13th October 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Choosing a venue to conduct a tutoring lesson isn’t always easy. There are essentially three places where lessons can take place, assuming it’s face-to-face tuition: the tutor’s home, the student’s home, or somewhere both are happy to travel to. Each location offers advantages and disadvantages, and choosing the right lesson venue will go a long way to determining the success of the arrangement.
Many tutors conduct lessons in their own home. Obviously from the tutor’s point of view this is incredibly easy because there is no travelling time or cost, and it means that many more lessons can be packed into the day. However, the majority of students (or their parents) will initially be looking for a tutor to travel to them, and will need to be convinced that it’s worthwhile travelling to the tutor’s home. If someone is relatively inexperienced, even if they’re a fantastic tutor, the student might baulk at going to their home and the arrangement will be over before it has begun.
The student’s home is always a safe bet for lessons. It certainly keeps the students happy, and the tutor knows that the lesson starting on time is down to the tutor arriving on time; it offers much better control over lesson timings. Of course, it does mean that the tutor has the added burden of travel, and even if a lot of their students live in the same area, one usually has to leave half an hour between lessons to account for lessons running over and the journey to the next student.
Lots of lessons take place at mutually convenient locations for the tutor and student. Libraries, Coffee shops, Universities can all work well. The only real requirement for one of these venues is finding somewhere to sit down, and ensuring you can hear each other speak. Of course, this solution poses both parties with the problem of travel, and it’s not really advisable unless the student is over 18.
In summary, when choosing where to tutor someone we really have to think about what we’re looking for. Tutoring at home is easy for the tutor, but will restrict the number of students who want to be tutored by you. If we want the best teaching environment then often that will be at the student’s home, because it’s where the student will feel most relaxed. The important thing is to find somewhere where both tutor and student are happy. There is no point forcing a student to agree to an inconvenient venue, because they’re likely to simply discontinue lessons as it becomes more disruptive.