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Nigel Fogden
Joined: 16 Dec 2005
Posts: 1
Location: Vancouver, Canada
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 Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:41 am Post subject: Tutoring ESL vs Working at Schools |
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Hey everybody,
I've just recently started a web-site (and a blog) for teachers who are working as ESL language tutors and trying to find private students. Teachers can sign up for free and students can search for teachers in their area on the site.
Anyway, part of the reason I did this is because the majority of resources out there seem to assume that ESL teachers are all working at conventional schools. What I'm wondering is, how many people out there are making a living tutoring independantly instead of working for somebody else in a school?
Are any of you actually full time ESL tutors? Do you supplement your income with tutoring on the side? Do you see any serious advantages or disadvantages to tutoring compared to working for a school? If you are tutoring, how do you find students? How is teaching on your own different than doing it at a school?
Personally, I just got tired of working for other people, and decided to see if I could make it on my own! But that's just me. What are your experiences?
_________________
If you are interested in tutoring ESL, check out www.youreslteacher.com - post your profile for free and let students find you. |
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alisonboston
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 20
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alisonboston
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:28 am Post subject: Re: Tutoring ESL vs Working at Schools |
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| Nigel Fogden wrote: |
Are any of you actually full time ESL tutors? |
Have been .
| Quote: | | Do you supplement your income with tutoring on the side? |
Always have.
| Quote: | | Do you see any serious advantages or disadvantages to tutoring compared to working for a school? |
Lonliness. you don't even get invited to the school Xmas party , so you have tomake your own.
| Quote: | | If you are tutoring, how do you find students? |
Till now, purely by word of mouth. Though the best paying st I ever got came through a cheating boyfriend. (Her bf was on internet shopping for new gf and found me looking for bf and when he learned i was an eng teach he sent me the gf he was looking to cheat on to learn english. She came to me 4 times a week for 3 hours a time until she discovered where he had met me, then she broke up with him, got a new bf and well, then she was too busy to come ot english! But the classes lasted a full year before she found out!)
And the moral of this story is, advertise on the free dating sites for a date and tell them you are an english teacher...seriously. You may not get a date, but you're sure to get english students!
| Quote: | | How is teaching on your own different than doing it at a school? |
Better, more relaxed, less stressful, work the hours I choose and where I choose, none of those 45 minute communtes to teach 90 minutes, then 45 minutes back again. better rate of pay..
I can teach my style without an over-zealous DOS looking for their purpose in life telling breathing down my neck (seriously) - though I only ever had one DOS like that. That was the first job I quit.
| Quote: | | Personally, I just got tired of working for other people, and decided to see if I could make it on my own! But that's just me. What are your experiences? |
like I said before, yup!
_________________
Look at some art
Read some poetry
http://www.alisonboston.com |
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sigmoid
Joined: 19 Feb 2006
Posts: 81
Location: Southeast Asia
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| Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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Some disadvatanges of relying fully on private tutoring abroad:
Cancellations
No paid holidays or other benefits
No visa sponsor
Forces one to 'break the law' in many cases
Obviously it depends on where you're living and teaching. |
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alisonboston
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Some disadvatanges of relying fully on private tutoring abroad:
Cancellations
No paid holidays or other benefits
No visa sponsor
Forces one to 'break the law' in many cases
Obviously it depends on where you're living and teaching.
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All of the above are true - unless you are a very clever business person and can manage your finances and give yourself a paid vacation. The thing that most people who do private tutoring forget is everything you have said; they forget all that stuff and when the person offers them more than the school pays, they think they are getting a good rate. Then they realise all the things you are pointing out.
The best thing to do is to sit down and work out how much you want to make a year, or a month and then figure on your holidays, and add a percentage of your holiday pay to each month that you are able to work. Maybe in your region you can only reallywork 10 months, so you have to add income for two months to the ten months you do work - just like the school does.
Then you have to calculate your other costs: health insurance, etc. and add that in. Then you have to work out how many hours a week you want to teach. Then you have to divide your total monthly income NEED by the total number of hours you want to teach each month and that`s howmuch you have make per hour. Then you have to ask for 15-25 percent more than that for an hourly rate, and tell the student they get the lesson for 15-25% less by booking and paying for 24 or more lessons in advance. The more lessons they buy in advance the greater the discount.
Then you tell them you have a strict no cancellation policy, with some flexibility . For example, you sell 24 lessons, at 2 lessons a week - and tell them the 24 lessons must be completed within 13 weeks, so they can cancel/reschedule one week's worth of lessons.
That's how you do it.
The students respect you a lot more and you don't have the headache of unpaid cancellations sending your budget crazy.
Look at how schools sell their lessons.
Treat yourself like you are a school. You are agood teacher, don't you deserve the best treatment?
_________________
Look at some art
Read some poetry
http://www.alisonboston.com |
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