The Churn
March 9th, 2007 by MarkThis week has been nuts. I’ve alternately gone from thinking so many students would quit that I wouldn’t be able to make rent to thinking that my student numbers just might double over the next few months.
On the parents meeting for my new class, only four came. But on the first day of class, eight students came and I got some very positive feedback from the parents watching. I felt guardedly optimistic… until I found out the next day that two of my better students from my first class had quit right after their semester final. With them gone as well as those who had failed, my first class would be down to seven students. One other student hadn’t paid yet, either. Without him, I’d only have six, plus eight in the new class. In other words, student numbers would be the same, but I’d have four more teaching hours a week. As if things couldn’t get worse, I then found out that for the first time ever, one of my students actually took me up on my generous refund policy and quit my Wednesday-Saturday class.
It was downright depressing to think about how hard I’ve worked, and how little progress if any my part of the school had been making. Worse still, I’ve been doing all this work for only 1/3 of my previous salary while watching my savings slowly dwindle. I felt my stomach churn… it was like a rock was lodged down there, but I steeled myself to keep going and focus on the positive- the students I did have were learning quite a bit, they were improving on all fronts, and they were even having some fun.
Then Thursday came. The kid who I thought might quit my higher level class was there. And then my new class was packed like I’ve never seen the room packed before. Two out of three of the students I flunked out of my higher level class were there. They’d decided to keep studying even though they had to drop down to a new class. Several completely new students came, too. Parents filled every seat in the back of the room. One father was even standing.
The class was great. Even the little boy who couldn’t keep up at all on Monday was doing pretty well. All of the sudden, things were great again. Something tells me that the “churn” isn’t over, though.
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March 10th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Things are always up and down.
I just moved to Taipei, and thought that I would loose all of my private teaching kids, but one family comes to Taipei every week and wanted to pursue their French lessons.
I am somewhat concerned about our new situation, because our main employment will only account for a portion of our past salaries. However, our new jobs have a lot more stress and we teach a lot less. And we have a lot more time to take on new students or search for other hourly paid positions.
I calculated that I was making 86% of my previous school’s salary, excluding my tutoring gigs, with 34% of the hours that I worked before.
March 10th, 2007 at 8:32 am
what if you have to combine 2 or more different level classes because of low class numbers? do you ever have that problem? if i were doing my buxiban again, i would probably get everyone to one certain level where the basics were already learned and the newness of the class would mostly be about vocabulary and conversation practice. individual writing assignments also work well for a mixed, intermediate/high level class. unless you have big numbers you will probably face the problem of having to collapse classes together and do some mixed level teaching. i think the above idea might work.
March 10th, 2007 at 8:35 am
do you get hit up for protection money? also, how do you try to get new students? do you have promotions like the first lesson is free or something like that?- from a previous post posted again hoping you will have the time/interest to answer. or else i will lose interest without a response for my efforts
March 10th, 2007 at 8:37 am
ps, i thing the keyboard sad face emoticon is much more evocative than the graphic one don’t u agree? : (
March 10th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Woah, there v! I’m not trying to ignore your questions. I’ve never been hit up for protection money. I don’t think that’s a big problem, at least in the city. I get students mostly through word of mouth, and people just wandering in off the street. We did send out a guy to distribute fliers, too. It really isn’t rocket science. I get students pretty much the same way as anyone else does… just with more elbow grease and less marketing. I don’t give any free lessons, but, as I mentioned in the post, I do offer a generous refund policy for any parent who isn’t satisfied with the classes.
I’m pretty opposed to doing that. In fact, I’ve been teaching a class of 5 for several months now, despite the fact that it isn’t really profitable.
March 13th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
but hopefully you’ll be open for years, so that 5 will eventually shrink, don’t you think? then you’ll have to mix them into another class. i dare you to say i’m wrong!!! : )
March 13th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
PS back in the days before foreigners were hired to teach English in the public schools, i got my most students ever by teaching a couple free lessons to a classroom full of kids at a public elementary school nearby. i guess that wouldn’t work now.
March 13th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
The class with five students is a first and second grader class. They’re working through the Up & Away series, my phonics system (heavily based upon my former boss’s), Dr. Seuss books, and a cultural studies program. I will take this class through the rest of their program regardless of how many drop out. It’s extremely unlikely that any of them will drop out before it’s over, but even if four did and I were just teaching one student for the remainder, I would.
It’s possible that I’ll have to compromise at some point, but I’m really, really adverse to negatively affecting a kid’s education just to earn a bit more money.
March 15th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Good for you, keep going. I think the churn never ends, in life, especially if you are challenging yourself. I also think it’s right not to compromise on standards, when you’re starting out.
PS If you feel neglected by the underworld, I can always hit you up for protection money. I’ve always wanted a sideline business…
March 18th, 2007 at 12:43 am
mixing classes doesn’t have to lead to hurting a kid’s education, you just have to know how to do it. i have to teach to mixed ability classes out of necessity in the us. it is possible if you are creative. eventually when all your classes shrink, you will learn, my young jedi.