(Newswire.net — July 13, 2016) — Today we can observe a rather high demand for teachers’ services. Every parent knows that individual classes can give better results than a simple group lesson. Due to such high demand more and more offers appear around us from both training centers and language schools, and from private tutors.
So, you feel that you could reach success in this sphere of activity, or you already had certain experience in tutoring but want to move to another level, then becoming a freelance tutor is just what you need and in this article we will tell you how to do it!
Define your target customer
In the majority of cases, parents of students who have difficulties with certain subjects are hiring tutors to help kids improve their academic performance. Sometimes, instructors are hired to work with talented kids instead because their parents want them to receive deeper knowledge than school provides. Your target customers may also be students of higher educational institutions. Students more often need help with preparation for exams. Sometimes even adults need classes with tutors. Most often it happens if a person wants to gain more knowledge in their professional field to get a better qualification, or if he or she wants to obtain new subject, language, and so on. At this point, if you didn’t have experience in teaching before, you have to define for yourself what help you could offer and in which age category you want to work.
How to become a tutor and where to start
Such programs as Skype made easier many spheres of our lives, and teaching is not an exception. With its help, you can spread your services even to countries that are on the other side of the globe from you.
Online Tutoring
If you decided to engage with online teaching, there are two possible scenarios.
You can offer online lessons via chat or Skype to your students; if you need to provide some additional materials or collect homework, it can be easily done with the help of emails and tools like Google Docs.
If you don’t want to show your face and use video chats for teaching, you can provide assistance in a text form: a person sends you an email with his or her question, and you send the answer to it back. This is an unusual way of tutoring. However, many freelance teachers use it.
Most likely, by the time when you decide to become an online tutor, you will already know what subject you want to teach, and the most important thing at this stage is to narrow down your focus. A music teacher who solves mathematical problems and at the same time teaches English doesn’t sound like a professional.
- Define the age group you want to work with. It can be preschool children or, on the contrary, college or university students, every age group require special pedagogical approach.
- Choose an educational program (or create a unique strategy) that you find convenient and efficient.
- Select an optimal schedule of work. For example, the first half of the day you will probably have to devote to the preparation for lessons, so afternoon you can schedule your first classes.
- Determine the cost of your services; will the price per one lesson be the same for all students or will it vary depending on student’s age, duration of the lesson, and other factors.
- Analyze what strengths and weaknesses you have as a teacher. Perhaps, while you still have some free time, it’s not a bad idea to refresh your mind, learn and acquire new knowledge, qualities and skills that a good tutor needs.
Start acting, search for students
A search of students will be your main task as an online tutor. Over time, when you have built up a reputation, students will come to you themselves, but to reach this, you must put lots of time and efforts into building such reputation.
There are thousands of special online services for private tutors created to help both teachers and pupils. Some services don’t focus only on tutoring, but also offer academic writing assistance, so you can try to become one of research paper writers at such service.
Post your ads on the Internet
If you have already decided to create an account on the site for online coaches, remember that it is important to complete your resume properly. It should be done in such a way to interest a potential student. Convince your potential customers that you are a real professional of your craft and that with your help they can achieve unbelievable heights; and remember that a well-crafted CV is a half way to success.
Make the first introductory lesson memorable
Try to make your first lesson memorable for a pupil. Of course, it doesn’t mean that you must gain student’s love and respect by all means, but you must find these interesting details in your subject and the right approach to a pupil to make him or her interested in continuing studies.