Private Lessons

Film Poster (1983)

Many teachers rely on private lessons to supplement their income. They often pay more than regular lessons and qualified teachers (e.g. those with an ICAL TEFL Certificate) can earn a great deal this way.

Where to Advertise Yourself

Sometimes private students can be provided directly by the school where you are teaching; often you have to advertise your services on your own.

Notice boards at your local supermarket, post office, gym or metro station are a good place to start. Another good place is around the local university; notice boards there are useful.

Make an easy to read flyer with enough information to attract attention but keep a few details out so that whoever may be interested will have to call you for more. Once you have them on the phone it should be easier to get them interested even further, but avoid being pushy or sounding desperate.

If you can, include in your flyer a small picture of yourself as smiling face will reassure the readers and catch their eye (however, if you are a woman you may not feel comfortable doing this in case you attract the wrong sort of student so you may prefer not to do this).

Business cards are another good idea; give them out when you meet people and always have a couple to hand when you go out.

Word of mouth and networking also work wonders. Tell your landlord, your next door neighbor, the lady at the bakery, basically anyone you meet and strike up a conversation with. If you have the use of a printer get a few simple business cards printed out with your name, telephone number - and area (if you live in a large city), contact hours if necessary - though it is better not to put any limitations. And be sure you specify what it is that you do and how you're qualified!

Alison Smith BA English, ICAL TEFL Certificate
English Teacher - Private Lessons
Area: Milan Center
Tel: 012 345 6789
Cell: 987 654 3210

Local papers are also useful. Enquire with those which cover your area and see if you can have a small add placed in their classified section.

Use the Internet and get onto local forums for students of English. Be careful not to use the forums just to advertise yourself! Take part and try and answer a few questions the students might have. If they see you are a regular poster they’ll be more inclined to trust you.

Also don't forget local forums for Expats. Often people will go there looking for a teacher and it's worth keeping an eye on the job forums to see if someone is after a teacher.

The internet is also a useful place to advertise. Websites can be set up for free nowadays and you can place a link on sites such as The Free-ESL Directory where private tutors can advertise for free.

When to Advertise

Obviously you can advertise for lessons anytime you want, but a good tip is to post flyers near the schools when it approaches exam time. Advertising your servies a couple of months before the Cambridge exams, for example, can work wonders in boosting your clientele.

Where to Teach

The next step is to decide where to have your lessons.

You can have your students come to your place or you can to go to theirs. There are advantages and disadvantages to both solutions.

If you ask students to come to your place you will have to ensure you can offer them a comfortable study area. Your bedroom with last week’s smelly socks lying around won’t do!

If you are sharing a flat you will have to ensure your flat mate(s) can give you the privacy you need to carry out the lesson without interruptions.

Students may tend to stay past the hour or feel they can arrive later as they know you are not waiting for them somewhere out in the cold (or in the heat).

By going to their place instead you are more in control of when to arrive and when to leave but you have to put into account traveling time and possible traveling expenses.

How Long For

An hour is the standard length of time for a private lesson though often with advanced students, adults or pairs you may well go up to a lesson of one and a half hour. Avoid two hour lessons as they are too long for both teacher and student when it comes to one-on-one tutoring.

What to Teach

First and foremost find out exactly what your student needs or wants to learn; basically carry out a needs analysis as you would for a new class at school. Then plan your private lessons accordingly.

Often students will say they just want conversation. This is fine but you will still need to plan for it. Talking is good but for conversation to be effective you need to structure it. Prepare your topic and make sure the content and language level is right for your student. Don't improvise! You may get away with it once or twice but after that your lessons will slowly come apart.

Collect all the necessary materials. If you are not using a book and rely on handouts make sure you have copies for both yourself and the student. Don’t try and save a few pennies by not printing out a copy for yourself. There is nothing more unprofessional than a teacher always peering over their student's shoulder trying to read the only handout.

Exam Classes

See the main article: Teaching Exam Classes.

One very important part of teaching private lessons is teaching exam classes. These most often take place a month or two before the student takes and English exam such as the FCE or TOEFL. Essentially they are cramming for the exam, going over past exam papers and making sure the student not only understands the language, but also the technique they should use in the exam.

What to Charge

People expect to pay for their private lessons so you don’t need to be too conservative with your figures but before you set your hourly rate it’s worth asking around to see what other teachers charge in the area.

Usually if it's a 1-1 lesson you'll charge the full rate. If you have two students you can charge each one slightly less and so on. For example:

Thus small groups can be much more lucrative than 1-1 classes.

Remember, if you charge too much you’ll get less, if no students; if you charge too little you will not be taken seriously enough. The following are very general prices for different countries however remember that your final price will depend often on the age and level of the student, the location and the general financial perception of the student.

Note that some teachers will charge more if they go to the student's house and less if the student comes to their house.

When to Get Paid

If you can, try and get your students to pay you each time they have the lesson rather than at the end of the week or the month.

Cancellations

A sticky issue is that of students booking you for the hour and not turning up. Sometimes there could be very serious reasons or unexpected events that prevented them from attending their lesson and you may be inclined to forgive and forget.

However whether or not your students may have a genuine reason for their no-show, it is always better to set some rules from the start.

Let them know that they need to give you a 24hrs notice if they want to cancel a lesson. If they don’t you will have to charge them for the hour. The notice could be a day or a few hours. You will need to decide an exact time and let them know in advance. It is important however that you set this rule from the very beginning adn stick to it.

See Also

Teaching Online - using Skype to teach students through the internet.