Tutoring English Abroad

'm not talking about working for a language school, as i have no qualifications and Ithink that would tie me down a bit to much. I was wondering if anybody had had success maybe using gumtree of putting up posters in a university advertising their services. When trying to learn a language, its often useful for people to practice with a native speaker o even someone who has little knowlege of teaching a language can be helpful. Even though many places already have language schools by the bucket load, these people still need to practice their conversational english Has anybody tried doing this and managed to make any money wih it? I thought it would be a good way to pay for extended stay in an eastern european city, maybe for a few months if one could afford to rent a place to stay and then spend a while looking for hte work. What do you think?

If there are "language schools by the bucket load" there will be qualified teachers also looking for extra work. Why would anyone hire an unqualified person?

People do it,of course.

As #1 points,most of them are either qualified teachers (who may work part time for a school and the rest of the time for themselves)....residents of the city (eg married to a local and living there,so more as something to pass the time/pocket money) or else non-native speakers (who already live there and will often work for a lot less than native speakers would).

It is not impossible,but it is difficult,and it takes a long time to build up.And you will need to speak the local language pretty well......

I think time is the issue. Getting private students takes time. You need to establish yourself in the area. You will need a local number, home and understand the city fairly well to arrange meetings. The customer is pickier these days and "any old white guy" is not the only qualification.

That said, if you can establish yourself and if you can get a good base of private students, you can often make more than you would at the language schools. However, being 'self employed' will make it difficult to arrange the proper visas.

I agree with the above posters. This is a 'sounds good if you say it fast enough' idea. In practice however it is not easy at all.

Why would anyone pay you instead of a qualified teacher; how many students would you need to earn enough to live on; how long would you have to be able pay to survive before finding enough students; etc. These are all practical issues you would face.

There is nothing wrong with looking for ways to supplement your funds but counting on finding work to pay your way is another story. If you only plan to spend a few months in this country I doubt it would be worthwhile even bothering to try.