Coming up Me

So I've gone from being concerned that I'll get nowhere with this private teaching thing to becoming quietly, tentatively confident. I can't remember if I've blogged on the subject before, but after going to the Japanese event a few weeks ago where I met my headmaster, I realised that the person in the JET Alumni Association who'd contacted me was in fact the headmaster's son. We chatted through email about Japan and teaching, and he asked if I was interested in doing private lessons with a Japanese guy he'd been put in contact with. I was worried about it clashing with the hectic schedule of CELTA, but as it turned out he wanted to start this week, so I had some recovery time. We had our first lesson on Monday and, with the help of people from Randolph, where I did the CELTA, I had some good materials to get things going. It was a confidence booster and I hope I'll be able to help him before he leaves the country in March.

While I was in town with this student, I got a text in response to my gumtree ad. On Sunday I paid to get my ad bumped to the top of the results for a week, and also altered my prices to become more affordable. The text yesterday was my first (and so far only) response to the ad, but if it pans out it's as good as four responses. The two Spanish girls in question want four lessons a week and want to start tomorrow. Yikes! But hooray for me - kind of a baptism of fire, but great experience and the possibility of moving out of my parents' house is looking ever so slightly more plausible.