July 11-14 I went to the VIPKid Journey conference in Las Vegas. It was amazing!
Here’s my recap of the weekend and why you should go to the next Journey, no matter where it is!
I’m including my notes from several of the sessions here.
Opening Key Note Speaker: Zak Dychtwald “Young China Group”
Zak is American but has lived in China for about 10 years and speaks fluent Mandarin. He studies the newer generation of Chinese and sees how they are changing due to technology, work opportunities, global influence, and increased economic prosperity.
337 million people have been born in China since 2000. That’s 10 million more than the entire population of the US.
180,000 VIPKid classes every day.
Instead of asking “where are you from?” The better question is “when are you from?” That’s how important it is to understand the new generation.
America’s GDP has grown 2.5 since 1969.
China’s has grown 27 times.
The older generation in China grew up with the motto “eat bitter” and “security.” This is the idea that they expect their life to be bitter and hard but that they will endure it to make a more secure future for the coming generations.
The younger generation lives in the moment and has learned to play with free time and consumerism.
1 in 3 foreign college students in the US are from China. China graduated 8.5 million from college this year.
4-2-1 demographic. 4 grandparents, 2 parents, 1 child. Little emperor concept. Funnel for love, attention, resources, expectations into this one child.
All the hopes, expectations and dreams of the grandparents and parents is now being funneled down to the kids. Along with the pressure.
Average life expectancy used to be 40. Now 65.
Mobile generation
Crossing the river by feeling the stones. The idea that you’re supposed to try and expected to slip and fall.
Mobile payment transaction in US is 1 trillion rmb. In China 60 trillion rmb. Everything is paid for with Wechat.
About 12% of Americans create original content for social media each week. In China it’s 33%.
Pride – easternization
Modernization equals westernization.
1996 Atlanta Olympics was the first experience in which many people in China had the chance to see an American. US won 51 gold and China won 15.
2008 Beijing Olympics. Known as the coming out party for China. US won 28 golds, China won 51. Finally seeing themselves as powerful
We give them a chance to build a bridge of empathy and compassion every day in class.
Zak Dychtwald “Young China Group”
This is his book. I’m going to read it soon.
Cindy Mi – CEO and Founder of VIPKid
We’re here to listen to you our teachers.
Goals for the future of VIPKid, more diversity and choices for our students therefore more teaching opportunities for our teachers.
She lives in an apartment in the office building for VIPKid. These are the office cats. She’s been training to run marathons.
We’re connecting cultures to make learning accessible to all students. Humanity is empowered by technology.
In the field of education and online communities we will see even larger growth.
This is a link to the video on Facebook live: https://www.facebook.com/pennyd/videos/10219923922156609/
Dr. Liu, head of education for VIPKid. He was the head of TOEFL. Just started with VIPKid.
Our goal is to move our students from being high level English Learners to high level English users.Your role as a teacher is not only a teacher. It is facilitator. You facilitate conversation. You are a peer having a conversation with them. Your role as a counselor as you keep the student awake in class. You are cheerleader: you need to constantly engage the learner.
Teacher identity: not formed in one day. It is formed daily.
Julia, head of Student Experience, brought her twin 11 year olds to explain the student side of the portal.
Hello, Penny Davis 