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The Solo Sensei - Findteacher.Net's Newsletter
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Volume #3 August 27, 2001
IN THIS ISSUE
1. findateacher.Net News
2. Site Upgrades
3. WIN - Longman's "How to Teach English"
4. Want a Photo Touch Up?
5. Why did we make findateacher.Net?
6. POWER TIP - Decide Your Pricing Strategy
7. More Helpful Tips
8. How can we help you?
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1. findateacher.Net News
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We are pleased to announce that since our last issue of this newsletter (SoloSensei #2), over 450 different teachers' contact information has been distributed to students. For those of you still waiting for a response - don't worry. Hits to the site grow daily PLUS our advertising campaign is in its upswing. This means more and more new students will be browsing and looking at your record - and could be choosing you as their new language teacher.
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2. Site Upgrades
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A. New Fields
In order to further distinguish yourself as a teacher AND to provide students with as much information about you as possible, new optional fields have been added to your record. These are: favorite movie, food, color and season, plus your blood type and astrological sign.
We know...we know....these fields themselves may have very little to do with your actual teaching but proved quiet popular in among students in our in-house testing. If you'd like to add these to your record, please log into your record and go to page 4 of the registration form.
Beyond these, there are currently no plans for more fields. However, there will be some revamping of existing fields.
B. Advanced Search
Advanced Search for students is under construction now and should be ready in the next couple of weeks. Currently, students can sort the teachers from top to bottom by clicking the link on the top of each search column. Curious? See
http://209.35.63.179/cgi-bin/tsearchJ.cgi
Advanced search will allow them to browse more precisely for a certain type of teacher. For example, students will be able to browse for a 20-30 year old English teacher from Wales who enjoys skiing whose lessons are 3000 yen per hour.
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3. WIN - Longman's "How to Teach English" (retail ¥4,100)
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Congratulations to Canada's own Blair Anderson (Niigata-Ken) for winning the ¥17,000 Longman Interactive English Dictionary last month.
This month, TWO of the first 150 teacher who update their record will be randomly chosen to receive a copy of Longman's "How To Teach English" - probably a book many of us need more than we'd like to admit.
Part of Longman's "How To" series, "How To Teach English" covers how teachers can make classes better, specific teaching methods, ideas on textbook use, lesson planning and (best of all!) coping with the unexpected.
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4. Want a Photo Touch Up?
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When we receive photos, they are re-sized and edited before being added to your record. If you are unhappy with the results of our editing, please tell us and we'll redo your photo for you.
ALSO - if you think your existing photo is cloudy, unclear, too dark, too light OR there's something OR someone you'd like cut out of your photo - let us know. We'll do our best to bring your photo back to life and help make it look the way you want.
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5. Why did we make findateacher.Net?
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Are we philanthropic by nature? Are we the 8th wonder of the world? Maybe those too - but....
Many have asked so here are 4 of the many real reasons:
1. A personal interest in putting an end to being repeatedly asked "Do you know someone in XYZ-city who can teach XYZ-langauage?"
2. A desire to stop the bad feeling in my stomach when hearing about students overpaying for language study (then seeing most of that money used to fund on-train poster-wars between language schools).
3. A strong belief that - for students - a good language teacher (not a school) is most important when studying a foreign language.
4. As a potential income source - because we have to eat and pay rent too.
Initially, the idea was to build findateacher.Net as a FREE place for students to meet teachers. As time passed, we realized that in order to make it powerful enough to be truly useful for students and to be taken seriously, the site would have to have lots of teachers with "live" records from all over the country. The way to get teachers was to continually advertise to them. And, as with most things in Japan, this is not free or cheap (or even reasonable!). SO....we decided that we'd charge the students a low price for the teachers contact information.
It would have been much easier to build findateacher.Net as a free site but it would have been nowhere near as useful for students. Also, it may have soon lost credibility as a worthwhile site mostly due to a lack of "fresh" teacher data and low name recognition.
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6. POWER TIP - Decide Your Pricing Strategy
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The first thing that most students look at (besides your photo) is the price of your lesson. You can use your price as a way to control the flow of incoming students.
WHY SET HIGH PRICES?
If you have too many students, instead of clicking the "Take a Break" button (which temporarily removes you from being viewed by students) try raising your prices.
For example, going from ¥3,500 to ¥5,000 should slow down the views to your record, BUT keep your record on-line and viewable by students. PLUS, if someone calls you after you've raised your price, you'll probably not refuse teaching this higher priced lesson.
OR if you are not super interested in getting many students for whatever reason, consider setting your prices higher.
OR If you have a special background (example, Brain Surgeon, Patent Lawyer, Personal Trainer etc.) and only want to meet well-heeled, well-paying students with similar backgrounds, you might set you price high and add a comment mentioning your desire to teach only this type of student.
WHY SET LOW PRICES?
Many teachers just starting out set low prices as a way to fill their schedule quickly. Also, many spouses of foreigners working in Japan keep their prices low because they teach NOT for money but to be meet people/be sociable.
OR when there's a slowdown in students contacting you, lower your price (like putting yourself "On sale") as a way to get the student calls coming in again.
Please keep these things in mind when deciding YOUR price. And remember that you can change your price any time you want (24/7). Try different price levels to see which one is best for you.
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7. More Helpful Tips
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A. Don't forget that, as a registered teacher, you can get your own Japanese teachers contact information FREE. Just browse through the available Japanese teachers near you in the SenseiSagasu.com database, then check-out by clicking "Furikomi" (which means "bank transfer" - but don't actually transfer any money), then we'll send you the teachers contact info FREE! YIPPEE!!
B. During your vacation (or any other time when you want to temporarily stop displaying your record) please click the "Take a Break" button - on the first page when you log in to your record.
C. Photo! Photo! Photo! - Optional but VERY enticing to students. If you don't have one yet - it definitely helps.
D. To make multiple selections in multiple choice selection boxes (ex. "Hobbies", "Past Schools taught at", etc.) hold down the control key (or apple key on Macs) while selecting.
E. See how many times your record has been viewed by logging in to your record.
F. If you leave Japan or want to stop having your record displayed - PLEASE delete your record - or let us know and we'll do it for you.
G. Log in to keep your record fresh (at least once every 3 months). (http://findateacher.Net) If not, a note will appear to students telling them your record may not be up to date.
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8. How can we help you?
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Although we think we are cool (a little bit, sometimes)...we realize that we aren't cool enough to think of everything. If you think of a way we can help you (and other teachers) get more students please let us know. We'll try to set it up for you.
Have a nice end-of-summer. Don't sweat too much. Get lots of students!
Until next time,
Jake Rollins
Solo Sensei, Producer
jake@findateacher.Net
http://findateacher.Net
http://www.SenseiSagasu.com
*** Made for Teachers by Teachers ***
Copyright 2001 FindaNet, Ltd.
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