Teaching privates vs groups

[Hypiereon]

A couple of other things to remember when tutoring, you get to take off when you want, you choose your students, you drop students you don't like or don't want to teach, you can raise your rates once you get a "base" of students, and you work at what times are most convenient for you (on weekends of course because students do go to school.)

What I mean by a "base" of students is like the example of ten students for two hours on a Sunday afternoon. What you can then do when the school semester starts up again is open up another class for after school for two hours on one weekeday evening, but the rate then will be 100 RMB per hour. If that fills up, then I'll open another class on another day for 150 RMB. Never get above 10 students per class. They're paying for your exclusive attention, and 10 is the most they'll tolerate in China.

My per hour rate for 1 to 1 private students is already set at 260 RMB, but I've already turned down several people because I can make more in groups. However, I had one lady offer me 1,000RMB per hour to get her daughter prepped for an upcoming interview for a school in England - couldn't pass that up.

If you're good, repeat customers are not a problem. However, I've discovered that "word of mouth" advertising doesn't work so well simply because if a parent finds a foreign teacher good enough, they want to keep that edge for their kid if they can. They won't be telling anyone where junior is getting his tutoring lessons. What's more, classes are hoped to be small, so no one will bring a friend either. Kind of annoying, but I haven't had a class yet that didn't fill up within a month of opening.

[Bell Bird]

One of the biggest problems I've found from private students is their high turnover rate. Typically, a private only lasts a few months before they get bored or lose motivation.

Students tend to favour small groups as they are not only looking for English study, but also friendship.

Great for the teacher, because as Hypiereon says, there is more money in groups then in privates.

[Hypiereon]

Good point about the student losing motivation in the private lessons, and fact is, I find that I also lose motivation. A small group is more dynamic. Think of making lunch with only peanut butter as a main ingredient. You could go through several lessons making them interesting as you go, but it begins to take more and more work.

However, the same lessons begin to take less and less effort in groups as the groups start to "take-over" the learning process. This is true in a classroom as well. If you set them into a rountine that teaches them how to eventually "take-over" the class, they'll settle into the routine earlier into the lesson and the effort on my part as a teacher become more and more effortless.

For example: Speaking and listening requires a speaker. In a private lesson the only person doing the speaking is the one student. This gets boring quick because their mistakes are usually the same, and both of you know what to expect. Loss of motivation means higher turnover. In a group, each person brings a different personality, and the chemistry and unexpected surprise of what the next person will say makes the same lesson more interesting.

By starting a pattern of teaching that lets the students know your expectations, those same students gain confidence in their own abilities and the speeches become more free-flowing talks than the stilted memorized versions they were giving at the beginning. A pattern I've developed that works well was based on the debate model.

1. Introduction and presentation of topic.
2. Questions for understanding and discussion.
3. Answers for clarification and opinions for further discussion.
4. More opinions.

The first few times I introduce the topic, let a student give a speech, then I allow them to ask about anything they didn't understand and then I ask questions to elicit opinions. I slowly hand over the parts I do to the students. I begin to expect them to introduce the topic after I've taught them what I expect in an introduction. I teach them what "questions for understanding" are, and then I expect them to come up with their own.

As the class begins to "take-over" the learning process, you can relax more. Crazy thing is, the more they can do on their own, the better teacher they think you are.