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[MAP Magazine]

Teaching English in Spain
Working for yourself as a private teacher
by MAP Languages

Does being your own boss sound good to you? Well, what sounds good and what makes sense are two very different animals. Keep in mind that there are a lot of pros and cons that English teachers need to consider before entering the world of self-employment.

The most attractive advantage of being a self-employed is obvious; more money. Self-employed teachers find classes on their own, so there's no agency skimming a percentage off the top. They take home everything they earn.
So, how do self-employed teachers find students?

The common thing to do it hit the streets with fliers; and in fact, fliers tend to be quite effective for language teachers. However, distributing them is quite time consuming. While most businesses hire distribution companies to get their fliers around town, private teachers try to cover the same areas on their own.

If you've ever gone on a flier campaign before, you know how physically exhaustive it is to carry around a bag of fliers with tape, tacks, and maps, for hours on end�trust me, I've done it.

One day while I was putting up my umpteenth flier under a hot Madrile�o sun, with my feet blistering from so much walking around, the idea for creating an online database of private language teachers popped into my head. Check it out at MAPLanguages.com; academies, as well as individuals, use it to find teacher�create a teacher profile and you just might save yourself a lot of footwork.

Another good way to find work is by placing free classified ads online and in print publications. Try placing ads in:


* MAP Magazine (www.mapmadrid.com)
* LOQUO (http://madrid.loquo.com)
* In-Madrid (www.in-madrid.com)

What are the disadvantages?

Finally, if working for yourself had no disadvantages, everyone would be doing it. Keep in mind that being your own boss carries a lot of weight. Self-employed teachers are responsible for all of their own expenses, including books, videos, photocopies, and travel costs. In addition, if you work for yourself, you set your own hours. This creates a l heightened level of responsibility; for example, if you want to cancel a class because you have a hangover, well�you can. Therefore, the self-employment option is best for reliable, serious teachers. After all, if you can't keep up a good work ethic without the fear of reprimand from your boss, you'll likely drown out there on your own.

Additionally, self-employed teachers get no paid sick leave and no paid vacations. Unless they work completely under-the-table (which is actually quite common), they are responsible for filling out the proper tax paperwork with the government.

And as a general rule, self-employed people work much longer hours than others, work irregular hours, and are constantly worried about keeping a steady stream of income.
Go for it!

But don't let that get you down. If you are responsible and dedicated, enjoy the freedom of being your own boss, and want to make a good amount of money, going out on your own is absolutely the best option for you. The best part? If you succeed, you know you did it by yourself! X

[Sandra B]

what is a realistic hourly pay a private teacher can expect? ball park figure?

sandra

[MAP Magazine]

Hi Sandra,

What you charge depends on how far you have to travel for the class, how much preparation is needed, the student's specific needs, the student's age, the number of students at one time, etc. However, here is a basic guide for one-on-one:

12 euros per hour up to 10 years of age
15 euros per 10-14 years of age
18 euros per hour 14-18 years of age
20 euros per hour 18+ years of age

If there are two or more students in the class, you can start raising prices by 50%.

This is if you are completely on your own. If you work for an agency or academy, you will get paid a bit less since they take their cut.

Does this help?

Phil

[Sandra B]

the guide for privates doesn't look too good, considering the 2 academies i work for pay me 15 and 16 euros an hour and i don't need to search for clients, posting ads on lamp posts and all that work. no , i�m not that energetic! and in this heat .... !?

and i thought my friends weren't getting a lot?! after looking at the guide you posted, my roommates WILL have to tell me how they do it. or maybe because they've been here since 2004 ... and are pros at making the most out of teaching??? don't know, so i will ask them! they get around 20 euros an hour doing their privates and they teach adults in thw center of madrid, mostly 1 to 1 classes.

i guess you always think the other guy is getting better wages until you go on this forum and find out you're not doing that badly!
hey, out of curiousity, the guys you work for must be working you real hard, you're all over the forum, posting away ... all work and no play ....

thanks anyway for the info.

sandra

[MAP Magazine]