How to retain students - FAQS

Best practices on how to respond to students, prepare and conduct the first lesson and encourage the student to continue learning with you

Want to perfect your trial lessons, make sure you take our course “8 steps to an awesome first lesson”. Click on the link or browse the Tutors Academy for more helpful resources.

Student requests

How quickly should I reply to students?

Our data shows that tutors who respond within an hour of receiving a new student request have a much higher likelihood of convincing the student to book a lesson.

How should I reply to meet my students’ expectations?

Focus on the students’ goals and needs, not on you and your experience
Share what you plan to do during the first lesson
Be specific and concise with your answers
Ask open-ended questions
Be positively assertive and propose a time for the student to book the first lesson

How can I ensure my answers are consistent with every request?

Create templates (it will also save you time!) and customize them for each student based on their needs and personality
Use one consistent professional style and tone

Students’ goals

Why it’s important to know my students’ goals?

To plan ahead
To address my students’ needs with effective tutoring
To create clear lesson objectives

How can I find out about my students’ goals?

Students should include their learning goals in their profile. You can find this information by clicking on the student’s name on ‘My requests’ page. However, these details are not enough to prepare for the first lesson. It is recommended that you further clarify the learning goals personally with the student.
First lesson (ideally, you should summarize your students’ goals together during the first lesson)

What should I do when students’ goals are vague (e.g.: ‘I want to practice with a native speaker’)

Ask further open questions (why, how, what, when, etc…) to encourage a deeper discussion and gain a better understanding of what your student is trying to achieve
Use the information students provide you with to pinpoint their reasons and needs for learning

How knowing your students’ goals will help me with my planning?

It will give you a tutoring goal
It will help you plan your lessons and set lesson objectives
It will make it easier to establish a learning habit with your students
It will make them see their progress each lesson at a time
It will certainly help to retain them

First lesson

How should I start my first lesson?

Make short introductions (it’s important to build rapport with your student from the very first lesson)
Summarize and confirm your students’ goals

Should I teach during the first lesson?

Yes, absolutely! Students expect to get value from the very first lesson!

What do students expect from the first lesson?

Tutor to gain a good understanding of their learning goals
Tutor to share an outline of their learning plan with them to understand what they will learn and how they will progress over the next lessons.

Tip: English subject tutors can benefit from the new Rihisi learning plans to provide students with a structured learning program.

Tutor to meet their learning needs
Maximum student talking time
Meaningful feedback and praises
Guidance on the number of lessons required to achieve the first step of their goal (a minimum of 5 lessons is recommended)
An established habit to book further lessons

What can I do to ensure that students book a package of hours after their first lesson?

Share with them an outline of their learning plan. To do so, English subject tutors can benefit from the new Rihisi learning plans
Clearly explain how the lessons will be structured so that they achieve their goals
Setting the next lesson objective. You can easily do so by using Rihisi lesson summary

Should students establish their own learning habits?

You should lead your students to create a learning habit. You could naturally encourage students to book additional and regular lessons by saying:

“From my experience, I would recommend that you book a package of X hours in order for you to progress at a good pace.”
“How about scheduling our next lessons together?”
“In order for you to progress quicker, I suggest that we have lessons twice a week.”

How should I end the first lesson?

By giving students feedback on the first lesson
By clearly describing the next steps
By encouraging them to commit to a learning habit
By asking them feedback on the lesson to allow you to structure the next lessons according to their needs and goals
By setting the next lesson objective using the Rihisi lesson summary on Rihisi
By guiding them to purchase a suitable package of hours and agreeing on the timing of the next lesson. Our data shows that students retain 5 times more if they have their next lesson planned in advance
By being positive and enthusiastic to be starting your students’ learning journey with them