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tkrawczyk
Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 10
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 Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2003 5:02 pm Post subject: Pros and cons of tutoring... |
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| I was wondering, as an 18 year old, obviously with no degree, whether I would be able to make a little money tutoring a little bit In Japan or Taiwan, just to extend my travels a little further and experience first hand the foreign countires. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2003 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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Few people are going to take you seriously as a tutor, at your ate, and especially if you are traveling and not settled down. Would you pay for lessons from a Japanese backpacker in your country who was in the area for a day or two?
How did you figure you'd pick up the students anyway? I've seen plenty of Japanese young people waiting at train stations of touristy spots who want to practice their English to give you a tour of the area, and some of them want you to pay to be shown around.
Beyond all this, you won't have a work visa, and making money without it is illegal. |
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bnix
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 645
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| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2003 3:31 am Post subject: Absolutely. |
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| Glenski gave you the real scoop,and he let you down easily.What makes you think you should be able to charge for your English "expertise"?If you want to "experience firsthand the foreign countires"(sic),why don't you just take a vacation? He is also right about the fact that teaching off the cuff like you suggest is illegal in most places... |
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Roger
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 9138
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| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2003 7:39 am Post subject: |
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| That's the kind of question we have to put up with too often even though there is a dedicated forum for this category naive folks. Once they have the answer they deserve they cry wolf and crocodile tears! |
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lagger
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Posts: 40
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2003 9:26 am Post subject: |
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People just don't like being told they can't do stuff.
Tutoring
Pro - Easier to manage than a classroom.
CONS - You can't rely on the money. People cancel often. |
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Wolf
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth
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| Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2003 12:40 am Post subject: |
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| lagger wrote: |
People just don't like being told they can't do stuff.
Tutoring
Pro - Easier to manage than a classroom.
CONS - You can't rely on the money. People cancel often. |
Other con - It's illegal in some countries.
Yet another con - Okay, so you're an English teacher. Don't you ever want to have a life outside of teaching? Over here, I have to beat off people offering me part time/private work with a stick. Why? Jeez - I want to have a life! I've got a job with regular hours. They pay isn't great (and neither is my location), so I supplament that with a few gigs - especially in the summer. But when I take what I earn in China, divide by 12 (I take a course from a university in the UK - and it's about 12 yuan to 1 pound,) and factor in the more than 2 hour round trip commute to the city center and back, it ain't worth my time. Trying to live on part time work only means your teaching hours are all over the place (early mornings, evenings and weekends are when many people will want to study.) If you want to take a 2 week vacation, you'll have a lot of hassle to create a gap that big in your part time schedule - and then you'll have to go chasing people to get them to start coming to class again.
I taught private classes on the side in Japan - but only a bit (I had other interests.) I never relied on the income from my classes - as they'd cancel, quit, etc at random. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2003 8:18 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Yet another con - Okay, so you're an English teacher. Don't you ever want to have a life outside of teaching? Over here, I have to beat off people offering me part time/private work with a stick. Why? Jeez - I want to have a life! I've got a job with regular hours |
You could try telling them that you only do lessons at your house due to the commute -- I'm sure they'd understand. I lived in a residential neighborhood (apartment ghetto) though, perhaps your location precludes this. Also, you aren't acutally telling people "I want to have a life!" are you? I was able to make an eager father understand that I didn't want to teach his daughter English when I'd only been in the country for a week and had just learned to say Thank you well enough to be understood by pointing at my watch and saying "mei yo," with a smile of understanding.
It is important to remember that you're probably not teaching English to make money, though...
And tkraw: It'll be very difficult for you to find any work if you're only going to be in town for a little while. If you were in Italy I'd suggest that you might be able to pick tomaotoes or grapes if you're really desperate for cash (illegally, of course, just like a lot of farm labor in a lot of places) but in Asia even those jobs will have enough competition to probably keep you from doing them. |
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