should i or should i not?

[weareallchangingnamesforthis]

this is my dilemma, i have been asked to give lessons to two adults, they want to learn a language i speak, they are willing to pay, i don't know how much to charge, but, at least £10 ph i suppose, they want to be able to have small conversations in six weeks, cos they have a commitment, i am no professional teacher, but i am not even sure that will be possible, if they pay a sustantial amount of money, they might demand results on deadline....
should i do it or just say i don't feel up to it and they should look for a proffesional? considering how close the deadline is...

I'd leave it to a proffesional. The time scale sounds too small.

You need to find out exactly what they want to learn. The grammatical construction of this language or enough conversation to get by. Although without grammar, imho, the grasp of any language will be tenuous.

But to be honest, if you've never taught before, think carefully before deciding and make it absolutely clear what you can offer.

I'd explain it to them, I'd say sure i can help but u must understand i'm not a professional so theres no guarantees you'll be up to scratch in time but i'll try. And see what they say.

It's possible to learn very basic expressions and mini conversations in 6 weeks.

They could have you in addition to a professional. All depends how many hours work they want to put in.

Find out exactly what they want. I would do it.

eeeek - if its a mainstream language you could bak it up with tapes and other such teaching aids, but thats a very short timescale, especially if its Urdu or Madarin x

I have people in the summer staying in my house to teach them English. They have 3, 4 or 5 hours of English per day, plus they talk in English to the family when they're not officially studying. I get £15.00 per hour for teaching. When I teach myself, not at home, I charge £20.00 per hour.

How much time do they want to spend per week learning this language? 1-2 hours per week are not going to be anywhere near enough. You will also have to get teaching aids. You might be able to borrow these from the library. They might have stuff online. For TEFL the Guardian has a great website. TES does a couple of languages online with good ideas.

You could look online for stuff for other languages and adapt it to your language. whatever you do, £10 per hour is not enough.

Judy's advice is great and she is absolutely right - £10 per hour is far, far too low, whether you have a professional qualification and experience or not. You have to take all your preparation time into account. Check for rates for tutoring - you can check ads for private langauge tutors working with adults.

Remember that the outcomes for the students is not solely down to you - they have to put in the work and each person can have different starting points/natural aptitude. Just because you take on the teaching role and take money from them doesn't mean that if they don't do as well as hoped that it is down to you. Just don't guarantee a particular outcome unless you stipulate realisitically what work they will have to do. Outcomes in education are usually couched in vague terms like 'a greater understanding', ' grasp of the basic elements', etc. and these are dependent of total commitment from students.

I would do it if you're interested in the work and would like to do more of it. If you prepare material for these students then you'll have the basis for developing more teaching. The first time you teach is the hardest - working out how to do it and getting the prep done. But you'll get some experience that could be useful for the future.

i just met with them once, translate what they think they will need to say and a few nice sentences to meet and greet and ask for things, they paid me £10 an hour, i didn't do any prep.
i have a job, this kinda fell onto me, i really don't want to go into teaching, and i am no way going to put more than a couple of hours a couple of times into this... or get any stuff... i don't think i want to go into teaching...