This post should be titled “How to Teach Your First Private English Class…When You Have No F***ing Idea What You’re Doing!”
Because today I taught a private English class and I a) have no experience teaching and b) don’t have any clue HOW to teach!
The day after I got to Madrid, I was told the three best ways to get private classes are:
1. tusclasesparticulares.com – Make a profile and the requests will start rolling in
3. Facebook/ the school where you work- If you look on Facebook pages, tons of ads get posted- particularly by parents looking for native English speakers to play with their children. The same will come from working in a school (apparently- I have not yet experienced this).
And for free language exchange: Conversation Exchange
After making profiles on those sites, I had a bunch of calls, texts and Whatsapp coming my way. I responded to most inquiries- particularly those that said Hola Tamara yada yada yada, and not just Soy Interesado/a because that seemed like they just send that out to everyone.
I set up my first class for earlier today (Friday) and I was soooo nervous! I have never taught a class and I didn’t want to mess anything up, but I figured that the worse that will happen is that we don’t get along/ I do a bad job and I never see them again, or- at best- everything goes well and I earn an extra 40E a week!
The class ended up going really well! It was just a conversation class so basically we just chatted for an hour and then I got paid and then I left. Success, right?
So here are my tips for going into your first class when you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. 🙂 Like I said, I have literally taught ONE class and really have no clue, but this is what worked for me.
1. Be confident! You’re the teacher and they’re the student, so act like you know what you’re doing and they’ll think you do. Even though that’s so far from the truth.
2. Buy a notebook and use it solely for your private lessons. You can write little notes after the lesson about what you covered and also jot down if and how much you were paid so that you don’t get confused. Before going, I wrote his name, the date and then a list of questions that I wanted to cover for the day, which brings me to…
3. Have a list of questions, especially for the first day. It’s a good idea to cover:
- Their goals for the English classes. Conversation? Listening? Speaking? Being able to use English at work? Being able to write in English? What do they want to accomplish (overall) with you.
- Whether or not they have had English classes before (either formal or informal) and what they liked or did not like about those classes.
- What they liked or did not like about previous teachers
- What they think their strengths and weaknesses are
- What do they do in their free time? This will give you a good base of topics to bring up during future conversations.
- Would they prefer that you correct their mistakes while they speak, or wait until the end of the lesson? (Obviously I am NO EXPERT, but I think it’s a good idea to do a mix of this. Try to gently correct their English on the spot so that there is context, but also do a general review of mistakes made throughout the lesson)
4. The first day can be super informal and might not be an entire hour, which is Ok (i think? See I have no idea!!). You’re still getting to know one another and you can always tell them that you’ll make up the time in the next lesson or charge less for the first class.
Obviously I know nothing, but I’m so proud of myself for a successful first lesson! This student wants to meet 2x/ week and since it’s just conversation and since he is my first guinea pig, I am only charging 15E/ session (which is still more money than I have ever made at any job in my entire life). For the rest of my unlucky students, I will be charging 20E/ hour. If I can earn an additional 100E/ week, my rent will technically be paid (on my apartment that does not yet exist….)
Chao