Teacher Discussion Forums

I consider myself to be a great teacher. I get really great results/feedback and I have stacks of material.....
So I've recently quit working for the Middle Man (Or more often than not...the middle Woman) and gone solo here in Japan. I only have around 10 adults and 10 kids at the moment...I'm not making the same money as a Full time ESL Teacher in Japan yet (250,000), but I hope to well and truley surpass this figure soon.
Basically my only Question at this time is
"How can I get more students?"
Where should I advertise?
What stratgies/campaigns are effective in Japan?
Anyway I was just wondering if anyone out there in ESL land has any experience in a similar situation....
Also working privatley for Public/Private Primary/High Schools in Japan... How much should I charge? I heard the going rate is around Yen9000/hour. Is this right? [/b]

I recently went out on my own. I found that it takes about a year to get a good name, now we have to turn students away. I thought I was a better than average teacher with 2 and a half years experience...but no, I had only just began.
Referals are the best way to gain students, so work hard with the students you have.
I found that most of the material I used while teaching at a private language school was almost useless when out teaching privately. The materials I used in big classrooms wasn't apropriate for individuals or small classes so listen to the parents of good students, find out what they did with their kids to learn English. Also keep your students best interests in mind at all times. Be relentless and keep improving on your teaching style if you do this you will become a wealthy person.


Nat