Prices start at $20 USD per year.
Index
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● Want information about teaching in Peru? Go to A Country Guide to TEFLing in Peru.
Private and Small Group Teaching Guide
Updated 20 April 2009
Private classes are a great way to supplement your income, but there are advantages and disadvantages to teaching privates. You can find good materials for lesson plans online. One important thing to remember is that some countries and some contract prohibit teaching private students. Check with yours to make sure you're not breaking any rules. If you get caught, the punishment could run from simply being told not to do it again to being deported.Advantages
● You're your own boss
● Fewer behavior problems because classes are individual or small groups.
● You can pick who you want to teach and where (a quiet cafe or someone's home)
● You can set your own schedule.
● You can teach out of your own home.
● If you have group classes, you can make more while charging less. (10 dollars per student and you have five students means that you make more than teaching one student for 20 dollars.)
● If you teach exam prep, business students or children, you can charge higher prices than for general English.
Disadvantages
● Takes time to build up enough students
● Always on the go, going to their house or office.
● They often cancel and can be inconsistent. Or they go on vacation, leaving you with no income.
● If the student has a boring personality, teaching time can drag.
● Lack of interaction with other students.
● It may be legally problematic to have private students (think about taxes, visa issues, being an independent contractor, etc.).
● No consistent salary
You can eliminate most of the disadvantages by becoming a freelancer. Draw up contracts and invoices. Don't forget about promoting yourself as a teacher by advertising. There's a whole section below about advertising. And contracts are discussed in Things to Keep in Mind after the advertising section. Although you’ll find that at first it’s a bit difficult to get classes, soon you’ll have to make a waiting list for all the students who want you to teach them.
How to Advertise
● You might want to consider your niche, is it going to be business people, kids, remedial English, exam prep? According to that, you can advertise to target your niche. However, there are a couple of good places to advertise, no matter what your target group is. First off, advertise in the local paper. If possible put information regarding how many years of experience you have, your educational background, certification, native speaker (if applicable), what you teach (General English, Kids, Business English, ESP, etc), maximum number of students in a group class (if you teach group classes), and don’t forget contact information, whether it be a phone number or email, make sure you put something down so that people can contact you.
● Another good way to advertise is through the internet. There are a couple of ways you can do that. First you can post on sites in your country. Or you can create your own webpage. There are plenty of free hosting sites such as Word Press or Blogspot. Keep the information simple and try to have it in both English and the language of the country you're teaching in. You’ll want to include everything that you would include in an advert in the local paper and can also add more things, such as prices, available times, photos, or information about discounts.
● You might also want to make flyers and hand them out at schools, universities or businesses, depending on your target market. Posters are another option, and a bit nicer looking than fliers.
● Don’t forget emailing. Lots of schools have a list of tutors, try emailing some cshools near you and ask to be put on their tutor list. You could also email heads of language centres at universities, or local businesses. You can also email friends, they might know someone who wants to take English classes.
● Going in person is your best bet. Fliers, posters and emails are great, but you might not get much response. Try going to a few places in person and let them know that you give private and/or small group English classes. Don’t knock yourself out going to many in one day, but rather try to go to two or three a day.
● Word of mouth is a great way to advertise. You should give out your business card to everyone and anyone that you meet and a couple to your students so that they can give them out to their friends or acquaintances.
● Business cards are indispensable. Make sure they state that you’re an English teacher (native if applicable) and have a contact email and phone number. One thing about emails, make sure it’s professional, your name or an email with “teacher” or “english” is much better than some cute nickname your friends might have for you. They don’t have to be elaborate, simplicity is the best. It’s your choice whether you want them in English or the language of your country. Or you can get two sets, one in English and one in the other language or put both languages on one card. I use English since most of my students don’t speak Spanish. Give them out to people you meet and give a couple out to your current students, most of the students that I have were referred to me by my students.
Contracts
You need to let your students know about your cancellations, being late, payments (how much and when), discounts and vacations. A contract doesn’t have to be complicated or have tons of legal information. Although if you're working with companies, then I highly suggest having a legally binding contract drawn up. Otherwise, half a page should be enough. Just set the guidelines, so that both parties are clear about what’s expected. Look at the sample contract below.
English Classes for Children/Adults
Your Name
Your Phone Number
Attendance and Cancellations
If you need to cancel a class or change a class time, please let me know at least 24 hours
ahead of time. You will only be charged for the lessons you attend each month.
Prices
Classes will be X per hour. This will be the price for all classes from X to Y date. The price includes transportation costs and travel time to the student’s home as well as materials, such as worksheets, games and stickers that are used in class.
Payments
Please pay for classes X. There will be no make-up classes. Credits for the next month will be given for any missed classes.
1st Quarter: X to Y Holidays
There will be no class on the following days. A, B, C.
Other Things to Keep in Mind
● Ask for upfront payment. Although it doesn’t happen very often, some people will come for a month and then stop coming when it’s time to pay. Decide how often you want them to pay: every class, week, or month. I recommend asking for upfront payment (or atleast 50%) until you feel that you can trust your student. Then if you want you can have them pay afterwards. Along with payments, you should give some type of receipt or invoice, it shows people that you’re serious about what you do.
● Decide where you’re going to teach. If you’re not going to teach at your home, make sure students know that you will be going to their home. You might want to offer lower prices to those who are closer to your house and more to those who live farther away.
● It’s the little things that are important. Remembering students’ birthdays goes a long way. Likewise if you’re teaching at home, having a nice atmosphere, plants are nice, and offering something to eat or drink (non-alcoholic) will separate you from the rest.
● Know your prices. You need to know how much you’re going to charge and what kind of discounts you’re going to offer. You might want to up your rates a bit as people might try to bargain you down. If you’re teaching intensive English, ESP, exam prep, or Business people, you should charge more. Keep in mind that you better know what you’re doing, be prepared for class, have experience and qualifications to be able to justify charging so much.
● Don’t steal students. If you’re working at an institute and you’re looking for students, don’t steal them away from the institute. However, if you want to teach kids and the institute targets adults, there’s nothing wrong with giving lessons to your student’s children. You can still give business cards to your students, just don’t try to entice them away from the institute, it’s not professional and doesn’t look very good.
● Be prepared. Remember that private students are a great source of extra income, but you also have to prepare for the class. Make a rough syllabus and talk to your students to ask for feedback. If you're following a book, that's great. If not, then you'll have to come up with your own stuff. There are lots of great sites with lesson plans and the like. Take a look through them and organise yourself. Figure out what you're going to cover and when. Try to have key concepts (greetings, asking for directions) and skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) sorted out for each lesson. Don't forget about holidays, songs and activities that teach those concepts. Each concept can have a game, written work, and group work (if applicable). Remember to have a way to assess each concept and skill. Rubrics work well for assessment.
● Get references Just because you teach a private class, doesn't mean that you can't use them for a reference. Always ask for a written reference when you leave a job, no matter if it's paid or a volunteer position. Have your employer write when you work, job title, levels worked with, and what your responsibilities were. It should contain their signature, their name, job title, address, phone, and email. Try to get two copies of this. This is the basic info which gives you proof of employment. Even if you leave on bad terms, you should still ask for proof of employment. If you're leaving on good terms and if your employer is willing, they could also say what a great teacher you were. It's better to get this BEFORE you leave your job, because if you ask for a reference in the future, your eomployer might forget all the wonderful things you did and also might be less inclined to write a reference. Whereas if you ask while you're still working for them, you can remind your employer daily until they give you the reference/proof of employment. Then scan this and send it in an email when you apply for your next job.
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