Please Teach Me English! Making It On Your Own With Private Lessons

This may be hard to believe, but a friend of mine here in Japan (ex-Nova) makes a living by teaching private students alone. And he makes twice as much as he made at Nova, teaching fewer hours! He’s got almost more students than he can handle, all calling him and saying, “Please teach me English!”

How is this possible? That’s what I said. So, I decided to have a sit-down with him and ask him 4 simple questions about teaching on your own.

1. How do you find students?

A: Well, there are a variety of websites that hook you up with students, and I find that’s the best way to go. You make a profile, and you just wait for people to contact you. Do a web search and you’ll find tons of these sites. I recommend putting up profiles on as many as you can.

After you’re teaching for a while, you’ll start getting student referrals. This was something I didn’t really expect! In one month, I suddenly had twice as many students, just from referrals.

You can also do it the old fashioned way and put up fliers. It sounds like a lot of work, but I know some people that have gotten lots of students that way.

2. Where should you have lessons?

A: The big thing now is to have “cafe style” lessons at a coffee shop like Starbucks. This is not always ideal, because it can be noisy and crowded, and you might have people staring at you, thinking, “Oh! They’re having an English lesson!” But, students love it because it’s fun and relaxed.

If you’re set up to, the best way is to have students come to your house. The only downside is that you have to keep the place clean, and not every student can do that.

Other teachers I know make house calls. Going to your students’ houses is convenient for them, but it can mean a lot of traveling for you. Still, lots of teachers who aren’t set up for private lessons at their house like to do it this way.

3. How much should I charge? And how should I handle the money?

A: The going rate is usually 3,000 yen for an hour, although there are teachers who teach for less.

It’s not uncommon for teachers to have students pay every month for all the month’s lessons. Or, you might have students who want to pay each time. It’s up to you how to best handle that.

4. How do I keep students?

A: This is a tricky one. People get busy and quit, or they move or something happens. There are two things I know that help keep students; one, having them pay in advance for lessons, or even just schedule lessons in advance, makes them feel more obligated than if you just decide on the next lesson each time. A consistent schedule for your lessons keeps them on target.

Two, let your students know how they are doing. Make some kind of progress report to show them how their English has improved since they’ve been taking lessons with you. If they can’t see the improvement, they are more likely to give it up.

My friend teaches English in Japan, but I’m pretty sure his advice would apply to any country. Whether your making a living on private lessons, or just doing some extra teaching to supplement your regular income, these are things you have to think about. Good luck!