Being a VIPKid teacher means that you have to learn a bunch of jargon pretty quickly. Here is a list of some of the VIPKid abbreviations and jargon that is used more often.
TNS – Teacher No Show
SNS – Student No Show
TIT – Teacher IT problem
SIT – Student IT problem
SN – Short Notice Class
B2B – Back to Back as in more than one class right after each other
T2T – Teacher to Teacher feedback
B&M or B and M – Brick and Mortar teacher. As in, you are also a teacher in a school
Priority Booking – A student that you have seen on a specific day at a specific time can priority book your class on the same day and time two weeks from that day before any other student.
Interested Student – Each teacher can have up to 15 students that choose said teacher as the teacher that they prefer. These students can book your classes before other students (presumably)
BJT – Beijing Time (12 hours ahead of EST coast time, 13 hours during daylight savings)
Frenzy – “The Frenzy” is the time at noon on Monday BJT when parents are able to book classes for the next open week
WeChat – This is the Chinese social media platform. Many teachers use it to communicate with parents
LP/Learning Partner – These are people that work for VIPKid and communicate between parents and teachers. You will sometimes hear the parents refer to them as the “head teacher”. If you have a problem with a student, you can let the LP know about it. You are very unlikely to hear back from them, but they do usually take care of the problem.
Stars – This is a reward that students earn in class for doing a good job. They are located in the classroom and you should make sure that you give all 5 stars before the end of class. If you finish the class and realize that you have not given all 5 stars, send a ticket through the support center and don’t panic! You are not the first one to do this!
Secondary reward – You should use a secondary reward system in your classroom also. This can be something like “giving” the student 2D scoops of ice cream or a plastic Dollar Store mini trophies. These do not have to be expensive or even purchased. Do whatever works for you!
Apples – Teachers strive to get 5 apples. Apples are our feedback rating from parents. 5 apples is the best and every teacher hopes for 5. If you get 3 or less, you can ask VIPKid to review your class and see if that rating was valid.
Hutong – This is our teacher forum. Shortly after you are fully hired, you will receive an email that allows you to join the Hutong.
Showname – This is your first name with one or a couple of letters after your name. For example, mine is Lauren WPU. The letters have nothing to do with your last name.
Flowers/Followers – In the app, the flowers tell you how many parents are following you. You cannot see which parents follow you.
Tokens – We receive tokes for a variety of things at VIPKid. You can use them to buy stuff from the token center.
PT – Peak Times. These are the preferred class times.
PPT – There are two ways that PPT is use in VIPKid. Most often, it is used to mean PEAK PEAK TIMES. These are the time slots that are preferred by parents for booking classes. PPT can also mean Power Point. These are the slides that we use to teach the class.
I know there are many other abbreviations that you might need to know. If you find something that is not on this list, write it in the comments so that I can add it. If you need an answer faster, check out my Facebook group “VIPKid Newbie Teacher Island“.
