Job Discussion Forums

[JRJohn]

I would really appreciate any advice. I have experience. But I have never done private classes, outside of a school. Granted, some one to one classes inside a school did feel like private classes, but I wasn't aid directly by the students.
I understand that if I were to teach in say Spain, Italy, or the Czech Republic, I might want some private classes at least, because the salary is low. Students pay the school far more than they pay the teachers, so with private classes I could negotiate an hourly rate between the two levels.
But what do private students want? I am willing to listen to them, but is it mainly just conversation around a topic, with adults? With children would I have to be a singing and dancing one-man-band? Or is it more attainable?
I am thinking of going to Spain and combining a teaching job with some private classes, especially if the teaching job turns out be part time.
But I would like to read about your experiences of private classes elsewhere. Drop me a line, if you please.

[In the heat of the moment]

No experience with privates (sorry) but I imagine it would be a program tailored to the individual. You'd need to dig deep and find out exactly what they want from the lessons; is it to pass a test, are they going to be using English in a specific environment, do they just want to enjoy English films and music, what do they like doing in class, how do they prefer to learn (speaking, reading, grammar-led exercises etc), what are their strengths and weaknesses, etc.

They might not know the answers to any of those questions, which would be fun to discover as you go along.

Colleagues do privates and they've only spoken about the students' reliability (or lack, thereof). It seems it's best to have them pay in advance, preferably for a 'block' of lessons, so if they fail to turn up it isn't YOUR time and money they're wasting. And reputation is hard to establish at first, so expect not much in the early stages but, hopefully, after a while you'll be turning them away because your schedule is full. Other than that, I'll leave it to more learned posters.

[Nicky_McG]

It really depends on the student. A lot of students will take private classes with a specific aim in mind like improving speaking skills, improving writing or for an exam in English. The best way is just to ask them what they hope to get from the classes. I usually give mine a level test to complete at home (hoping they don't cheat) so I can do some kind of needs analysis. I found students often wanted to focus on speaking as it was the one skill (writing too I suppose) they couldn't practise on their own.

By the way, I'm not sure it's worth it in Spain. I tried it a few times but foundit to be much less hassle to just go through a school. I found students would accept cancellation charges etc. much more readily through a school than directly through a teacher. Work is plentiful in some parts of Spain (e.g. Madrid) so you needn't worry about finding a job.