I have been working with Teacher-Student.com for over two years now. In that time, they have provided me with consistent and interesting work. A large number of the students I currently teach were introduced to me by Teacher-Student.com. I have always been happy with the service they provide and feel that, if you are looking for new students, there are no better companies out there.

Teachers set their own conditions and these are respected by the staff at Teacher-Student.com. The staff/instructor relationship is strong at the company and this reflects the importance of cooperation between members of staff and teachers. At Teacher-Student.com, the student can get exactly the kind of lesson they want; the teacher does not have to follow any criteria laid down by a school or trainer. The teacher just needs to listen to the staff and the students themselves to find out what they want and hope to achieve. It is important for instructors to listen to their students' goals and try to provide a learning experience to match the students' expectations. In return for this, the instructor can set their own available hours and fee. I would recommend Teacher-Student.com very highly.

All the best,

Stephen

The main advantage of having the coordinator close by is that the student will be more comfortable. Even the good speakers of English will get nervous in the trial. Then the other key factor is that the coordinator can deal with things in Japanese. After a trial lesson, coordinators report good point or appealing point of you in the Japanese sites. It will help you to have more students. Once you have nice comments in your profile, other prospective students will read them, so you get many students by word of mouth.

About lesson locations, I recommend for new teachers to find somewhere not too noisy and where the tables are a little distance apart - many students will lock-up if they think others are listening to them speaking English. I now have three lessons in a row at the same place allowing me to use my time more efficiently.

For new teachers, here is some advice. Have plenty of relevant material and topics. Dont push the students too much as they will give up if they feel they are not improving. Most students seem to have a good idea of what they want to cover so listening to them and being flexible is a good recipe for a successful lesson.

Stuart

I have been very pleased with the assistance in finding students through teacher-student.com. I have found most of my private students through teacher-student.com. Here is some advice I have to new teachers:

Japanese language skills are an advantage when teaching English:
When teaching beginner level English to Japanese students, I find that using some basic Japanese to explain things more clearly helps the students understand better. Also because I speak some Japanese I can understand what a student means when they translate word for word from Japanese to English. Word for word translation frequently doesn't always make sense, but through my understanding of Japanese I can make sense of it and help the students find the appropriate words or phrases to clearly express their thoughts.

How I choose my teaching areas:
I choose my teaching areas based on convenient and fairly quiet locations. Sometimes this combination is difficult to find, but if you look around the corner of popular or large stations, you may find a cafe or restaurant that is not very crowded. Sometimes newly opened cafes are less crowded for the first few months. I teach in all places along the way and at locations that I will be working at or going to on a weekly basis.

Being on time is important.
Japanese are very timely people. Students expect you to be on time, and not even a minute late. Treating private students as professionally as you would an office job will improve your relationship with your students.

Have fun, be friendly, and enjoy teaching.
Also having a good sense of humor and showing that you really care about the student's progress will help the student relax and study more efficiently. If you really enjoy teaching, it will show and your students will see it.

Kind Regards,

Melanie

Hi - I'm Nick! I'm one of the teachers from Teacher-Student.com. If you're here looking for a 'Teacher/Student' matching service then I can honestly recommend this site. I've been a member for quite a while now and I've gained lots of new students through this service. I've always found the staff to be helpful when arranging initial interviews with new students. To be honest, I was a little skeptical at first of their system. I'd got students previously through another well known website so I wasn't sure if I was comfortable with a Teacher-Student staff member being present during my initial meetings with students when the other websites hadn't provided such a service. These meetings can be nerve wracking for both teacher and student alike and I didn't want to feel like I was being 'assessed'. After my first demo though, my worries were allayed and I realized that a bilingual staff member being present eased any difficulties of arranging payment and schedules.

If you decide to register with Teacher-Student then I recommend doing a few things first to increase the number of students you might get:

1) Include a picture in your profile ? I honestly think that this alone is a huge deciding factor for students browsing your profile

2) Try to decide on a curriculum that you want to teach and stick with it. Whether it's choosing a line of textbooks or making your own materials, try to be consistent. Teaching from a wide range of materials makes you seem less professional

3) I think that dressing smartly is important too. It makes you seem more professional and dissuades any feelings your students might get of being 'your friend'

Finally, you need to decide your price. A fine balance is important as you don't want to price yourself out of the market whilst at the same time, it's important to recognize your own value to a student.

That's all from me! Best of luck finding new students through Teacher-Student.com!

Nick

Finding private students or even being introduced to a company can sometimes be very difficult. Teacher-student offers a very reliable and well organized system of matching appropriate students to appropriate teachers.

A coordinator is also a great asset for the teachers, very often a student may have a misunderstanding with a teacher about, for example schedules or lesson plans, the coordinator can play a big part in helping both of them come to an understanding, especially when neither teacher or student cannot communicate very well in each others language.

For new teachers, it is very important to chose your teaching area in the profile, because most of students chose a teacher by lesson locations, at first. So decide the location of your teaching area depending on your location, availability and situation.

Preferably if teachers have the space at their homes and it is not too far from the station this would be ideal. If you chose a residential area for your lesson place, there are a lot of students who would like to take lessons after students' work, so if you teach late at night such as until 10:00pm, you'll have more students.

However, if a coffee shop is your only choice then select perhaps three in advance at your chosen locations and make sure they are not too busy.

About lessons, students come first. Listen to their needs and goals and plan accordingly. Respect the student at all times but try your best to help the student feel comfortable. Look at the students weak points and strong points and build on them. Never talk about personal issues with a new student, this can make most people very uncomfortable.

Practice doing a lesson with a friend first. Research the materials that you would feel comfortbale using during a lesson, remember to research materials for different levels of English. And most of all remember that the students are going to be more nervous than you. Do not use materials that you don't fully understand.

Best regards,

Paul

I have met very wonderful, serious students through this system and appreciate a co ordinator to help　translate at times and to make sure the meetings to smoothly.

About lesson locations, I usually teach near my house as often I am on the trains so I try to reduce the time spent on trains as much as possible. To do that, it is better to keep your lesson location from your nearest station to the place you move usually, such as stations near your working place, school, or friends house. If the places you are using change by the day of the week, it is better for you to put the information on your profile or send an e-mail to teacher-student.com about your lesson locations and available time.

For new teachers, it is really important to know your student's goals. It will help you both to maintain focus. Keep your lessons comtemporary and interesting. Humor and flexiblity is important in teaching man to man English conversation lessons.
Things like reading and grammar can be done for homework - in classes maximize students speaking and listening opportunities. Identify students weaknesses and continue to work on them. Make a class/lesson plan with students so you meet their needs and plan accordingly.

Kathy

I am happy with the students I have from teacher-student.com - and most of the students I have been introduced to took several months of lessons. The fact that a coordinator, accompanies the student for the first meeting is great because of the extra persuasion to begin lessons.

About lesson locations, I recommend for new teachers to travel for lessons. If you'll chose metropolice as your lesson location, you better think these locations have a lots of prospective students but also have a lots of rivals too. So if you chose these places, I recommend for new teachers to make your profile attractive. Appeal your unique points to make differences from competitors. If you change your photo in some period of time, it will refresh your profile looks new. Of course chose every line coming into the station and even if they are near station that you can get on foot, include those lines also in your lesson area.

About lesson fee, how much you charge for one lesson depends on each teacher, so you can decide your lesson fee by yourself. If you can attract students, it is possible for you to raise your lesson fee for new students. I have developed a specific approach to work with the students, and can explain the benefits to them. This seems to be why I can charge higher costs than average fee (3,000-3,500 yen). If you think carefully about your strengths and preferences as a teacher, and can present these as unique and beneficial to prospective students, you can attract and keep loyal students.

Steve

The following are some advice and teaching tips.

Professional conduct towards your agents and students:

Return mail messages and/or phone calls as promptly as possible, to your students and agents. If busy just send a short message of acknowledgement.

Remember the nature of private teaching; it is such that there will always be cancellations and rescheduling. Maintain your flexibility and be as accommodating as possible.

As far as cancellation fee are concerned, be fair. Many agencies expect the cancellation fee to be the same as the lesson fee for both teachers and students. This can be altered, but always make sure this is clarified from the beginning.

Teaching your students:

Most Japanese English students have been drilled with grammar and vocabulary during their junior and high school years, what they lack most is the chance to speak and listen to an English native speaker.

Try to balance talking and listening time according to the student's level of ability; you will familiarize yourself with this as you become more experienced. At the outset as an instructor of the English language, accumulate teaching techniques and apply them according to your teaching style and student learning style.

Have a lesson plan. There are a number of ways in which lessons can be taught, however keep in mind the students learning objectives, in accordance with your student's style of learning and your style of teaching with as much listening and speaking time as possible.

*NB:This is an extract from Mr.Ryan Ahamer's "Professional Conduct and Teaching as a Private English Instructor.