What are trial lessons?
A trial lesson is your first lesson with every new learner. If it goes well, the student will buy more hours to use with you and become a regular.
How will I know when I get a trial lesson?
Any time a student sends you a message or books a class, you will receive:
1. A notification in the “messages” section of your Taketutor account
2. An email sent to the address you used to sign up for Taketutor
When will I get my first trial lesson?
This will depend on many things, including the demand for the subject you teach, the quality and completeness of your profile and the availability you have set.
How will I know when a student schedules a trial lesson?
1. I’ll receive an email.
2. I’ll receive a message on my Taketutor dashboard.
Responding to student requests
When a student likes your profile, one of three things may happen:
Message: this is when a student is interested in taking classes with you but might have some questions first.
Instant booking: this is when a student books a trial class without sending a message first.
Student started booking: this is when a student started booking a class but didn’t complete the payment. We’ll send you a notification to let you know that the student is interested so that you can reach out to them and see if they need help.
Time is of the essence - Don't leave your student hanging
In all of the above situations, you need to get in contact with your student to begin (or continue) the conversation.
The speed at which you respond to students is incredibly important so make sure you check your account, emails and app notifications regularly.
Our data shows that if you respond to a message within 10 minutes, there’s a 90% chance that the student will book a trial class!
If you want your trial student to become a regular student, it’s important that you meet their expectations by preparing a class that’s right for them.
To do this, you need to fully understand:
1.Your student’s learning expectations
2.What your student wants to achieve
3.Your student’s interests (optional)
4.Your student’s level
You will find some information about your student in the “messages” tab, to the right of the chat. This information is useful but it’s not sufficient to plan a great class.
In this lesson, we'll go through the information you should gather from your student by beginning a conversation with them in the messages section.
1. Your student's learning expectations
You might prepare an excellent class for your student but if it’s not what they were hoping for, it’s unlikely they’ll continue learning with you.
This situation can be easily avoided by asking your student directly what they expect from their trial class.
2. Your student's interests (optional)
In most cases, you’ll learn about your learner's interests while teaching them and won’t need to ask before the trial class.
That being said, with some learners this information might be vital:
1. Young learners: children often find it difficult to concentrate, especially when being talked. Knowing your student’s interests will help you plan a lesson that they find engaging and exciting.
2. Conversationalists: if your student does not have a clear goal, it’s a great idea to ask them about their interests so you can choose suitable conversation topics that are of interest to your student.
Now you have lots of information about your student, it’s time to plan your lesson. If you’re not sure what to plan for your student, you can base the content of your lesson on one (or a combination) of the following:
1. Something they struggled with in learning this subject
2. Your student’s goals
3. Your student’s interests
If you’re an experienced tutor, you might want to skip the following section. If you’re new to teaching, here are some examples of lessons you may plan based on the information gathered from students.
Quick tip:
if your student hasn’t responded to your messages and you weren’t able to gather information about them, it’s a great idea to be prepared. Have some generic lesson plans ready, each aimed at a different level. That way, you’ll never enter the classroom without some materials ready!
Questions:
1. The best way to learn about my student’s goal is to…
Look at the information section and ask my student directly. The information section is helpful but the details provided are vague. Asking your learner directly is the best way to get detailed information about their learning goal.
2. Should you ask your students about their interests before the trial class?
It depends on the student. You always need to get information about your student's learning expectations, current level, and learning goal.
In most cases, you'll learn about their interests during your lessons together. However, with certain students, like young learners and conversationalists, knowing about their interests can help you prepare a great trial lesson.
The trial lesson is your opportunity to shine! If it goes well, the learner will buy hours to use with you and become a regular - helping you earn money and grow your business!
We find it helps to see your lesson divided into three different sections, which we’ll explain below.
Introduction (approx: 15 mins)
1. Build rapport with your student: this is the first time you’ll see your student face-to-face. Make them feel relaxed with some easy conversation - ask them how their day is going!
2. Introduce your student to the classroom: Let them know about the tools you’ll be using, such as notes, screen sharing and vocabulary.
3. Confirm your student’s goals: this is a great opportunity to ask the learner more questions about exactly what they want to achieve and how they envision your classes together.
FAQ: what if my student has a very low level?
If you speak your learner’s language, let them know that the lesson itself will be in the target language but the introduction and coaching stage will be in their language so that they can understand everything.
If you don’t speak the learner’s language, plan a way to express these ideas through a combination of gestures, easy phrases and automatic translations. It’s also a good idea to plan slightly more lesson content, as these stages won’t take as long.
Teaching (approx: 30 mins)
Using the lesson plan you created, give your student a lesson to remember!
Learners are much more likely to continue learning with you if they feel like they’ve learnt something new in the trial lesson and have had the opportunity to put it to use, so make sure the learner has plenty of opportunities to practise and speak throughout the class.
To help convey the value of your lesson, clearly communicate the lesson objective to your learner before beginning with your activities. It’s also a good idea to explain your reasons for choosing that topic. That way, the learner will see that you’ve really made an effort to personalise your lesson to their needs.
There may be some situations where, no matter how well you prepared, the lesson you created turns out to be unsuitable or not of interest to the learner. This can be frustrating and a little frightening but try your best to be flexible and accommodate the learner - adaptability is an incredibly valuable skill for tutors!
Coaching (approx: 15 mins)
1. Give your student positive reinforcement and feedback: let your student know what they did well during the class. Rather than generic compliments like “excellent work”, try to clearly connect your feedback to something specific that your student achieved. Also let them know what areas of improvement you’ve identified.
2. Ask your student for feedback: asking your student for feedback on the lesson lets them know that you care about creating the right lessons for them. It will also be helpful when planning your future lessons with that student. Helpful feedback rarely stems from generic questions, so asking “did you enjoy the lesson?” may not be the ideal approach. Try more open ended questions, such as “which activity did you find most useful?”, or more specific questions, such as “would you change anything about the way I correct your mistakes?”
3. Negotiate future topics of study: based on their performance in the lesson and the information you gathered about the student, discuss what your future lessons could entail. Some students will have a clear idea of what they want, while others will look for you to take the lead and make suggestions. Ensure you come to class prepared with a few ideas, to showcase that you have already started planning the learner’s course.
4. Ask your student if they have time for homework: if your student says yes, tell them you'll send them their homework task after the class.
5. Discuss their availability for future lessons: ask your student how often they imagined studying each week. Explain that the more frequently the learner takes lessons, the quicker they will reach their goal. They may not have time for an extra hour every week, but perhaps they can squeeze 30 minutes on a Tuesday morning for a speaking practice lesson.
6. Establish a learning routine: many tutors worry that they’re being too pushy or presumptuous. This doesn’t have to be the case. Talk to your learner about the best time for them to take lessons and let them know that they can schedule weekly lessons, which will ensure that they have slots reserved each week. Students who book weekly lessons stay with their tutors 20% longer than students who book single lessons.
Giving your student homework after the trial lesson not only provides added value, it also adds a degree of continuity to your class that incentivises the learner to buy more hours with you and continue learning.
If your student said they'd like a homework task during the lesson, it's time to get planning!
What homework should I set?
If you want to follow a traditional approach, set homework that allows your student to practise and reinforce what they learnt in their lesson with you.
As it's the first piece of homework you're assigning, keep it short and simple so as not to overwhelm your student. Depending on the content of your class, you might assign: a fill the gap activity, a video to watch, an article to read, a short writing task.
Alternatively, you might want to try the flipped classroom approach, which we'll explain below.
The flipped classroom approach
With this approach, learners are introduced to new content at home and then practise the language learnt in their next class.
This approach is designed to make the most of lesson time. If students familiarise themselves with new content, grammar rules, and vocabulary independently, the entire following lesson can be dedicated to practising what they have learnt and clarifying any doubts they may have.
Follow-up messages
We interviewed some of the highest performing tutors to learn their tips and tricks for converting trial students into regular students. One of the things we discovered is that almost all of our top converters send their students a follow-up message after the trial lesson.
When we asked our top tutors what they included, we received many different responses. Here are some examples of follow-up message content:
1. A friendly message thanking your student
2. A message containing the materials you used in your lesson
3. A message containing the homework task
4. A summary of the learning routine you discussed
5. A message creating anticipation for the next lesson
6. Telling your student to reach out to you if they need help booking more lessons
All of the above are good examples of follow-up-message content. What you choose to put in yours may vary, based on each student and what you covered in class.
Whatever the content may be, it's a great way to maintain communication with your student after the trial lesson.
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