is being able to make the physical world and the online world meet.” – Shannon Mabry
And Lauren Snider, another teacher from the platform who made the trip in from Pennsylvania, reflected beautifully on the global classroom that she has found herself a part of:
Now, as we get back into our routine, remove the final remnants of orange glitter from our hair and reflect on a great conference (and admittedly start thinking of the next one), we want to share with the entire community a reminder of what Cindy said during her speech:
“The teacher community, is our top priority and we could not have grown to where we are today without the enthusiasm and dedication from all of you. Thank you so much again for everything that you do!” – Cindy Mi
Looking ahead to the next Journey with 2020 vision – see you soon!
