How to set up your FreeTalk Lessons on PalFish (Regular Teacher)
Training and Replay Class examples
How to set up free talk classes on the palfish app
get Started
Firstly, FreeTalk does not mean it is FREE. It is a paid service for Students. It is “Free” meaning free from a set curriculum. Let’s talk “Freely” to improve English skills.
PalFish will receive 20% of your total earnings for each FreeTalk call. This is not the case for Official Kids Course classes.
The green “Start Tutoring’ button is ONLY FOR FREETALK. Not OKC.
Become familiar with the FreeTalk FAQ’s. You will only see the OKC handbook after your Official Kids Course interview.
When I got started I made up multi-purpose low cost packages.
I looked at it as earning hours and credibility, not money, until I was fully set up and booked with OKC Classes. 😊
How do students find you?
Students can find you on the Student FreeTalk App by choosing the tags that you added when you opened your account.
Native speaker, what country you’re from, music, child rearing etc.
They can also find you from your marketing efforts.
When you post moments they are visible on the free talk app too.
Click here to see how to edit a simple Moment Video
When you do Lives, people can find you that way, even if they haven’t previously enrolled. It will show you are Live in the Live Hall and interested students can click into your Live immediately. Have an eye catching thumbnail.
I got most of my FreeTalk students in the beginning from my Lives that I did about travel and conversation.
I had students who were business people, professors, university students, adult’s wanting to improve their English for travel purposes and even some kids, like Isabella and William.
#1 way students call you
There are two ways to do FreeTalk.
The first way is:
1. You just click your start tutoring button from your home page to become available at any time. (Remember to turn it off when you are not available to avoid penalties)
a) A student can call you on demand and speak for as long as they or you have available. If you need to leave by a certain time you can let them know.
b) A student can arrange a time with you via chat and you can then turn on your Start Tutoring button 5 minutes beforehand.
If another student calls you before the scheduled time, you can let them know you only have a few minutes to talk because you have an appointment with another student.
Pay
You are either paid
a) your “per minute” that you have set.
There are two per minute rates: Firstly, your TRIAL rate which is applied ONLY for the first call and;
Secondly, your Regular rate.
OR
b. Students can purchase a Lesson package with you and then book a 30 minute time slot when they would like to have that lesson.
You will see these bookings in your Appointments Tab.
#2 way students call you
2. The second way to do FreeTalk is to prepare your own Lessons for students to purchase.
You can create specific Lessons or General Lessons to suit anyone who purchases it.
They can be one time purchases or you can set them to be purchased in bulk “Packages” of time.
You will receive a message notification when a student purchases.
You can message the student to introduce yourself and ask what they would like to talk about and what date and time they would like class.
The student will then choose a time they would like class with you either via chat
Why can't a student book timeslots on my calendar?
If you joined before Feb 2020
If you opened your PalFish Account prior to February 6th, 2020, the student can book/reserve a time on your calendar when you have them open for FreeTalk students. These available times can be reserved in 30-minute intervals on your calendar.
packages/ lessons
It’s helpful to set up a Lesson or a “package of time” the students can buy.
If you are an Official Kids Course Teacher who opened your account prior to Febuary 6th, 2020, you have the option to “Open to all” students, FreeTalk students as well as Official Kids (OKC). But if you want to keep some just for Official Kids you can do that too.
If you opened your account after Feb 2020, you will “see” the “Open to All” function, but it is disabled.
Click on the blue lessons tab to set up what is referred to as a “Lesson” or a “Package”. This is usually a reduced rate lesson, different from your per minute rate, (either less or more if it’s specialised) that students can buy and then book a Time to take the class.
specialized lessons
If you have specific specialized Lessons you want to offer, such as IELTS or TOEFL Preparation, you can price them accordingly.
The lower the rate, the more purchases you will receive.
You can change them as you need to.
Lower the price for more classes. Raise the rates when you are busy.
Your Lesson package will first need to be approved by admin. Once it is approved then it is visible to students.
Once you click into the blue tab for Lessons you can read about creating lessons.
These are the four that I originally set up.
Minutes Packages
I added different amounts of minutes that could be purchased within the one package.
Such as, 25 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 300 minutes.
If you do not want students to buy multiple packages, then I suggest NOT clicking the Repurchase button.
You don’t want to get caught out with a student you do not enjoy teaching after they purchase 300 minutes with you. 😢
Repurchase option
I previously had a regular FreeTalk University student who would buy 5 x 60 minute packages at a time and then we could talk as long as she needed.
I would enable the repurchase option as she needed it, then I would close it to repurchase again.
I don’t open times for FreeTalk at the moment so I closed my Lessons (Stopped Selling) but I leave them there in case I want to open them again in the future.
example
Here is an example for you:
===
1️⃣
【课程目标】Objective of the lesson
🗣️ Improve your conversational and👂 listening skills.
Practice conversations by listening to questions and answering using complete sentences.
Let’s talk about your interests. ❤️
I will tell you my interests. 😀
2️⃣
【适合人群】Suitable students
All ages.
3️⃣
【课程介绍】Introduction of the lesson
Topics:
⭐ Your interests 🎨🚴♂️⚽🎳🏀
What do you do for fun?
⭐ Your favorite things ❤️🐈🐶 📺
What do you like?
⭐ Food 🍚🍜🍝🍔🍦🍬🥕🥗🍎🍓
Do you like to eat at home or in a restaurant?
⭐ Interesting places to travel to ✈️🌎
Where have you traveled to recently? Where would you like to travel to?
👍 I will help you with:
➡️ pronunciation,
➡️ vocabulary,
➡️ how to ask a question,
➡️ how to express yourself clearly.
Please message 📝 me before the lesson about what you would like to talk about, so I can do some preparation about the topic. 👌
===
Packages
You are welcome to copy this and change it as you like.
I have found this to be an easy simple generalized lesson to suit age 4 to 60. Add in whatever pictures you find would be good as a topic of discussion. Some adults just want to talk and will not even turn on their camera.
This is a way to give a reduced rate to encourage bookings.
I would suggest choosing 25 minutes for the minimum of ¥30.
If you would like to add in other options of different times and amounts you can do that.
Verified by admin
Once you submit your lesson to admin for verification you will hear back within a day or two.
If there is a problem with it, Admin will let you know by way of a message.
Sometimes you just need to add some more information to make it more suitable or educational. I had one that took three submissions. After some minor tweaking it was approved.
scheduling
Freetalk students can only see your availability seven days ahead.
You can adjust your prices to suit. If you set your rate too high no one will call/book you because you do not have a reputation yet.
My advice
Here are some FreeTalk Tips that earned me more hours.
If you want to receive calls, in my opinion, you need to:
✅ KEEP YOUR RATE LOW, as low as possible in the beginning to “earn hours” not money.
All OKC teachers are auto set to ¥5 after you pass your interview. You can change it twice a month. This will only apply to FreeTalk students, not OKC classes as those are set packages purchased by parents via OKC.
✅ LIVES targeted at your desired FreeTalk Student
✅ LESSONS for purchase, very low priced
I started PalFish December 2018 & found when I got over 50 HOURS I started getting more Official classes. My theory is, you look more STABLE on the platform.
Students can find you by choosing the tags that you added when you opened your account. Native speaker, what country you’re from, music, child rearing etc. I can also find you from your marketing efforts.
Marketing reminders
Here are some marketing reminders… 😁👍
This is a DIY app.
You are responsible to find students.
PalFish will help you in the beginning to get the ball rolling for you.
Remember my welcome video?
https://bit.ly/WelcomeTOpalfish
It talks about your PalFish classroom as YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
This is like your coffee shop in a shopping center/mall and you have to put up your own marketing posters and advertisements…
Be seen 👁️👓👁️🔍👀🔎
Educational Marketing
Please remember this is not Instagram and Facebook where you post a picture of your breakfast and type the word PANCAKES.
Please try to ask a question or teach something.
Ask an open-ended question, not just a yes or no question.
Students cannot see you teaching in action if you just post a picture of yourself. It is good to space out different types of moments.
Pictures, audio, video, reading books.
YouTube Playlist of:
Tips
It’s early days 😊
Put yourself out there to find Students.
FreeTalk and Lives helped me increase my hours and I noticed once I went over 50 hours, that’s when it happened for me.
To help other teachers, I continue to make YouTube training videos.
Google PalFish Teacher Kristy for more info.
achieving your goals
Remember FreeTalk is a good way to prepare yourself for the Official Kids Course by increasing your hours, ratings and experience.
Don’t give up!
Remember my video for a pep talk… I almost quit…
My honest opinion of PalFish and how to make it a success:
Find me on PalFish for extra ideas.
My PalFish name is:
Teacher Kristy W
I also share extra teaching tips on my YouTube Channel
Even though I no longer teach at PalFish (Since August 2021) nor do I teach ESL, I love to share how I got started and what led to my fully booked schedule.
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