A friend recently decided to uproot her life and move to a beach town in Mexico, where internet is known to be spotty. She asked me for advice with transitioning from teaching English online to teaching classes in-person after a big move. Keep reading if this sounds intriguing and you want to know how to succeed at private tutoring as a side gig or full time income stream.
Teaching English can be a very lucrative side gig, and offers the advantage of flexible hourse.
I realized I had a lot to say on the topic, based on having taught English in person-and online in 7 countries on 4 continents over the past 15 years, so let me try to sum up my top tips.
The funny thing about teaching English is that wherever you go there seems to be someone who wants classes, but usually its hard to get enough students to fill your roster and be able to live off your teaching income, especially when you first move to a new place.
Here are the things that usually happen that decimate your income:
- Students who Miss or Postpone Classes
- Not finding enough students
- Students dropping off after a few classes
- nobody in your area wants to learn English, or they are not ready when you want new students and have rent due
- Students all take long holiday breaks and suddenly cancel their classes (e.g. From mid December to Mid Jan in Mexico for Christmas and 3 Kings Day or in China when students leave for a month to go to their hometown for Chinese New Year)
Let me share some strategies to deal with each common situations that decimate your income, to help you start up quickly and profitably and stay that way.
Students Who Miss or Postpone Classes.
While one of the big advantages for students of taking classes with a tutor instead of in a language school is the ability to adapt to students schedules, when classes don’t happen on time as expected, your income takes a hit.
It’s a balancing act between being reasonable and ensuring you earn enough consistently to earn a living. You have to accept that people get sick, have car accidents, and have ‘life’ get in the way: school concerts, school trips, vacation time, other extra curricular activities that take precedence over English classes.
What’s the solution?
Use Attendance Policies
You need to have the confidence to set attendance policies and the guts to stick to them. ,
Ask for at least 50% if not 100% payment up front for instruction hours to be given. I usually allow students the opportunity to make up a postponed or missed class within the week it happened, or they pay for the class as if they had attended it. I set my policies so students pay for a designated number of instruction hours, and I don’t tie classes to particular dates in my teaching agreement.
I know one very successful teacher who tracked postponements, missed classes, and cancellations and after two, he dropped the student. No exceptions.
#2. Actively cultivate a wait list.
Another essential strategy to generate a consistent income is to have a wait list at the ready. Don’t stop recruiting once you fill up your schedule. Keep recruiting and add people to your wait list.
If you have a wait list, when you have a cancellation or postponement, you can go down the list and call people until you find someone willing to take the spot left open.
#3 Find Students
Here is how I find new students.
The first thing is to make simple business cards with your name and local phone number where you can be reached on it. Include your website address if you have one for your teaching business, if you have the right visa for working where you are living ( tourist visas often have working restrictions) .
- Talk to staff working in cafes, tourist oriented companies, using an indirect approach (e.g. “I’ve just moved here and was wondering if you knew anyone who would be interested in taking English classes? ” . You can follow up by asking where the best places to hand out fliers and put up posters.
- Hang out around universities and upscale places where people likely to be able to afford your classes hang out (e.g. malls or outside upscale restaurants) and hand out fliers or talk to people to let them know you are a teacher looking for private students
- Hand out fliers in plazas and parking lots near school and put up ´poster in high traffic area
- Attend event where people likely to want to learn English hand out. Be friendly and talk to people. Usually the second or third question is ‘what do you do? ‘ which gives you a chance introduce yourself and tell people about your classes.
#4 Have a Retention Strategy
Learning a new language is hard work, and not as easy as many other extra curricular activities. This often translates to people not coming to class after the first few.
The biggest reasons students tend to drop off and stop taking classes is because of overwhelm. I have found that you really need to teach less, not more, only between 5 and 7 new words per class. And add lots of activities to help the student master what you have taught before moving on. If they feel they are making progress and really learning something well, their confidence will soar and they will keep coming back for classes.
Add in a game no matter what the age. I have found that all students benefit from the reinforcement that comes with playing games. How to gamify your lessons (at least at the end of class) is one of my specialties, and it’s a huge topic that I will write about more if people request it.
I also never assign homework. Students can review the lesson and practise the vocabulary if they really want to improve.
Parents may want homework assigned, so have the students start homework in class and have the option to complete more exercises as reinforcement. Have the students review and learn the vocabular you taught that class and start the next class with a quick 3 to 5 question quiz so they have a reason to review and you can check that they know something before continuing.
You can work on a project together in class that is completed on the last day of your course, to demonstrate the learning the student did during your course.
#5 Document what you teach and follow a structure.
Students may say they ‘just want conversation practice’ and they need this, it’s true, but don’t let this derail your class. Always list out the topics you are going to cover ( based on the assessment you do in the first class – another big topic I can cover if you wish).
Provide conversation practise on the targeted language you have already taught. Set the topic and guide the conversation instead of just use ‘free talk’ that can go off in any direction.
To teach a grammar point, I usually use a dialogue that uses the structure or verb tense I want to teach that class , and then a drill practise ( gapfill, Q and A, matching) and a freer practice ( distinguishing the correct answer from a few options, corrected the mistake in a sentence or question) and I end the class with a free talking exercise or game related directly to the language taught. I use a chart to list what was taught and snap a photo of it, which I instantly send via Whats App or WeChat as evidence of what was taught and what needs to be reviewed.
Let me know if you want to see the chart structure I use. I just write it on a portable whiteboard at the end of each class if I don’t have time to print off a paper chart.
This is how I structure each class:
Minutes 0 to 2- greetings and announcements. Class schedules and payments etc
Mins 3-10 – warm up (some fun review activity)
Mins 11-15 – new vocab taught (whatever is needed for the main grammar point presentation in the dialogue or reading or listening activity)
Mins 16-20 – new language presentation ( present and practise the dialogue or sample sentenes)
Mins 21- 25 – free activity to check comprehension and drill practise (eg. show the full conjugation for te new verb you just taught or the verb tense you are showcasing)
Mins 25-3 0- mini break and casual talk
Mins 31- 45 – another activity based on the presented target language ( freer activity like questions and answers and distinguishing the correct answer from a range of options).
Mins 46-55 – free activity ( game or Q and A session or some sort of more open ended /less structured activity where the student should naturally use the target language)
Mins 55-60 – break (this can go over into 5 mins past the hour to allow a 10 min bathroom break ).
Always end class by telling the student what they learned ( don’t assume they will know or pick it up on their own). Tell them the grammar labels so they can look up more info or do a worksheet on it if they want). This confirms your professionalism ( that you followed a plan and know what you are talking about and teaching them). TEll them the grammar point they practised, between 5 and 7 words they should learn really well from the class and one or two sounds ( pronuncation) you helped them correct.
You probably covered more, but only focus on this. Although you might explain a lot of words as the student asks and you correct them, focus only on mastering between 5 to 7 new words each class, and review them at the start of the next class.
#6 The Secret Sauce to retention and helping students make real progress is to review the previously taught material each class
I tell my students to ‘review, review, review and a little bit new ‘ each day.
This works to make significant progress because:
- it helps them remember what was taught -people need to be exposed to a new concept between 6 and 8 times before it gets into long term memory, and rarely do people review this much on their own, outside of class
- it shows you are organized and profession – and worth the money
- it cuts down on feelings of overwhelm – it takes years to really learn a language to the advanced levels, but taking it bit by bit makes it possible. Reminding students of what they have learned helps them feel they are making progress even though they can’t express everything they want to in English yet. Many students bog down and get very frustrated in the intermediate levels because there is so much to learn, especially new vocabulary.
- review using games and tactile and fun activities to reduce monotony and avoid boredom. Many people prefer taking in-person classes compared to apps or AI for this reason.
In the 5 min review session at the beginning of each class, I include:
1 question from the previous week
a few questions or ‘challenges’ from previous class (e.g. spot the mistake; is this correct or not? what words from last class can you see in this picture?)
Every few weeks I do a review of things learned in all the previous classes in a long game class ( e.g. Jeopardy TV show style ‘categories’ Q and A; BINGO or crosswords).
#7 Plan to take breaks during class and between ‘courses’ to aid long term retention
Life happens and students need a break from the intense learning that can happen during 1:1 classes. I set a timer on my phone every 25 mins ( one 5 min break per 3 mins). I plan a 10 minute break at the top of every hour. Students need bathroom breaks and mental breaks at all ages.
During the 5 mn. break ask them questions that help them reflect on their learning process and wat is easy and hard so far in the lesson- even this breaks up the class and reduces overwhelm and burnout.
Be aware of vacations and holidays and plan your courses around them. Don’t expect students to continue classes during vacations in South America. In asia and especially in China, expect that they will want double the usual amount of classes ( they place a high priority on learning English in China).
I set out courses for each student, based on the CEFR benchmark scale ( look up ‘CEFR Grammar Points by Level’). Breaking the learning into stages (e.g. CEFR B1 low intermediate , B1 mid intermediate and B1 High intermediate) that last 6 or 7 weeks each each allows students to feel they are making great progress.
This leads nicely into the last tip I have for you in this article:
#8 Provide students with a learning ladder
Make a series of courses that match the typical learning stages all language learners go through. This is your language learning ladder of courses. Students need to know how to make progress towards full fluency in English. It can be quick to get to a basic level of fluency ( 1 year) but it takes many years ( around 5 to 7) to get to high intermediate and near native speaker levels of fluency (e.g. university level fluency is B2 on the CEFR scale and the level of fluency needed to succeed in most jobs in an English speaking country is mid B1 on the CEFR scale).
Make a poster or print off a poster showing the CEFR scale and explain it and how your courses match it.
At the beginning and end of each ‘course, review what they will learn or what they have learned. Most students like hearing confirmation that they are using the target language and the language points you have taught them correctly. They like seeing checklists of grammar points covered even if they don’t understand them yet. (Their parents do at any rate, if you are teaching children).
If you don’t know your destination, they you will not know when you have reached it.
Students drop off from feeling they are not making any progress or if they feel they can’t remember what you taught them ( which means you went too fast and covered too much and did not include enough review of those language points to help them ‘stick’).
At the start of a new semester, or academic year, I like to review the CEFR scale and let them see where they are on it. I don’t list out in exhaustive detail the grammar and language points to be learned in each CEFR scale level, just give a general indication. Many students like to see the big picture roadmap. And always emphasize how much they have already learned to keep them motivated.
I always tell my students that while there are thousands of words in English, and how it is the fastest expanding language in the world, you only really need to use 20% of the words 80% of the time. You only need to master a core amount of frequently used verbs and words to be able to communicate effectively and at an upper intermediate level ( able to work and go to university). It’s not how many words you know that matters, it’s how well you can use what you know. It’s useless to know advanced academic works if you can’t make a simple correct sentence. This is why I teach vocabulary using mini-dialogues in realistic settings that relate to the student’s life, not just word lists.
Don’t ask the student ‘ what do you want to learn today?’. Know your English learning levels well enough to know what they need to learn next to be more fluent, and the order to teach it in. Don’t just teach new vocabulary. Teach sentence patterns. As I mentioned previously, you can look up CEFR benchmark and grammar points for each level to get a handle on this.
Pitfalls to Avoid: Student Led Classes
If you just teach class after class, with no curriculum plan, just reacting to the mistakes you hear, and giving long lists of their mistakes and new words you taught that class, you are going to lose that student. They will not remember the corrections from class to class, and will feel overwhelmed and frustrated that they keep making the same mistakes. Then they will translate this into believing that you are not helping them become fluent. Being reactive instead of proactive, (e.g. not having a plan before class) only works if you are hired to help with homework assigned in class and you follow along with the curriculum – and supplement it as needed- that is being taught by the teacher at their school.
Be proactive by setting out a course outline for each student. If you mess up, and discover that the student(s) needs to learn something first, in order to succeed with your chosen list of grammar topics to teach, then allow the class to detour to teach that grammar point. The better approach is to make a note of the error to yourself, and ‘park it’ and cover it in a future class. Stick to your lesson plan. If you have asked the student at the beginning enough questions about their life you will be able to pick relevant topics for vocabulary learning (e.g. don’t teach business English to a high school student)
Just change the vocabulary topics and sentence examples, not the grammar points to cover in a course/class, to suit the age and interests of the student.
If you provide a series of courses and let the students know the course ladder, then you are more likely to keep that student long term.
TeachingTip: I tend to use whole fiction stories and a lot of dialogue driven courses ( imaginary dialogues said by the characters or pulled directly from the story that illustrate a grammar point I want to teach) to teach English because it provides a wonderful springboard for using activities for developing all the language skills -reading, writing, listening and speaking and vocabulary development- in an interesting way that is easier to remember.
Afterall, everyone loves a good story. The ‘English classics’ resonate with students around the world, I have found.
When students get caught up in a story, they learn huge amounts of English without even realizing it. Best of all, the repeated exposure to correct sentence patterns and phrases sinks in subconsciously, so that the student writes and speaks more naturally, developing an ear for English and recognizing when something ‘ just sounds right’.
If you want to know the stories I have based courses around at each level (beginner, low, mid and high intermediate and advanced) drop me a line. I used to have a 2.5 year wait list for my literature based courses for elementary, middle school and high school students in a private Learning Centre in China before all English Language extracurricular Classes were restricted and banned by the Chinese government ( just before the Pandemic lockdowns). I know a lot of stories tat work really well for teaching English.
Feel free to ask me questions if you have questions or want more information on any of these points!