Job Discussion Forums

[ESLgeek]

Hi everyone,
I just recently came to Japan and I started taking a Japanese class. There's a woman in the class who wants me to teach her 2 children English (they're 7 and 9). Normally, I charge 3000 per hour for 1 private student. Does anyone have any opinions about how much I should charge to teach the 2 of them? I think I'll probably teach them 2 hours per week, but this hasn't been ironed out yet. Has anyone out there taught 2 people at the same time? I'm not sure what to do.

[Glenski]

You just came here and you're teaching privately? Do you have any idea what to do with students that age? Have you agreed to anything yet?

Do not teach them together. Even ages as close as theirs are not close enough. They have different interests and probably different abilities.

Teach an hour and a half, 45 minutes each kid completely separately. Insist on it for the reasons I just gave.

Charge 4500-5000 yen.

And, absolutely positively do a needs analysis and find out what their goals are (from the kids and the parents) before you even teach the first lesson.

[Hoser]

Ugh-teaching kids privately. Good luck! I wouldn't touch that with a 10-foot pole!

[Kootvela]

First of all, welcome aboard. Please bear with the negativity around but many people here -me included- consider teaching kids a waste of just everything Let us know how it goes if you decide to give it a go.

[chinagirl]

Why all the negativity?

Teaching private lessons to kids can be very rewarding. First of all, I agree with Glenski. Absolutely find out what the parents think they want and where the kids are at before starting.

Second of all, teaching beginners/kids privately requires a lot of materials (flashcards, CDs) that you'll only be using for those kids, so charge accordingly for your time and materials.

I have found it best to choose a children's textbook as a base such as Let's Go or English Time that has a workbook that can be assigned for homework and lends some consistency to the lessons. Of course, you can do your own activities but I have found that having a book is a good idea. (Having a book also demonstrates progress to the parents.) A small amount of homework is essential or else your students will not be reviewing in between lessons.

Finally, where will you be teaching? At the students' house? Make sure you agree to all the details before starting.

[TokyoLiz]

You didn't say if you have any experience teaching children, and I'll assume from your post you don't.

I've taught pairs and groups of up to 8 kids under the age of 10 in eikaiwa and private settings. It's extremely demanding, and when it works, very rewarding. But when it doesn't work (i.e. you don't have a very tight method, or the kids hate being there) it is miserable for you and the children.

Nope, you should give it a miss. Until you get some experience or training in that area of EFL and elementary school education.

[cornishmuppet]

Personally I would say teach them together, because its way easier to do games and activities with more than one kid. Kid vs teacher games quickly get boring for both parties.

I don't think that's such a great age range either. I have a class of five kids with ages ranging from 6 to 11. Its not ideal and its not my choice (I teach a private for an eikawa) but I do a lot of games and it's working at the moment.

Get hold of a color printer and make some flashcards for animals/sports/food, that kind of thing. I get the pictures off google, but there are lots of websites around. Mes-english.com is a good one for worksheets. Build in sentences like Do you like/want... / Can you.../ etc and try to teach them some vocab and a question/answer each class. Getting a book is also a good idea but try to keep your spending down until you know its going to last. Materials, especially pictures are essential for little kids but you can do a hell of a lot with some junk from the hundred yen shop. I get sticky hands, color chips, dice, ABC cards, fake money, and all sorts of other stuff that amuses them.

3000 is probably too low for two kids. I'd charge 4000 - 4500, but if you're in Tokyo add on a little bit more, plus consider travel costs, times. Don't worry about all the negativity from other posters, just decide for yourself how much you need the money. A job's a job, at the end of the day. Enjoying it is a bonus, most people don't.

Good luck with it.

[markle]

Everything muppet said.

[Grasshopper]

I don't think the question was whether or not s/he should teach them...

To the OP, it depends on what you want to do. I definitely suggest using a textbook because this gives a concrete way to show both the kids and parents their progress.

I think you could teach them seperately or together, especially if their English levels are the same. It really depends on what you want to do, and what the parents want. If the parents want you to teach them together, I would do them together. If they want you to do them seperately, I would do them seperately. There are methods that work well for doing both ways.

I focus a lot of reading, and having kids develop natural language through developing basic reading skills. I don't incorporate a lot of games or extra activities b/c the material we need is right there in the books. It's great. And the kids love it.

If you want more info, feel free to PM me.

Good Luck!

G

[ESLgeek]

Hi guys,
Thanks for all the advice. I'm not sure if I'm going to go through with teaching the kids. I'm now getting lots of private adult students and I really enjoy teaching them, so I'll probably just focus on that. I do want to have some free time!

[anne_o]

i have turned down several jobs teaching 2 kids because the parents always try to get you for too little cash......no 2 for 1 deals here!!!
many parents want you to teach the kids together because of time, comfort level, etc.......
i have taught kids for 3 years, and here in japan the ages are almost always mixed together at the language schools, so teaching a 7 and 9 year old together is not a problem.....IN MY OPINION
the level of english is usually so low here, that they are probably going to be at about the same level anyway.
have they studied before??
also.....anyone telling you not to teach to kids because you just arrived should be ignored.....IN MY OPINION
i have taught a lot of privates to kids and you just need to keep it light and fun.....you do what the parents want combined with your common sense and knowledge.
THIS IS MY OPINION!
so many people think that teaching english here is so serious......well, it not!

[TokyoLiz]

[anne_o]

if you go into a class of kids here....or a private lesson.... with a strict agenda, an uptight attitude your students are going to be bored and unhappy. i've seen it many times, usually with teachers that take themselves too seriously; specifically here in tokyo.
i learned to teach kids by real experience in the classroom. some good lessons, some bad; and i'm still learning and experimenting with new methods and ideas in my classes.
teaching kids successfully takes a certain personality, i happen to think i have that personality and have been very successful as a teacher, despite what you might think.....tokyo liz...right?
it's anne_o by the way, you missed the 'e' in the end of my name.
and why you and a handful of others on this board seem to think that because you have been here for so long you know everythig there is to know about teaching in japan is beyond me. some of you should have probably given it up long ago....maybe you would be happier,a dn so would your students.....or are you behind a computer all day?
i expressed my opinion and i'll express it again and again......and i'm SERIOUS baaaaaby!!!

[flyer]

yes, why so much negativity?

teaching kids can be the easiest job and the hardest job in the world. It depends on the actual kids and your attitude to it.
I personally wouldn't get too carried away with separating the kids. Its not ideal, but I have found in my many years of teaching that having ideal conditions and an ideal class is very very rare indeed!
Its only 2 years difference I have done much bigger differences in ages in lessons with no problems. Sure occassionaly things come up but you deal with it. They know they are younger and older and so does the mother! So what?

So, I would jump it and I if you normaly charge 3000y per hour then I would ask for 4500yen and see how it goes. You are your own boss, its up to you how much to settle for.

[flyer]