|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Ask for help > The Money Seekers
The Money Seekers
|
you_per7
|
The Money Seekers
|
Are teachers really money seekers???
I always ask myself this question.
today I was talking to a woman whose son has a problem with English. She told me that she is against giving him private lessons because some cheaters (teachers) do not give all they can in their job, just to oblige children to have private lessons.
I hope to hear your opinions in this topic...and how does it work in your countries?
Are there any ethical principals in your institutions?? 
|
10 May 2014
|
|
|
|
manonski (f)
|
|
I don �t give private lessons. If I did, I would refuse to give them to a student of mine. I would seek another person who might have a different approach than mine hoping it might work.
That parent has a very low appreciation of teachers. If I wanted to get rich from my job, I would not have picked teaching. I don �t know any teacher who picked this occupation for the glory and the money.
|
10 May 2014
|
|
|
you_per7
|
thanks manonski (f) for your comment.
Just to make it clear. you said:
" That parent has a very low appreciation of teachers"
That parent is a teacher in another school. She said that with tears on her eyes.
|
10 May 2014
|
|
|
Kaplenka
|
|
I guess you won �t find many teachers cheaters on this site as you have to contribute to be able to enjoy the benefits. I always try to give my students the best I possibly can. Yet I give private lessons because it means some extra money but also because I enjoy it! But I would never teach my pupils privately, I guess I would feel like cheating on my other pupils if I did! |
10 May 2014
|
|
|
mohamedthabet
|
I personally daren �t attribute the term "cheater" to a colleague giving private lessons, though some may sound not really making the difference between private tutoring and trading. I �ve been teaching for more than 30 years and yet have never accepted privately tutoring a student, whether mine or not, for money. It �s not because I �m systematically against the practice, but simply because I can �t psychologically stand it making deals with learners (or their parents) to sell the knowledge I received for free. This doesn �t mean that all the teachers who accept to give these private lessons are doing this because they want to exploit these students and rob them of their money. I repeatedly witness parents who come to school or telephone us the teachers and beg us to tutor their children. I sometimes sympathise with these parents and help them persuade a colleague to perform the desired task. In short, teachers of English can �t generally qualified as cheaters and if there are a few who deserve this attribute, they are exceptions; and exceptions can �t make rules
|
10 May 2014
|
|
|
MJ_Misa
|
I give private lessons but never ever to my own students. I would consider it non-ethical to do so. I have been asked several times to give private lessons to my sts, but I have always refused these parents. If my students need something to explain, of course I do it for free - it �s my job and I do anything to do my students the best. The ones at school nad also the private ones.
As for the paying students, most of them study at college or university and they need specific things to explain. But I have also a girl who started learning English a couple of months ago and she is not motivated by her own teacher. She isn �t very clever so the teacher doesn �t care about her and gives her attention to other (more clever) students. That makes me so angry, because the girl likes playing different games in English, doing worksheets (her teacher never gives them any ws - do you understand that?) and she improves from lesson to lesson.
 That �s my bit, but generally I wouldn �t say teachers = cheaters (maybe some of them, but are those real teachers?)
|
10 May 2014
|
|
|
Minka
|
|
We have extra lessons for smaller groups or even individuals. They take place after the regular lessons. They are on the timetable or we arrange for them every time. (Teacher, can I come after class today?) They can be for the weaker students to help them with the basics or for the better ones with some extra activities - corresponding, reading badge, video making etc.
If the parents want private lessons, they don �t usually discuss it with me. Sometimes they ask for advice. I always tell them the child should do his/her job first and use all the possibilities at school. I also tell what I think a good tutor is like. I also make them understand it �s their own decision. I don �t give private lessons to my own students.
I sometimes give private lessons. For money or for free, it depends. If for money, I feel I�m selling them my time and work, not knowledge as such. It�s probably a part of human nature that these lessons are usually more appreciated than the free ones. I never tutor my own students.
I have learned a lot as a teacher from tutoring students who had dificulties in learning English. It gfave me a whole new perspective.
|
11 May 2014
|
|
|
s.lefevre
|
|
I give private lessons for children, adults
and teens (German, French and English). People come to me, not the other way
round. I don�t tell them they have to have private lessons. Some people don�t
want to have lessons with other people, some don�t have to much time, some need
help. Nowadays I don�t teach at a school any more and other teachers indicate
me students if they think that their pupils need some help. NONE of them
profits from the indication. It is not allowed to give private lessons to one�s
students, so if one needs tutoring, it must be a teacher from an other school.
I don�t get Mohamed�s idea (and I state)� simply because I can �t psychologically stand it making deals with
learners (or their parents) to sell the knowledge I received for free.�
Does that mean that teachers can�t earn money? First of all, many teachers had
to pay to become one because not in all countries good schools and universities
are free, secondly if a teacher publishes a book using his skills he can charge
for it, but to teach he can�t? Teachers don�t have to eat? They don�t have to
pay their bills?
|
11 May 2014
|
|
|
mohamedthabet
|
|
@s.lefevre , I clearly stated also that I am not against this practice when it comes to other colleagues. So I don �t allow it only to myself; Why? I simply can �t accept it. May be because when I started teaching, private lessons where accessible only to well-off students in the region where I was working, so I felt it was offering further advantages to the rich over the have nots. Then I moved to a better off region, but I couldn �t get rid of that old "dogma". I still hold the same attitude (not offering these lessons) though now for heart-driven reasons only. The proof is I help my students, who express their desire to get these private lessons, to find the teachers who can help them.
|
11 May 2014
|
|
|
cunliffe
|
|
This attitude just wouldn �t pertain in a British school; I �m sure. It wouldn �t work like that. You could be a useless teacher without ever pupils � parents asking for private tuition. Mohamed, some teachers even sell their wss and ppts. I respect your position, but I don �t see the problem with charging for tuition. My issue is, when I get home from school, I �ve had quite enough, thank you! |
11 May 2014
|
|
|
you_per7
|
Very interesting comments..... Thanks a lot.
when I said cheaters I was refering to a group of dishonest people who shouldn �t step in this sacred realm. Of course, I am not refering to my hard-worker colleagues even if they give private lessons. 
|
11 May 2014
|
|
|
