Job Discussion Forums

[kirby42]

I often hear from experienced English teachers that the best way to make money is to go find private students. Schools don't pay much and often demand tough hours. I've calculated that if I only had private students I'd make twice as much for half the work than working for a school.

Does anyone have any advice that they can share on cutting out the school and going solo? Is it sustainable? What about summer? What happens with taxes?

[descartes123]

I heard that it can be unstable. I am not sure about taxes. Also how do you intend to get visa support, if you go solo?

[elkotik]

It can definitely be unstable, especially in the summer and around New Year (even 23rd Feb/8th March). But of course it depends what relationship you build with people, how much you charge etc.

PM me regarding visas

[maruss]

As a way of supplementing your regular salary, private lessons can be a great way to save some money but there are many drawbacks:
Russian students can often be unreliable and not turn up for lessons or phone you with often feeble excuses at the last minute why they have to cancel.To avoid this leaving you out of pocket, I was warned from the very beginning to ask them to pay for one lesson up-front, for which they forfeit the money if they give you less than 24 hours notice.
Although I did meet some 'old-timers' who worked only with private students and made very good incomes, they had been there years and had wide list of contacts and recommendations, something which takes time, effort and patience to develop.
The best way to get started is to find work with a firm which guarantees you some hours so you can earn at least a basic salary and then build on it with private students.Taking a full-time job will most likely tie you down with your hours and make it very difficult for you to find time- and energy- to do any other work!Having arranged your work permit and paid taxes for you to work legally they are also not very likely to approve of you teaching other students on the side so discretion is essential!

[elkotik]

Also, a lot of native teachers, particularly unqualified ones, tend to expect far too much.

I recall one girl demanding 3000rub to write 1 blog and post 3 times a day x 7 days (i.e. 21 posts) a week on Facebook to one company, then 5000rub a session to another to run a 'creative writing workshop'...

I also used to teach an Italian teacher (Russian citizen) whose previous teacher was an American and would never be able to explain anything, constantly giving answers like 'that's just the way it is' etc. He was a History teacher...and charged through the roof for this.

As soon as natives get to Moscow and get the impression every Russian has money to burn, they get greedy and demand more and more...as a result, potential students get put off and it becomes increasingly harder to find such people to teach.

Greedy natives.

[kirby42]

What about paying tax? I'd be hoping to fill out my hours in the future with mainly private classes. Do many tutors even pay taxes for this? I'd rather do it by the book of course, but I've no idea how to go about it.

Any advice would be appreciated.