Month: November 2020
Storytelling can help your students learn English more effectively and efficiently. It’s a powerful tool to improve English vocabulary, listening, reading, grammar, and speaking.
Stories are effective educational tools because they are believable, memorable and entertaining.
Listening to, reading and telling stories have been the core of humanity for thousands of years.
There are countless reasons why storytelling is such a powerful tool to help students learn English.
Here are eight reasons storytelling is such a powerful tool to learn English.
1. Storytelling is simple. Without breaking stories down into their components and grammatical structures, stories are simple.
2. The art of storytelling is timeless. We’ve been doing it for thousands of years!
3. Stories are demographic proof – regardless of age, race or gender, everyone likes to listen to stories. Every generation and culture tell stories.
4. Stories are contagious – they can spread like wildfire. People tell and retell stories. Social media is making this even more so.
5. Easier to remember – we are much more likely to remember something that is told in context than a random fact or piece of information.
Gerome Brooner – facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they are part of a story.
Peg Newhouser – learning derived from a story is remembered far more accurately and for far longer than other learning.
6. Stories inspire – Have you ever heard a student say, “wow, you’ll never believe the wonderful new grammatical structure I just learned today!” Probably NOT!
But you have heard people say that about stories.
7. Stories appeal to all types of learners – in any group roughly 40% will be predominantly visual learners who learn best through videos, diagrams or illustrations. Another 40% will be auditory learning best through lectures, listening exercises and discussions.
The remaining 20% are kinesthetic who learn best by doing, experiencing or feeling.
8. Storytelling has aspects for all 3 types of learners:
Visual learners appreciate the mental pictures that storytelling evokes
Auditory learners focus on the words and the storytellers voice
Kinesthetic learners remember the feelings and emotions attached to the story.
Storytelling creates curiosity – we are more receptive and curious about the information that we are given
It’s becoming increasingly more challenging to convert a trial lesson into a paying student.Thousands of students take English every day, but there are thousands of teachers to choose from. As online teaching becomes more popular, it will become even more challenging to be the chosen one.
On most platforms, students can take up to 3 trial lessons to select the teacher that’s right for them. This means finding a teacher that suits their learning style and that they feel confident will help them achieve their goals.
In order to convert your trial lesson into a paying student you have to demonstrate that you have a plan for them. You have to convert them into a paying student by identifying their weak points and explaining how you will help overcome them.
How can you convert your trial lesson into a paying student?
In order to convert a trial lesson into a paying student you need to create a positive and professional first impression.
What does that mean exactly?
To start with, that includes accurately assessing their level and convincing them that you know how to and will get them to their goal.
In order to maximize the chances that you’ll convert your trial lesson into a paying customer, be prepared with the following:
1. Be prepared with a set of questions and tasks
2. Print the following on a piece of paper
3. Take detailed notes during the assessment
4. Create goals
5. Give the student an action plan
The following questions are meant to guide you during your student assessment. Use the Interview Assessment Guide along with these questions.
An online English Assessment checklist
1. Initiation and follow up
- Do they ask you questions to find out more details?
- Are they asking you questions that show comprehension of what you have already said?
- Are the questions that they are asking logical?
For example:
Logical
Teacher: I’m really into music.
Student: What kind of music?
Not
Teacher: I’m really into music?
Student: It’s nice.
2. Expanding and elaborating
- Do they use conjunctions? Sequencers?
- What conjunctions/sequencers are they using?
Examples:
Beginner: but, and, because, or
Intermediate: Sequencers (first, then, next, finally), conjunctions: as well as
Advanced: furthermore, despite, in spite of, nevertheless
Note: This is just a general guideline and examples of what you can give feedback on.
For example, “I noticed that you use basic conjunctions to connect your thoughts (and, but, because).
We’ll work on using more advanced connectors to expand your thoughts so that you state your opinion more clearly and concisely.”
3. Have they understood your question correctly?
- How accurate is their listening?
- Did they respond to the question you asked or did they misunderstand the question completely?
- Did they misunderstand the question because of a sound? Word? Idiom or expression?
- Did they require repetition? How often?
- Did they ask for clarification or for you to repeat yourself?
4. Are they making full sentences?
- Do they reply with short one-word answers?
- Are they using full sentences?
- Do they reply in full sentences appropriately and naturally? (There are often times in English that replying with a full sentence including subject, verb, object, etc. is not natural)
5. Pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, and pace
- Do they speak with an accent that clearly shows that they’re from (insert native country here)?
- Are they speaking flatly or showing excitement, disappointment, etc.? Do they speak too slowly, too fast?
6. Word Choice
- Do they force words? (Try to use words to sound like they have a bigger vocabulary)
- Do they use words with similar meaning but in the wrong context?
- Are they using idioms and collocations?
- Collocations are words that go together naturally.
For example, fast car and not quick car.
Others: light sleeper, early riser, to make the bed, to do homework,
7. Tenses
- Are they showing accuracy with present simple vs. present continuous?
- Past simple vs. past continuous?
- Future with “will” and future with “going to”?
- Conditional 1, Conditional 2 and Conditional 3
- Are they sticking to using one tense (for example, always speaking in the present)
- Are they switching between past present and future?
- Are they switching between tenses accurately?
8. Body language
Whether your lessons are in person or remote, body language is important.
Covid has made it even more important to be aware of your background and body language.
- Are they slouching?
- Do they look at the camera?
- Are they moving and aware of their hand gestures?
Other:
- Do they make false starts? (They start a sentence and then start over again)
- Do they repeat your question? (An indication that they’re translating into their own language)
- Do they require you to speak at a slower than normal pace?
- Do they show interest in what you are saying? How?
- Do they use appropriate reactions?
- Do they use pauses, fillers, and hesitation devices?
Umm.. Uh… let me see… how can I say…?
To learn more about how you should structure your online assessment, check out this blog.
Assessing English language learners properly will help you attract and keep them in the long run. Teaching English online is getting more popular every day. The appeal of working from home, choosing your own hours, and generating extra income are just a few of the reasons it’s becoming such a popular choice.
However the more popular it becomes, the more competitive it’s becoming for English teachers. There are a lot of teachers registered on sites, but not everyone is having the same luck in getting and retaining students. Assessing your students properly and creating goals will help you turn them into long-term students.
You need to have a system in place or you won’t build your student base.
Performing a quality assessment or needs analysis for students learning English is something that will help you be more successful in getting students to sign up for your lessons.
In past blogs we’ve touched on a few of the more important things in creating a great first impressions. Here’s a quick recap:
- set clear goals with your students
- Follow the 80/20 rule: Your students should be talking 80% of the time and you 20%
- Give them quality feedback
- Talk about things that they’re interested in
Make the most of your first impression with a quality student assessment
The first impression you make will either convince your prospective student to sign up for your lessons… or look for a better English teacher.
Your lessons are not about you.
What do I mean by this?
As much as I’m sure they’d love to get to know you, that’s not why they signed up for lessons.
Let me also add as a side note: that also doesn’t mean you should be all about business either!
It’s important to be friendly and smile, be aware of your body language, manner, and not just what you say but also what you don’t say. At the same time, you need to find the right balance between business and fun.
Create a sheet with the following headings:
- Introductions
- Purpose & Goals
- Strengths & Weaknesses
- Teacher-Student Connection (this is where you need to win them over with your personality. Be friendly, funny (but not inappropriate) and professional.
The following section is a breakdown of these key things.
How to perform a quality assessment of a student’s English level
Take the first 10 minutes and ask them to talk about themselves and what they’re interested in.
Make a list of questions in advance that start simple and get progressively more challenging.
Keep them talking and make sure that you’re taking notes of mistakes and things that they need to work on. Your needs analysis is not a lesson, so don’t go into teacher mode. You should be in the assessment mode.
If they’re more advanced students they’ll ask you questions as well. That’s great, but keep your answers short. Remember you are evaluating them and it’s an assessment.
What’s their purpose and goal?
Ask them questions questions about why they want to learn English.
What do they want to achieve? By when?
Ask them questions about their North Star, mid-term and short term goals.
Assess your students strengths and weaknesses
Ask them to evaluate themselves on what they feel their weaknesses are and where they lack confidence.
This should be organized and you should be able to quickly put together a summary and relate it to your notes.
Remember to take notes that will help you create a summary and needs analysis.
Encourage them to ask you questions
Allow them to ask you questions. Don’t ramble on, and remember this is about them not about you.
Answer the questions and smile, but tell them in a very fun and professional way that the assessment is because you are determined to help them reach their goals so you hope to address any and all their questions about you in future lessons.
And finally …
Summarize your notes using the checklists.
Explain that you’ll follow up with a detailed action plan of how you’ll help them reach their goals.
Praise them for their effort and identify 3 key things that they did awesomely. Add 2 things that you will help them with, and tell them you’ll send them a follow up within the next hour (prompt follow ups will keep them motivated).
Ask them how they feel and if they think you are correct in your student assessment of their weaknesses and areas for improvement. As long as you are showing them examples of what they said, they will agree with you. This is why you must write it down.
Getting them to say “yes” here will get you 80% in the door.
Having a template for the student assessment and needs analysis will help you to look professional, make a clear plan with actionable goals and create a positive first impression. If you do all of these things, you are 80% of the way there.
Good luck!
Every student that starts learning English has a different background and a
different motivation.
This means that you can’t just send the same lesson materials to everyone in
the same week. The lesson won’t be productive and the student won’t get all
that much out of it.
There are several online platforms for teaching conversational English. iTalki
and Preply are just a couple of examples.
The primary reason students choose iTalki is to have a conversation. It’s
a platform for conversational English and students (generally speaking) haven’t
signed up to master the TOEIC or IELTS tests.
Doing grammar exercises and correcting your students every mistake will not
make you a popular teacher. They are there to practice speaking and listening
primarily.
What are good topics for conversational English?
Everyday topics of course, but it’s best to find out what they’re interested in
and plan accordingly.
Everyday topics may include:
- Family – nothing too personal of course. Do not make them feel uncomfortable
- Work – same as above. Don’t ask intrusive questions related to money, etc.
- Interests
- Travel
A lesson about family can be as basic or advanced as you tailor it.
For example, Beginner: “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” vs.
Intermediate/Advanced: “Tell me a story from your childhood about your
brother or sister.”
You should always send or assign lesson materials to students in advance. This
will give them extra confidence, show them that you’re prepared, and give
them something to look forward to. It will also help you retain students longer.
If you aren’t guiding and leading them, they’ll quit.
How are you different?
What’s your special sauce? How will you help them more than other teachers
will? How is your lesson different from other teachers?
Differentiate yourself by creating and providing lesson materials that stand
out.
Tell them how you are different and how your materials and method will help
them to progress faster than other teachers.
Simply sending them a PDF with 5 -10 questions will not pique their interest or
motivate them.
You don’t need to follow the lesson exactly, but use it as a guide for the
student. Give them something to prepare and look forward to.
Beginner to upper-intermediate students often prefer something more
structured. It’s important to show them that you have a plan.
For example, “We are going to work on small talk, pronunciation, and follow up
questions in tomorrow’s lesson.”
Upper-intermediate to advanced students on the other hand may prefer
something more natural and unstructured.
I’ve touched on feedback and evaluations in past blogs. However, it’s important
to point out quickly again that you shouldn’t current every mistake beginner and intermediate students make.
Listen and identify what types of mistakes they are commonly making and correct them. Be careful not to overcorrect.
It’s sometimes more challenging to do with advanced students. However the
same goes for them. They’re there to practice speaking because it’s not their
native language. Therefore it’s absolutely necessary that you correct them and
give them more natural phrases and expressions.
You should be jotting down notes during the lessons in order to give them
feedback at the end. This will show them that you were paying attention and it
provides tremendous value.
Student Talking Time (STT) vs. (TTT) vs. Teacher Talking Time
Many teachers feel uncomfortable with silence and start filling it with rants.
This isn’t going to make you a popular teacher! They are paying for this lesson
and they’re paying to practice speaking. You need to facilitate that in every
way possible. Yes, listening is another key skill, but talkative teachers aren’t
generally popular ones.
Just like many things in life the 80/20 rule applies here. Your students should
be speaking 80% of the time and you 20% of the time.
If you’re asking them questions and they’re answering with one-word answers,
then you should be prompting them to elaborate.
What types of things can you do to get them to speak?
Create a follow-up question wheel.
Just a simple wheel with questions words around it: what, when, where, why,
how, and who. Ask them a question with each.
Create a conjunctions wheel (be careful that the conjunctions are within their
level. For beginners this should be limited to: and, so, because, or)
For intermediate and advanced, you can add more conjunctions according to
their level.
Just point to a conjunction to encourage them to continue speaking.
Listening: play a short (and I do mean short) video and ask them questions
about it.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, give them quality feedback.
Include examples of things that you spoke about, constructive comments
about natural expressions, and hint at something that you might cover with
them next time. Make sure you give them an idea and sense that you have a
plan. This shows them that you understand what their strengths and
weaknesses are and most importantly that you have a plan on how they can
improve.
Final thought…
No matter which platform you’re using, give your students feedback via chat
throughout the lesson.
We have a ton of awesome materials for conversational English. Attract and
retain students with engaging, quality content and students accounts that will
keep them motivated.
We give away lots of conversation material on our Facebook, Instagram and
YouTube channel. Follow us!
How do your students know that they are actually making progress? An
absolutely essential part of any student’s development is receiving honest and
accurate feedback from their teacher.
Learning English isn’t easy and without regular feedback, students will quickly get
discouraged and give up.
It’s wise to sit with your students on their first day to make clear goals. They
should be the one making the goals and you should be the one guiding them and
asking them the right questions.
These goals should be part of their student file. They should be what you the
teacher is giving them feedback towards and occasionally referring to.
Tips for setting goals for your students learning English
What is their “North Star”? In other words, what is their ultimate goal for learning
English?
Travel, to get promoted, to move to another country …
What is their goal for the next 30 days? This is the one that you really want to put
emphasis on and help cultivate. Remember that the first 30 days are the hardest.
Set a goal that they can and will achieve.
Simple answers like, “to speak more confidently” or “to take 2 classes per week”
are not quality goals.
The goal “to take 2 classes per week” helps to answer how they’ll achieve the
goal but not what the goal actually is.
This is where you can start guiding them right away.
Instead, ask them, “how many new words will you learn?” Or if their goal is to
travel and make foreign friends ask them, “What are you into?” – if they can’t
explain it in detail in English, then this is a great example of a short term
achievable goal. The same can be done with food, their job, their family… set
goals around things that they are into and passionate about. Make their goals
about them and not about a general textbook or curriculum.
What is a goal they want to achieve in the next 6 months? Set a measurable goal
here. If you can’t measure it, they’ll never know if they achieved it. Recording a
conversation is also a great way to keep a record and show progress.
Once you’ve established their short term and long term goals, setting something
in between is a piece of cake!
If their North Star is work related, their short and mid-term goals should reflect
that. The same goes for interests, travel, etc.
It’s easy to give up
Like going to the gym, the first days and first month are the hardest. Establishing a
routine and looking at the tough road ahead often discourages students from
pushing forward.
I often use the gym analogy because learning English draws several good
comparisons. When people start going to the gym to lose weight, they often look
in the mirror and to their dismay they don’t see any results. Then one day, they
give into the temptation of eating the muffin or pizza and suddenly they’ve
completely given up. The next day is even harder to go to the gym.
Learning English is similar. Students take a class, study a few words then try to
listen to a song or watch a program in English only to realize how much work is
left.
Bite-sized goals of 5 or 10 words at a time will help them tremendously. It will help
them see and feel progress.
And the same as the gym analogy, it’s often the people with a personal trainer
that get the best results. You need to be that personal trainer.
You are their teacher, motivator, coach and mentor.
What is “quality” feedback?
There is verbal feedback and written feedback. Giving students both types is
equally important. Often written feedback can summarize some or all of the things
that you covered in class.
If you are teaching classes online via Skype or Zoom or another platform, it’s
good practice to pause and message them feedback. It will show them that you’re
listening to what they’re saying.
Take notes during the class. Do NOT rely on your memory! Taking notes of
mistakes will make the feedback process 3 painless and rewarding minutes
instead of 15 painful minutes of trying to recollect what they said.
Also include a variety of feedback: vocabulary, grammar, intonation,
pronunciation, sentence structure, etc.
Effective feedback should be:
1. Constructive
It’s essential to give honest feedback. Include a balance of positive and
constructive comments. Too much positive feedback can sound insincere, while
excessive constructive comments can be perceived as negative and cause self-
doubt. Constructive feedback will encourage students to think critically about how
they can improve. Give concrete examples of what they said and how they could
or should have said it.
Phrase your comments like:
Positive
- Great job with … (what exactly did the student do/say?)
- You used the perfect expression to talk about/express … (what exactly did the
student do/say?)
- You’ve made great improvement with … (what exactly have they made great
improvement with?)
Constructive
- Don’t forget to … (what exactly was the problem?)
- Remember to … (what exactly was the problem?)
- It will help you to review … (what exactly was the problem?)
2. Timely
It’s important to give students timely feedback. What is “timely”? Within 12 hours
of them taking their class is in most cases considered timely. Giving students
feedback more than 24 hours after the class won’t have the same impact or
effect. It needs to be when it’s still fresh in their minds in order to motivate them.
3. Meaningful and Specific
Quality feedback should target individual needs. You need to focus on the skills
that each student needs to improve. Too much feedback is discouraging and will
just overwhelm your students. Choose 3 things that they can improve on and
make them specific.
For example, “You said, ‘He’s going friend house.’ – The correct way to say this is,
‘He’s going to his friend’s house.’ – Remember ‘going to’ and ‘his’ – Make 10
sentences with ‘going to’ and send them to me before next class.”
Note also how I gave them a specific task and not a general. Guide them and tell
them exactly what they need to do.
Feedback will help your students in several ways and will help you retain them
both short and long-term.
Helps to improve performance
How motivated students continue to be is mostly dependent on learning
outcomes. An excellent way to gauge this is by evaluating students. Feedback is
an integral part of how much effort they put forth between now and the next class.
It helps students understand and work on the things they aren’t good at. It’s a
written record that you can both refer back to and something they’ll actively try to
improve on each class.
Source of quality information
Teachers play a vital role in enhancing the overall learning experience. They help
to detect mistakes and highlight the key areas that require improvement. They are
a source of external feedback, support and motivation.
Positive feedback should result in a feeling that encourages the student to keep
learning. It should motivate students and make them feel like they’re progressing.
Offering constructive and clear feedback can help to optimize students learning
potential. You are their teacher and they trust you.
Gives them a sense of gratification
Everyone loves to feel valued and appreciated. Think of how your students will
react to your comment. If it is constructive feedback, it will encourage the student
to perform better. Feedback is also in itself an accomplishment. Students will feel
gratified when seeing and feeling progress. Your feedback will keep them inspired
to continue learning.
Keeping all of these things in mind when giving feedback will help you motivate
your students take more lessons but also to continue.
Check out Pocket Passport’s feedback and evaluation and counseling tools. They
make everything easier, more organized and help ensure that your students keep
coming.
To be successful as an online English teacher or school owner you need to maximize attendance and student retention.
This is what ESL education looks like today for many students and teachers
(or ELT, EFL, TEFL, TESL, English education…) Many students all over the world
are feeling down and depressed. They’ve lost motivation to learn English and
it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to keep them motivated and inspired.
This is having a negative effect on how often students come to class and how
long they continue coming.
Your English school can do better.
For many English teachers and schools, things were humming along
nicely and then BAM! Covid-19 sent us all packing for our home office.
Overnight online education became the norm.
Sending old-school teachers into a panic, their classes into disarray, and
learners into a frustrating, lonely world.
Students were left thinking and asking. “What am I supposed to do next? How
am I doing? What’s the goal and purpose of this/that activity?”
Not to mention the social component was completely lost.
How did it come to this?
Technology should maximize student learning potential by integrating the
most effective methods, tools and science available. Yet the education sector
has been the slowest to adopt and embrace technology.
As a result, instead of being ready for COVID, many were left scrambling to use
technology in some or any form. Many of the tools and activities served no real
educational purpose. They really didn’t help students move forward or give
them a real sense of accomplishment.
Instead students were left without clear goals or purpose. Student anxiety and
depression are up and motivation to learn English is down.
Why are we so behind?
How could the education industry have been caught so off guard? More
specifically, how could English schools have been caught so off guard?
Why have so many English schools been so reluctant to offer hybrid
solutions? Organized institutions have hurdles and hoops with politics and
bureaucracy, and so it’s easier to see how and why. I didn’t say understand, but
just see how and why. English teacherpreneurs and schools though … they
have no excuse.
– Doesn’t it just make more sense to have a learning management system that
is stacked with proven methods and techniques to optimize student learning
potential?
– Doesn’t it just make sense to offer students the choice to take English classes
in person or remotely?
– Doesn’t it just make sense to appeal to 21st century learner preferences and
expectations?
What do 21st-century English language learners expect?
21st century learners expect a lot!
For one, we are accustomed to instantly finding things out (think Google). If we
want a new recipe, we Google it. If we have a disagreement with a friend, we
Google the answer. Within seconds we “learn” things.
This is called micro-learning and it’s completely changed how many people
approach learning. And for a number of good reasons.
1. You can learn something quickly.
2. You can learn things that you’re interested in.
3. For almost anything you Google, there are images which help you visualize
and remember things.
4. For almost anything you Google, you have the choice between reading
about it or watching a video. And guess what? Most people choose video. The
interesting thing to keep in mind here is that visual aids actually help us
remember things. This holds especially true for facts and … vocabulary.
What about that “Magic English Pill”?
Twenty-first century learners also expect results. They expect the “magic pill”
effect. Why? Because technology has made everything so much easier to do.
Though there’s still no “magic pill” for learning English, there are things that
help make your students feel they are making progress. Progress lines that
are a part of most learning management systems are a great example of this.
They let us know immediately how far we’ve progressed and how far we have
to go to complete something. There’s no guesswork.
Micro-interactions are another example. Micro-interaction is just a fancy term
for those things that pop up on the screen and tell you that you’ve completed
something. For example, a thumbs up, or a badge. Micro-interactions provide 3
main purposes:
1. They communicate status and provide feedback
2. They help people to see the results of their actions
3. They enhance our sense of control that we have over actions
I for one, love micro-interactions and many argue that they’re the reason so
many people love learning apps like Duolingo (enter the little waving owl!)
Last, but definitely not least …
And of course there’s gamification. Everything is gamified these days. We earn
points for this, awards for that. Badges for this and stamps for that. We’ll go
into detail for all of these, but start putting some thought into these.
These are just a few of the things that can make a significant impact on
whether your students come to tomorrow’s lesson or they give up. It can
influence whether they quit today or continue learning English.
Incorporating these things in your lessons, courses and system will make a
significant difference in how often students come to classes and how long
they continue to study for. Find ways to keep them engaged outside of the
classroom and feeling like they are moving forward.
We would love to talk with you about your English teaching goals and how
Pocket Passport can make your educational goals a reality.
Almost forgot! We have tons of FREE high frequency vocabulary materials
that are sure to boost student scores on the TOEIC, IELTS and other exams.
Check out how Pocket Passport can help make your teaching goals-and your
students dreams a reality. And also very importantly how your class
occupancy and student retention can be higher.
There are lots of things to think about when making rules for your school.
In this blog, I’ll cover 5 things that every English school should think about
when making rules for class reservations. Specifically I’ll touch on what you
need to think about when making rules for when and how often students can
cancel their lesson. Also, what types of lessons they can take if they’re allowed
to take makeup lessons.
The answers to these questions really depend on the type of classes that you
are offering.
Remember, if you are too lenient, it will negatively affect your bottomline. If
you are too strict, you may scare students away.
A lot of what you choose to do also depends on how you market it. I’ve given a
few examples below and will touch on more on this in future blogs.
Here are 5 things to get you started!
How’s your schedule look?
1. Consider your schedule
If you’re offering more options to take makeup lessons, will you be able to
cover them?
Will you be opening up and offering new lessons or will they be joining lessons
that already exist?
If they’re able to join other classes, it might not affect anything. If you’re
creating a new class, how much will it cost you to open the new class? Is it
worth it?
Can you monetize it?
What extra value does this add for students? What is that added value worth?
For example, creating a super flexible membership level should come at a
premium.
How you advertise and market it is also key.
Premium: For the super busy businessman/woman, Mom or Dad whose
schedule often changes at the last minute due to responsibilities.
Basic: For those who have control over their schedule and come whenever
they want.
The way that you advertise and market the different membership types you
have will help your customers decide which tier they fall under. Worded
properly it will also help persuade them into buying one membership over the
other. People want to be looked at in certain ways.
How much time do you need to prepare for lessons?
2. Consider what goes into planning a lesson
How much time is spend tailoring lessons depending on who’s in your class?
This is especially important when determining the “How far in advance” rule.
This doesn’t affect some teachers, schools and systems.
How will the quality of lessons will be affected?
Will this reflect in my lessons?
How will this potentially be looked at by students? By this last question, if
you’re selling a premium lesson at a premium price and you’re allowing Jane
Doe to sign in for a lesson one minute before it starts … that isn’t going to look
like much of a premium lesson.
On the other hand if you’re offering a free conversation lesson, it won’t matter
as much.
How many students should I allow to take my class at the
same time?
3. Consider occupancy rates
Occupancy: What are the maximum number of seats in each class? How many
seats do you have to fill in order to break even?
If the maximum number of students per class is 4, how much profit will you
make?
“My two cents” tip: Do not try to pack in 10 or 12 students per class. Of course
this depends on the type of class that you’re offering.
Yes, there are methods and techniques to maximize student talking time in big
classes. On the other hand, the amount of quality feedback that you (or other
teachers) will be able to give them will be very limited. This does of course
depend on the type of lesson. Conversation based lessons demand more
immediate input and feedback from the teacher than a writing class (which
you can give written feedback after the class) Choose accordingly, but choose
wisely.
This is another example of how you might market lessons.
For example, “We only allow a maximum of 4 students per class in order to
maximize student talking time. We want to ensure there’s ample time to give
students immediate quality feedback.”
How many levels should my school have?
4. Consider your curriculum and level structure
How many levels does your school have? If you’re just starting out and offer
group classes, go lean.
This is an important thing to consider because if you offer makeup lessons,
you need to think about whether they’ll be too challenging.
If your school doesn’t have many levels, there will be more challenging going
from one level to next.
Generally speaking the more levels you offer, the easier the transition from
one level to the next.
However, keep in mind that the more levels you offer, the less likely you may
be to fill the seats until your student numbers increase.
The number of classes that you offer should reflect your student
demographics. In other words, how many students are false beginner,
beginner, low intermediate, etc.?
If you’re just opening your English school it’s wise to start with 2 or 3 levels
and tell students that you plan to add another level in “x” number of months.
There are many more things to consider, but these are 4 things that will get
you started when deciding whether or not students can cancel lessons.
As the owner of your English school, you need to define what your rules are.
Every sustainable business that offers a service has rules.
In order to create value for students and maximize profit, you need to set and stick to the rules.
One important thing to keep in mind when setting up your school rules is that
one you should only do it once.
It will hurt your school’s bottomline to change them. Inform your students and
be clear about what the rules are, and only budge in extreme cases. Being a
pushover won’t help you in the long run.
Pocket Passport: Save time, eliminate mistakes and offer value
Managing reservations is a lot of work. It can eat up large parts of your day
very quickly.
The Pocket Passport online reservation system is very flexible and is designed
for school owners to create a variety of classes and options to maximize your
class capacity. It gives you options to up sell students on benefits for premium
membership types.
Students will pay extra for flexibility. Offer a premium ticket package that
gives students makeup chances if they cancel their lessons.
Another option might be to offer students makeup lessons that are above
and/or below their level. By offering a plan like this, students will have more
options to take makeup lessons.
Types of Students and Tickets
Note: 1 class = 1 ticket
There are typically two types of tickets: Fixed and flexible.
Students with Fixed Tickets come at the same time and the same day every
week.
Students with flexible tickets come whenever their schedule permits and
according to what’s available at your school.
Cancelation Rule & Grace Period
The first rule you should consider is your cancelation rule.
There are three things to keep in mind here.
1. If a student cancels a lesson after this cancelation rule, they will lose their
ticket. For example, if your cancelation rule is one hour before a lesson and the
student cancels their lesson 30 minutes before the lesson, they will lose their
ticket.
2. By default, Pocket Passport offers a grace period for flexible tickets. The
grace period is 24 hours. So if a student cancels a lesson 24 hours or one full
day before the cancelation rule they will get their ticket back with no penalty.
So for example, if the cancelation rule is set to 60 minutes…
– the student can cancel their class 24 hours + the cancelation rule. In this case
it’s 60 minutes or one hour, so the student must cancel their class 25 hours
before the class starts in order to get their ticket back.
3. If the student cancels their lesson after the grace period, but before the
cancelation period, the student will get a makeup lesson (if you’re offering
makeup lessons).
If you don’t offer makeups, they will lose their ticket completely after the
grace period.
Offer value to your students
Remember you can create multiple ticket types with Pocket Passport.
So for example, your “Basic Plan” might not offer makeup lessons, but your
“Premium Plan” might. If the student didn’t buy the “Premium Plan”, they’ll
lose their ticket when they cancel. If they did buy the “Premium Plan”, they’ll
be able to take a makeup lesson according to your school rules.
With Pocket Passport’s flexible reservation system, you can assign different
types of tickets to different students in the same class.
What are Makeup Level Rules?
There are 2 kinds of makeup lessons.
Renewable and non-renewable
Renewable
A renewable makeup lesson means that the student can cancel their lesson
multiple times within the renewable period.
So for example, if you set the renewable period to 10 days, and Angela cancels
her lesson on April 1st, she has until April 11th to make that lesson up.
If she cancels her lesson again on April 5th, the expiration date remains the
same: April 11th, BUT she can reserve a makeup lesson again.
Non-renewable
A non-renewable makeup lesson means students only have one chance to
make up the canceled lesson before they lose it. If they cancel the makeup
lesson when it’s non-renewable, they lose it entirely.
Of course, you don’t have to offer any makeup lesson if you don’t want.
Again, this is a great option and up sell to offer your students. Offer 3 types of
packages:
1. Basic (no makeup lesson)
2. Silver (non-renewable makeup lesson)
3. Premium (renewable makeup lesson)
NOTE: the makeup level rules are the only rules in school set up that can be
changed.
What is the Upward/Downward Rules for Makeup Lessons?
Next, let’s look at the upward/downward rule for makeup lessons.
If your school allows makeups:
a. are they permitted to take makeup lessons in their level only?
b. are they allowed to take makeup lessons in classes above and below their
level?
If they are allowed to take them in other levels, how many levels above or
below?
NOTE: This is JUST another option and level of flexibility. You do not have to
offer makeup lessons above and below their level. However, this is something
that you may experiment with and change as your school grows.
What’s the Global Setting in Pocket Passport?
The global setting is for flexible tickets only. The global setting is for schools
who allow students to take lessons in other levels. This is a great option to
offer for students with low or high confidence. This allows the student to view
and reserve lessons in other levels in addition to their own.
If your school is set to GLOBAL, this will allow students with normal or monthly
flexible tickets to see and reserve classes in other levels.
If this setting is not on, students will not be able to see other other levels.
What’s the Advance Appointment Rule?
Far in advance rule – how many days in advance are your students allowed to
reserve lessons?
How far into the future can they view the schedule. For example, can they see
lessons 30 days into the future?
Last minute rule.
How many minutes before the lesson can a student reserve the lesson? If a
student can reserve a lesson right up until the lesson starts, you can just set it
as 1. If students must reserve a lesson 60 minutes before the start of the
lesson, you would set this at 60.
The flexibility for students to book right up until the start of the lesson is great
on one hand. On the other hand, if there’s a big gap between student levels at
your school, you may need time to prepare the right lesson material.
Final thoughts
Before you set your rules, there are things that you should carefully consider.
Check out tomorrow’s blog to learn the top 4 things that every school owner
should consider when setting your school rules.
