Quitting the big English school and getting out on your own is exciting, but it can also be a big challenge. You don’t realize how much they have provided for you until you’re all on your own, trying to get students and handle the business yourself. But, it’s the best way to make money, and it feels good to be in control of your teaching. It is a little tougher than most people think, though.

First off, it’s not as easy as you think to get students. For most freelance teachers, it takes about a year before they have a full teaching schedule (and that means a full income!). It’s rare that anybody’s ever going to just walk up and announce that they’d like English lessons. Even with websites like www.findateacher.org, the students just come trickling in. Most of your students will be from referrals, so it will take a little while before you have such a busy schedule you have to turn prospective students away. One way around this is to stay part time somewhere, at a school or dispatch company, and keep that steady income while you build up your base of students.

Another challenge is the materials. If you work for any legitimate English teaching company, they will provide materials for you to use. They might be lousy materials, and you might complain everyday about them (ie, Nova!), but at least they are there. When you’re on your own, you suddenly have to create every lesson yourself, and this can be a daunting task for a new freelance teacher. Although most students prefer not to use a textbook, I definitely recommend using some sort of curriculum. You can always follow the curriculum from a former school or website, and then design your own specific lessons from those topics. Sometimes I even “use” a textbook, meaning that I follow the table of contents, but make up my own lessons.

As far as lesson planning goes, there are lots of ways to make it easier. One is to just take good notes during or after the lessons. That will give you an idea of what to work on next week and which areas need improvement. Also, you can keep track of what they know and don’t know. I would do this even for adult students who just want to chat.

One more thing you probably always took for granted is the business end of teaching. This means scheduling, handling money and student cancellations. For one thing, you will have to figure out a payment system. In Japan, most people use a “gessha bukuro” for handling money. This is a little envelope that you deliver the money in and write down payments on. It functions as a sort of envelope and receipt all in one.

When students pay is also an issue. It’s best to get them to pay monthly, and this will also help keep them committed to their lessons. In other words, if they pay each time, they are more likely to cancel a lesson; if they pay for the month, they feel more obligated to make all the lessons. Most teachers I know have a cancellation policy as well, where if a student cancels on the same day, they still have to pay for the lesson, or some variation on that. But, to be fair, you also have to offer your own cancellation policy; if you call in sick on the same day, you owe them a free lesson! Everybody does this a little differently, so you can make your own according to how you see fit.

Finally, you have to keep students. This can sometimes be tougher than you imagine. Basically, they have to enjoy the lessons, and see that some improvement is being made. You don’t have to use high pressure sales to trick your students into staying like some of the big companies do; if you do a good job, it will pay you. Also, if you do your best, you’ll get so many referrals you won’t know what to do with all the new students.