A VERY QUIET WEEK

Nothing to Do? Ha!
That wasn't why my week was quiet. I had plenty of lessons to prepare and teach. I had plenty of housework to do, that's never-ending. I had paperwork to fill out and get signed for the upcoming Nauvoo trip. Ken and I spent nearly a whole day in OKC going to the temple (first time in two years!!! Hooray!!) and visiting the Penn Mall. I had a Seminary broadcast to watch from SLC and a dentist appointment for a root canal (ugh).

Nope, things were quiet because my girl was away at camp. We got a walk in on Monday, but she left early Tuesday morning while I was busy teaching (poor planning on my part). If you only knew the conversations and little things we constantly do together side-by-side.... You'd understand why there was a hole in my life for three days.

Ken had some days off, we could do things together. Jonathan was off a little. We talked and stuff. But my daughter is my pal. We work on stuff side-by-side (literally, our desks for school and seminary/VIPKid are right next to each other). We have our daily walks, which are helpful more than physically, and we have discussions that range through absolutely everything. And, of course, we fawn over our rabbits together. So it was abysmally quiet. I know, you're thinking, what will you do when she grows up and moves out. Probably go into a deep depression. Poor Ken.

I thought of her throughout the week. I'd see fun things on Facebook and message them to her to look at later (we do NOT take phones to camp). At the mall, I saw a t-shirt with an anime character on it she liked; I took a picture of it.

I don't know what it is; I only know shy likes it!

We splurged and bought three French macarons - lemon tart, rose, and lavender-honey -  because I was curious to try them. I waited until she got home so we could sample them together (strangely, we liked the floral favorites, rose being the one we liked best).

Analiese did the same: she brought me home a bracelet from the camp theme, a pink floral lei (maybe I could use it for one of my classes) and some good-n-plenty's to share, cuz we both like licorice. So, busy at camp though she was, she was still thinking of me, too!

I cannot begin to say how thankful I am that we are close. Her relationship is one of my greatest prizes and pleasures!

VIPKid - The Process
This week, my Exclusive Student (ES) had class - and her birthday - on Thursday. I had a party hat on and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She showed me some of her cake and her gifts. I told her I had a gift for her, too. She looked at me quizzically. I told her that I was working on certifying in level four so I could continue to teach her past level three. She was so pleased! She's almost done with level three and I know she wanted to continue with me!

This week I had several new students, but some of them were REALLY new...to VIPKid. As in, the first or second lesson EVER new! As in, "I don't understand a lick of English" new! They were more challenging; I had to use more gestures. I don't know how much they got out of it!

People have been curious about how all this works, so I'm a gonna' explain how I do things. The day before the lesson, I prep. I look through the slides, to see what props I'm going to need. I have a card file for each lesson (I make them up as I go along) with all the information of vocabularly, grammar, sentences, props, etc. I make a little post-it with the student's name & date of the lesson, plus the reward I'm going to use on it that I attach to the card.

I also go into my Feedback Panda app, which keeps track of my students, their birthdays, the classes I've taught them, the rewards I've used, the feedback I've given, etc. I can connect between them and VIPKid to enter new lessons in. With it completely filled out, I can transfer feedback to the families on VIPKid directly after the lesson quickly!

Then, my props prep really begins. I lay out the cards for the next day and pull reward and props (folders and toys) that I need for each lesson. I have cookie sheets that I use to put the items on to keep them separate from each other.

Some days, I have more lessons than cookie sheets! And yes, the tablet is a part of the lesson!

The day of the lesson, I just pull the sheet I need for the student coming up, and I have it ready.

Lesson day routine goes like this: I get up (for morning classes), put on my orange VIPKid shirt, and go out and turn on the laptop. I have to plug it in to the power (don't want to go out between lessons!), plug in to the ethernet (wifi is not strong enough), and plug in my external camera and headphones with microphone. I have an extra light hanging from a hook over the desk that I turn on (good lighting is a must!), and make sure VIPKid and Feedback Panda are up. I go put on my British red lipstick (Revlon's name, not mine), click on the classroom on VIPIKid, make sure my sound and video are working and...AWAY WE GO!

It sounds like a lot (when you write it down), but trust me, things run smoothly when I do all my prep. I can teach with confidence knowing I have everything in place. Sometimes I forget or skip a step...and then there's trouble! Half the time I forget to plug in the ethernet and then wonder why I have IT issues. The other day I forgot my lipstick! My students need to see my lips for pronunciation help!

I'm So Bad
I hardly took a picture this week at all. I did the one for Analiese from the mall, and just took the lesson ones now so I had something to show. Not that I didn't have things I could photograph, I just didn't remember to do it!