Will you cancel the lessons?

I am looking for an English teacher for personal lessons.
Someone told me if he feels he is not in a good mood,then he will cancel the lesson that day.
Hmm,does it make sense?

Yes. This is

Resist temptation. Resist temptation. :wink:

Try the classifieds. If you do a teacher wanted advertisement you need to put more details as people using this forum aren’t all in one city and often have limited free time.

Good luck.

Every individual is different-- and there are some irresponsible tutors around-- but there are things an adult student can do to ensure that lessons are regular and teachers don’t cancel frequently. First, demonstrate that you are committed to your lessons and make sure that you don’t cancel lessons yourself. Pay for classes by the term rather than by the day and agree on a policy concerning cancelled lessons that is fair for both of you. As much as possible, be an active learner who takes their own learning as their personal responsibility. Don’t force your tutor to find all the books and materials for you, plan everything or lead every conversation. That gets tiring and, soon, the tutor begins to feel the class is demanding too much energy for what they are paid. More importantly, this approach isn’t educationally sound for the learner. Find some of your own materials, know what you want to learn and come to class prepared with conversation topics. Also, consider offering good tutors better than average tuition. This not only ensures you can attract and keep better tutors, but also has the effect of making a missed class with you expensive for the tutor. Finally, if you find cancellations are a problem for you, give warnings and, if the problem continues, don’t be afraid to replace the tutor.

Excellent post, Stimpy.

Everything Stimpy and Miss Buttercup say is excellent advice.
I would especially underscore the importance of not going as cheap as you can.
Many one-on-one students are reluctant to go higher than the current minimum (or even less).
You may get a teacher for a really low rate, but, first, you probably won’t get a very good one, and second, it will be much more difficult to keep them.

many great points in your post, but i think this is the most overlooked. i’ve had various private students through the years, but the ones who have shown good/great improvement had an initial idea of what they wanted from the class. i’ve turned down some “potentials” for not knowing this.

also, having time outside of class to work on what you learn by yourself is essential. don’t expect a teacher to somehow magically bestow you with English ability just by being in the same room. it doesn’t work like that. YOU (the student) need to make the effort to learn. english is more than a testable subject - it’s a language. this goes back to the first point - if you are not interested in learning a language, you probably don’t need to bother with a foreign teacher.

cancellations should be kept to a bare minimum - family emergencies etc. (by both parties). i expect to be paid if someone has booked my time whether they show up or not. the few times i have been forced to cancel, i have made it up to the student.

At the risk of sounding avuncular or patronising, I’d like to thank the respondents on this thread for posting such thoughtful, helpful advice. This is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind when I posted recently about making TEIT a friendlier place for all.