Private one on one ESL/second language tutors of Reddit, how do you structure lessons, and what do you wish you knew when you first started tutoring others?
Hello fellow tutors, I'm a new, first time tutor offering one on one in person English lessons to the local people in my town. I'd really appreciate some advice on how to do this right so I can help people to the best of my ability and give them amazing value for what they pay. I'll start by giving some background info on myself, why I'm doing what I'm doing, and then what I've done so far on this tutoring pursuit.
To give some background, I'm a 20 year old American student who has been living in a smallish town in Southern France for the past year. In total I've been studying French for about 4 years now. I figured I could offer private English lessons, as my French has gotten pretty good, especially over the course of this year. I've also had an overall difficult time finding a job here. What made me consider tutoring others was looking back on the past and current struggles that I felt/have with learning French and giving to others the help I wish I had back then. Another reason is so I can give back money wise to my boyfriend's family, who I currently stay with, as they took me in and loved me like their own daughter.
What I've done so far is reached out with flyers. I got more messages than I expected from people who were interested and wanted more details. Here's how I replied to them (translated into English):
Hello X, nice to meet you! In my opinion, there's no one way to teach others, nor a set price for you to pay, as every person is different. To start, how would you describe your current English level? Are there certain skill sets you're most interested in developing (speaking, reading, writing, etc)? And most importantly, what are your long term goals regarding the English language?
Normally I charge 17 EUR per hour, with a free first class. Even after the free first class, you're not at all obligated to continue if you feel that I do not meet your expectations, or whatever the case may be. I am also very open to negotiating. I want to be 100% sure that you feel that you are getting what you pay for, and that the price is acceptable for your budget. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to me! Thanks!
So far, I have two people that want to get started working with me next week. The only thing is, I've never done anything like this before, so I'm quite nervous. I'm doing my best to read all I can about being a good language teacher so that I can make their lessons worthwhile. The questions I have here are,
- How does one go about lesson planning? While I have accounts of what people told me is their current language level, my fear is showing up to the lesson and coming up short/ being too advanced for their current needs and level. What's the best way to keep things interesting and engaging, while at the same time, easy to follow and value packed? How do you settle the level question?
- What about the pricing I suggested? This is my first time tutoring others and I don't have any fancy degrees. I stated that I was open to negotiation, but is 17 an hour too much? Too little? How does one know when to start raising their price?
- It's in the title, but what did you wish you knew when you started tutoring? Looking back on your experiences, is there anything you would change? Why?
- Any thoughts about the intro I gave? Too pushy? Too wordy? Any ideas on how I could improve how I introduce myself/ approach others on the subject would be awesome.
That's about all for now. Thanks in advance for you help everyone! I also posted this in r/teaching
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