I've decided what I want to do here, I want to teach ESL. A couple of friends have let me practice on their children and after 6 months I've decided I want to go for it, starting after the summer holidays. I have several questions if anyone can help with any of these...
How can I put myself out there? I have made a FB page, but I wonder if teens even use FB (teens would be my main target age group)? I would teach adults as well, but I don't want to teach young kids. I registered with LinkedIn but I haven't done anything wth it yet. Do I need a website? What else could I do?
Legal stuff, I will start earning do I need to register straight away or is there a threshold (if so what is it?) If I do need to do anything where should I start? Do I need insurance or anything? Anything else I ought to be thinking about?
You could put up an ad on the
ETH whiteboard offering English tutoring.
In addition, you could also expand your offer to include proof-reading of theses, essays, etc. I've done that for quite a few students, although their English is pretty impressive already!
Great idea if you enjoy teaching English.
Do you have any qualifications to teach ESL? Your chances to attract custom and charge a higher price per lesson are vastly improved if you have for e.g. a TEFL or CELTA diploma (CELTA courses are all affiliated with Cambridge University and have to adhere to the same standards, therefore it is viewed as the more prestigious certification.)
FB is certainly good and costs nothing, I have also seen many people place adds in www.anibis.ch for such things.
A website is always useful, and the DIY ones are probably your best bet as they can be relatively cheap to set up and manage, after all I believe you would only need it for an "about me" section, information on your courses on offer, and contact details. Wix is a popular such website builder, though there are others. https://www.wix.com/
With a FB profile and a free anibis ad, you can place links pointing directly to your website as well.
I would recommend studying for CELTA first, which is a cost outlay of between 3500 - 5000 CHF depending on how/where you do it. Without a CELTA or similar you are an easy target to be labelled "unprofessional" by the competition, and they love certificates in Switzerland.
Legally you don't need to worry until you hit 100,000CHF but you do need to declare everything for tax. If you are not working yet, then AHV should also really be paid.
Good luck.
You need to talk to your cantonal migration and tax offices about becoming self-employed as it means a change in your permit status. If they agree you can do it.
https://www.ch.ch/en/becoming-self-employed/
https://www.kmu.admin.ch/kmu/en/home…efta-area.html
I'd second (third?) the qualifications thing. It's a hard enough market to break into with them - without may be a little trickier. Also, teaching adults and teaching kids can be quite different.
Good luck, however.
Thanks everyone!
No I don't have the relevant qualifications. I realise I could earn more money and prestige from doing so but I'm not as motivated by those things as I am to just be doing it right now I may change my mind later for now I'd like to cheerfully earn my peanuts and let people whisper
I've been away on holiday so haven't made any progress since the OP but i shall start tomorrow if not tonight
Can I ask what experience you do have? Just being a native speaker isn't enough to formally teach ESL.
Just practising with friends as i mentioned in the Op I've had good feedback though!
You asked about putting yourself out there. Have you considered giving Skype lessons? I've been working with a tutor through Italki and it's crazy convenient. I take way more classes than I would if I had to do it in person. Some teachers offer in-person lessons, so it can be a tool to drum up local business.
Obviously it's not right for everyone. No idea what you'd have to charge per hour to make Skype lessons worthwhile as a Swiss resident. On the other hand it could be a good way to get testimonials, practice or extra money.
At the very least I can recommend checking out the site for marketing ideas. Teachers have websites, mailing lists, and YouTube channels. The big takeaway from Italki is to have a video. I don't think you need much content to make an ad for yourself, just enough to give the potential student an idea of your teaching personality.
Please don't take this as raining on your parade, because it's not meant to be, just a "bear in mind".....
... if you haven't taken qualifications, how would you advise someone coming to you who does want to do bits of paper as a student?
...how are you expecting to gain any clients - at any rate of pay - if you can't demonstrate why you are qualified to teach them and take their hard-earned and...
...just because you can afford to work for peanuts, doesn't mean every language teacher can afford to work for peanuts. Please don't be a cowboy and put others out of business by training clients to expect peanuts as the going rate! (Obviously without qualis, I wouldn't expect you to charge the same as someone with full qualis and experience, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't charge a fair rate for your level. After all, what happens if - despite best plans and expectations - you did suddenly need to make a living from it?)
Having said all that, I applaud your ambition and say go for it - but properly
Thanks, good points, actually I hadn't thought about that!
You could start off by offering your services with general conversation; meeting up with students learning English and encouraging them to just chat with you perhaps prompting or correcting.
During this time, work on your qualification(s) to teach formally.
The advantage of doing the conversational service is that when you take the stride into formal teaching you can at least say you have a bit of experience which may give you a slight edge over those who are fresh in the market place with a shiny new qualification but no experience.
I can recommend the celta at IH Baden, I did it 2 years ago and the advantage over online courses is that it is tailored to teaching in Switzerland. There is a 10 week part time course starting in September, Fridays and Saturdays. It is not cheap, but working part-time around children in school as an ESL tutor I made the course fees back within 4 months and our accountant managed to deduct the fees from our tax bill somehow.
https://www.ihbaden.ch/98-1-Englisch.html#active_tab3
Plus online courses don't get you practice teaching almost immediately. CELTA does open doors in CH but get on a good course.
It might be worth doing a full time 1 month course in the UK, it would probably be cheaper, including living expenses then doing the same in Switzerland. It is what I did. Its only a month, you get to meet nice people and afterwards you really are qualified.