Setting up as an English teacher in London

Hi there. I moved back to London from Japan a year ago and have been teaching here since then with a small school that operates from a private house. The lessons are the cheapest I have ever heard of anywhere (£10 for a 3 hour session!) which is great for the students but not so great for me. Fortunately, it only took me a year to decide to set up as a teacher by myself (homelessness now threatens) and thats the situation Im in now. Does anyone have any general advice about setting up as a private teacher? Is it possible/desirable to teach in hotel lobbies? If not does anyone know a good place to conduct lessons? Whats a fair price to set per hour? If you are a private teacher do you find you have more evening or day classes? Any other advice you can think of would be great!
Apologies for the multitude of questions and thanks for taking the time to read. Let me know if you think theres anything I might be able to help you with.
Ben

I somewhat doubt that hotels would take kindly to it. I would try to do it in their places of work or homes at first. Have a look through here for some sites that people doing it have set up, which will give you an idea about pricing (I see on is £30 an hour) http://www.usingenglish.com/links/Tutorials/index.html

Thanks for the advice tdol. I had my own reservations about hotel lobbies, but saw that a few were used by teachers advertising on the internet. I have just one more question if you come back to this post: what do you think the most effective way to advertise is?

Great link - has given me some perspective and food for thought.

Thanks again,

Ben

I think it would depend on the catchment area- which part of London are you in or planning to work in and what sort of client are you after?

Ideally I would like to teach in the west London area where I live. Many of the students I teach now are au pairs/waitresses/child carers and are here to improve their english and earn some cash before returning home. Many are in their twenties and dont want to spend their money on a full time course with 10 - 20 other students in the same lesson. I have very limited experience teaching business English and would prefer to develop this skill at a later stage after I have got some regular students. Im struggling to think of places to advertise in areas where there is a dense population of potential students. So far Ive come up with town halls, cultural centres and meeting points for foreigners such as specific coffee shops and bars. I also thought about getting in touch with the emabassies which i havnt got round to yet. One frustrating problem is that I dont have much money and therefore can't afford to advertise in local papers/magazines. I've also heard that advertising doesnt generally pay off. Most of the students I teach now heard of the school through word of mouth. I would appreciate any feedback you can give me on this - thanks in advance for the reply should you find the time.

Ben

With groups like au pairs, who often have their own little groups and are all in touch with each other, word of mouth is almost certain to be the most effective. Find out where they go on the night off and flyer them in the pub. Also, try places they might see- from what I know, they check out places like ads in newsagents'windows as many are looking for extra work in cleaning jobs, etc, so ads there might be cheap and seen.

Thanks for all the help tdol, much appreciated. Keep up the good work...:up:

Best of luck.

Hi there,
I hope all is going well for you. I will be starting my own buisness teaching English as well. I will be teaching at the church I attend here in Mexico. I have a list of about 45, steadily growing day by day, of people that want to learn. I have done some research and have found out what the private schools here are charging and spoke with alot of students and ex - students about what they think would be a reasonable price. I know, I know, why ask the students? To tell you the truth I have know idea, I just did. To be honest, they all stated about the same amount (Half of what the schools are charging). I guess it is a God thing! As far as the time of day goes most of my students are wanting to learn Saturday mornings. Well, I hope this will help you in your endevers.

Good luck in Mexico. ;-)