Job Discussion Forums

[junan]

hiya

I'm looking to teach in Spain in Sep. I've been out of TEFL for a few years, but I have 2 yrs experience a CELTA and PGCE.

I'd be interested in teaching privately, but my main concerns are over personal safety, especially sad to say, being female.

Where do you guys teach one to ones? In a student's house for eg? I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with that, especially in light of the recent tragic death of a teacher in Japan...and YES I know that it's ultra rare and he was a psychopath, but it still makes me feel uneasy.

Your thoughts please??

Thanks

[Moore]

You can always restrict yourself to female students and kids when you give home classes. Also you have the option of giving classes in a quiet corner of a cafe/bar in a nice central location.

I've certainly never heard of any female teacher here expressing any sort of alarm or weird behaviour on the part of private students if that's any comfort though.

[CMB]

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That's an interesting question - and I realize now that it's something I've never really thought about before. I can't really remember ever having one-to-one classes alone with a male student in his home (not counting kids)...everything has always been either women and children in their homes or men and women either in their offices, in public (cafes, etc.) or at the school...To be honest, in the eight years that I've been living here it's never really come up. I'm interested to hear what others have to say.

[sheikh radlinrol]

If you're going to advertise your classes you might try hiding the fact that you're female. For example :
Profesor nativo da clases particulares de ingles.
Nobody is going to complain when they find that you are a woman and even if they do...so what? But what's more important is that any potential weirdos will be put off.

[quoi_de_neuf?]

Don't pitch your price for lessons too low when putting ads up.. That way, you are more likely to get replies from people who are genuine.

I've taught children, women and adults on one-to-one basis. The children I taught in their homes, the women I taught in my home (because they were friends of friends) and the men I taught in public places (cafes mostly).

I did get a reply to one advert from a guy who seemed genuine but wasn't keen on meeting in a cafe for lessons and suggested going to his flat instead. I talked to him about why why he wanted to learn English, his level of English etc and he he clammed up (this was in his own language).... He went back to the topic of wanting lessons in his flat... So, told him I wouldn't be able to tutor him.. Better safe than sorry. No money's worth risking your personal safety - if you have the slightest doubt, avoid!

Quoi de neuf