Private tutoring is a form of academic support for students who are struggling in school or wish to learn something outside of their school's curriculum.
Typically, lessons are held by a tutor who is an expert in a given field. If you hire an English tutor, they probably have a degree in education or literature. If you hire a language tutor they must speak the language you want to learn and have years of experience both with the language and as a tutor.
Private tutoring is most commonly done in a one-on-one modality with one tutor and one student. The cost of each lesson is usually set by the tutor and they usually charge per hour.
Tutors usually have experience working one-on-one and with small groups of students on a given subject. It is not like teaching where teachers are used to having classes with 20 students where they have to test and grade their progress.
Tutors don't necessarily have to test their student's skills but some do because it is the only way to measure if there is an improvement or not.
If you are or wish to become a Spanish tutor but you are having a hard time finding students to teach, then this article is for you! Continue reading if you wish to learn how to find students who want to speak and learn Spanish, what are some key strategies, and more on how to become a Spanish tutor.
How do you find students for Spanish lessons?
Finding clients as a private tutor can be challenging, as with any kind of freelance job. Tutoring lessons have grown popular over the past few years and even more so during the pandemic.
This means that more students are needing private teachers to help them with any given school subject or extracurricular activity. And since there are more people in need of help (from elementary school to university students), there are more tutors offering classes and tutoring lessons.
Like with everything in the economy, when there is more demand there is more offer.
This makes competition amongst tutors bigger and sometimes finding a child who wants to speak and read in Spanish can sound complicated.
This is why you have to make your work as a tutor exceptional. You need to stand out, prepare yourself academically to teach a foreign language that might or might not be your native language, and be a tutor that offers lessons that work well with different types of people.
If you have exceptional lessons each student of yours can go online and give you great reviews that can help you find more people interested in your Spanish classes.
The first step into finding a client is making your product stand out. The product of a tutor or a private teacher is the quality of the classes and lessons they offer. If you show that every child, teenager, or adult that has worked with you is at the top of their class or fluently speaking Spanish, then you're doing your job right.
People tend to believe it is about destroying the competition but it truly is about being the one that offers an amazing learning experience that allows people to dominate a language other than their native language.
The best tutors work and care for the improvement and skills of their clients, and nothing else will ever matter to them. As a Spanish tutor, you might wish for every student of yours to have a great experience in each class or lesson and for them to pass each level at the top.
What are the qualifications needed to become a Spanish tutor in the US?
Networking is key
One of the key strategies you should use to find more clients as a Spanish tutor is networking.
According to experts, "networking usually involves meeting new people, who share a profession, industry, or interests. Networking involves exchanging ideas and information between these individuals."
People often network outside their space of work, at social events, and informal situations. However, it can also be done at online communities, university gatherings, work parties, and more.
The key is to let everyone and anyone know you are running a small business as a Spanish tutor. This way people in your social circle have the potential to be your first clients and from then on you can start gaining great reviews and improvement comments from each of your client's points of view.
Testing each class and your strategies with someone you know can be a great way to get a different point of view in the matter and improve whatever you might need to improve.
Keep in mind that not everyone in your circle will be interested in learning a new language, so you must not feel frustrated if everyone you know is only interested in English. Networking is also about getting things rolling, and perhaps someone will have a niece or nephew interested, and you can start from there.
All you need is one prospective client to get your business as a tutor or teacher running.
Finally, another positive aspect of networking is that it is free, unless you want to join an online networking community, then that might cost a little.
How to prepare Spanish courses in the US depending on the education level?
Offer your classes online
If working with your community is not paying off, you can always find a bigger group of people interested in learning Spanish online. You can check out sites or platforms where you can offer your services to an online community.
People tend to go online searching for anything, and that includes Spanish classes.
You can create a profile right here on Superprof and find students from all across America interested in learning Spanish. If you feel like your location is a restraint, turning your business into an online business might be the solution. You can be in Los Angeles teaching Spanish to someone in Seattle.
To create your profile on Superpof all you need is to sign up, fill in your information, and add to your profile the rest of the information on your experience working as a tutor.
You can include the cost of your classes per hour, your teaching methodologies, levels you teach at, whether you're a native speaker or someone who speaks Spanish since they were young, your years of experience, and more.
You can also offer the first lesson for free! This way anyone interested in hiring you can use that free lesson as a trial run to see if they like you, your teaching techniques, your working methodologies, ask for reviews, and so on.
Allowing clients to get to know you during a free lesson shows that you are interested in their learning experience more than the money.
Keep in mind that if you want to be an online teacher you need to use other sorts of teaching resources. You can use video chat, video exercises found online, and electronic tools like an online whiteboard.
Check out our article on the average cost of Spanish lessons in the US to know how much to charge per class.
Persevere, you'll find your crowd!
We know that starting a freelancing business as a private tutor can be complicated and challenging. However, the key is to never give up. There are plenty of tutors who have been working for years to build a reputation and grow popular in their community.
If you are in desperate need of a good income, you can try finding a side gig that provides for you until you get your business as a tutor running smoothly and successfully.
Success won't come overnight, so you must be patient with yourself and the world.
You should also stay focused on the clients you do have. Because if you put all your effort into finding more students but you are slacking off on class preparation, then you might end up with poor reviews, which can directly affect your business.
Getting more clients can take years, but dedicating your time and effort to the one student you are working with who is interested in learning can be much more gratifying than having a bunch of students who are inconsistent and uninterested in learning.
If your student speaks Spanish after one year of working and studying with you, then your work will speak for itself and more clients will start rolling your way.
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