Starting a Japanese Language School for Kids

united4ever

My wife is Japanese and I speak Japanese fairly well. We are thinking it would be a good way to make a supplemental income if we could teach classes (focusing on small kids).

Just thinking how to start. We live in a 2 bed flat so not suitable for having screaming kids singing and playing games (want the classes to incorporate songs, games etc). I was thinking a community centre might rent out a room by the hour. Any ideas on where we can get started finding accomodation for this.

We live in Cheshire and within range of quite an affluent area so was thinking a lot of parents, if they heard that little Johnny was learning Japanese it might entice competitive parents. Do you think the local schools in would let us place a short advert in their newsletter or even let us hold the classes in their classrooms. Or any other ideas how to reach potential students?

Regarding costs, we were thinking £10 per kid for a 45 minute group lesson. Does this sound reasonable?

Any other ideas welcome. Thanks

amyandoli

Hello,

fab idea!

look up https://www.japanuklive.org.uk for some great work already out there.
ive worked in a secondary school, and set up a link with this group who find you a partner school in japan and vice versa, where you can create online resources, penfiends etc etc etc. gives you an idea of a similar theme and service.

to teach kids youd both need police checks (takes a while to come through sometimes). you'd need insurance etc too. and maybe you need to think about qualifications- child/teaching related. would you pay to send your kid to learn with someone who had no qualifications?

if you were working in a school, you need to consider what you can offer the school (must outweigh cost of having school kept open after hours- electric/insurance/staff on hand/a member of their staff to supervise what you are doing..., plus be careful. if one school decides they arent keen on you or your service, you can guarantee they'll tell theyre friends in every other school about it- i've done this and been told by others not to bother with people/services, and also been recommended things too).

if you plan to teach large groups, customers will question how much attention their child will be getting, and how much they will actually learn. you'll need classroom management skills too, even with young kids. people will want to know how and why you are qualified, some sort of proof. as your wife is japanese, she's obviously qualified in the language stakes- do you have any actual qualifications? i had maths tutoring from an actual maths teacher. my sister had maths tutoring from a friend completing year 3/3 of a pure maths degree. we wouldnt have paid or trusted anyone less qualified to teach us. howabout trying your local college (maybe its south cheshire college/dane bank?) they do evening courses on classroom management/languages etc, that would help. also what do the customers get- any transferable qualifications or just the ability to speak another language and a hm certificate?

hope it goes great! good luck, amy x