Frequently Asked Questions - Creating your profile

First impression counts, and you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Studies show that having a good profile picture increases the chances of your profile being opened by 7 times! Your photo will not only help students trust you, but it will also tell them something about your personality.

Follow our simple tips and take a profile picture that shows the best version of yourself.

Good examples

Frame

You should be the only subject of the photo. This means no objects, sunglasses, hats, group shots, or photos of you with your family or pets. Use a head-to-shoulders or head-to-waist frame to be recognizable. Avoid full body shots.

Friendly and professional

Make eye contact, smile and dress appropriately.

Background

Simple, single color background or background in a classroom/teaching setting is a good pick. Make sure the background is not distracting.

Light

Natural light is the best option. Your face should not look dark.

Focus

The background could be slightly out of focus but not your face.

Bad examples

Technical guidelines

Files must be less than 5 MB. Allowed file types: png, gif, jpg, jpeg.

Many students prefer watching a presentation video of the teacher instead of reading a text. It is easier, faster and gives a better idea of the personality of the teacher. To ensure your video has the desired effect of receiving lesson requests follow a few simple rules:

Keep it short

The maximum length of your video should be 1 minute. Statistics show that even the most interesting videos can lose the audience’s attention in the second minute.

Picture and sound quality

Make sure you can be heard and seen clearly. Shoot the video in a quiet environment with your microphone close to your face. Natural light and a good camera/smartphone increase the quality of the video. 

Background

Preferably, take the video at the place where you will be teaching your classes. Choose a plain background or a classroom setting.

Language

Think about who your target students are and record the video in the language that they speak. English is also a good option. Avoid combinations of languages in one video. Use subtitles to make sure that even beginner students can follow what you are saying.

Content

Demonstrate your key message first by emphasizing the language(s) that you teach. Then speak about:

• Your education 
• Your experience in teaching
• What methods and material do you use?
• Why should the student pick you?
• Your personality and interests

Tip: Create a script to make sure your presentation is brief and relevant.

Appearance 

This is your time to sell yourself to the student so dress professionally, smile, and show enthusiasm and energy.

Upload

Upload the video on YouTube.

Then go to My profile → Edit → Personal information → Presentation video and paste the YouTube link into the presentation video field.

To set your general availability go to My profile → Edit  → Availability.

Click on the hours of the different days of the week to activate the field. Green boxes in the calendar mean availability to teach, grey boxes mean that you are not available.

The general availability is just an approximation of your teaching availability. Even after a lesson request, you can always change the date and time in consultation with your student.

To set your price per hour go to My profile → Pricing.

Choose your price for a language lesson via Skype for 60 min. The price is in EURO (€).

You can update your price per hour at any time.

If you teach groups, the pricing goes as following.

Imagine you receive €15/h for individual lessons. You hourly rate goes up if you teach multiple students.

• If you teach 2 students, your earnings raise with 40%: €21/h (Note: this is the total amount you receive, so for teaching both students. You receive 21 euro/hour once, not from both students individually).
• If you teach 3 students, your earnings raise with 50%: €22,5/h.
• If you teach 3+ students, your earnings raise with 60% which results in an hourly wage of €24/h.

To add your education and work experience go to My profile → Edit → Work experience and Education.

Education

List your:

• School or institution name
• The name of your degree
• The city and country of the institution
• Time period of attendance
• Description of courses taken
• Curricular and extra-curricular activities
• etc. 

You can add more schools by clicking on "Add another school" and remove the existing ones by clicking on "Remove".

Work experience

List the:

• Company's name
• Your position
• The city and country
• Time period of employment

You can add more fields by clicking on "Add another work experience" and remove the existing ones by clicking on "Remove".

You can describe your offer on your profile. Your offer text should consist out of the following information:

• What makes you a good teacher and why should students choose you?  
• What kind of teaching methods do you use? 
• What learning materials do you use to teach?
• Your experience and education. 

Translate your offer text in the languages that you speak to reach students from different countries.