Are you looking for qualified Spanish teachers to help you learn Spanish faster? Whether you’re looking to learn Spanish before you travel to South America, to communicate with co-workers, or for family purposes, Rype can help.

The first thing you need to know is what to look for when selecting a teacher.

How to select Spanish Tutors

Finding the right Spanish teacher could mean the difference between success or failure. Most students who are starting out feel tempted to price shop for the cheapest tutor, but you will usually get what you pay for.

The better route to increase your chance of success is to figure out what’s your must-have criteria.

Based on the thousands of Spanish students we’ve helped over the years, here are some of the most popular ones:

• Personality: Language learning should be a fun and interactive experience. It’s no different than building a relationship with a friend, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time together. This is why finding a Spanish teacher who has similar interests as you do, and an overall likeable personality is critical.
• Empathy: There’s no doubt about it that you’ll make a ton of mistakes when you first get started. The last thing you want is a teacher that makes you feel self-conscious about your mistakes. Don’t mistaken lack of empathy with challenge, because some teachers want to push you to be your best.
• Qualifications: Of course you also want your teacher to be qualified and experienced in teaching other students in the past. Ask about their previous successes and try to look for reviews online.
• Availability: Since you’re going to be taking lessons on a regular basis, you want to make sure that the teacher is not going to be completely booked up with other students.

There are other qualities you want to look for such as professionalism, punctuality, and others that are more basic, but these four are the major ones.

Spanish Teachers Online VS. In-Person

The other question we get a lot from students seeking Spanish teachers is: “should I find Spanish teachers online or in-person?”

They both come with their pros and cons. We’ll share our opinion on both ends, and what our personal verdict is.

In-person Spanish teachers

Pros:

• More intimate, real-life interaction
• Ability to leverage body language and lip movements close-up
• No worry about WiFi issues

Cons:

• Requires additional time to commute back and forth, and most standard lessons in-person are one to two hours long
• Higher fee to cover Spanish teacher’s cost of commute (and the longer learning time)
• Limited to one teacher only
• Lack of options to explore different teachers
• Dependent on one person’s schedule and availability
• Higher risk if the teacher doesn’t work out or is not qualified (no reviews, vetting)

Online Spanish tutors and teachers

Pros:

• The time required to learn online is significantly less and more convenient. You save 30-60 minutes per session since there’s no commuting required, and you’re no longer confined to a standard one to hour long lesson time. For example: Rype lessons can be as short as 30 minutes.
• Spanish lessons online cost much less because teachers also don’t have to commute, which means you get higher quality talent for less.
• There’s an endless pool of talented teachers you gain access to online instead of limiting yourself to just Spanish teachers in your local city
• Leverage online tools and sharing options such as document sharing, schedule management, and screensharing.
• Teachers have been verified and most are rated/reviewed by previous students, so you already know what to expect based on peer reviews before your first lesson.

Cons:

• Potential WiFi issues may occur from teachers based in certain developing countries with low internet bandwidth
• For students who simply prefer a more intimate, in-person interaction, or for those who are less tech-savvy, they may prefer the traditional in-person teachers (although very little tech knowledge is required, if at all)

In conclusion, our belief is that the slight advantages of working with an in-person teacher doesn’t outweigh the major upsides of learning from a Spanish teacher online. You pay less money while saving more time for the same quality of lessons, and you get the assurance of having an abundance of switching back and forth with other teachers.

How we hire our Spanish Tutors

To give you some context on how we hire our Spanish teachers, we’ll explain our step-by-step process. You’ll notice that it also aligns with the specific selection criteria that we recommend you look for when selecting your own teachers online or in-person.

Step #1. The initial application

The first step to filter the serious applicants versus non-serious ones is the initial application. Here we gather information about the teacher’s background, experience level, availability, and more. Since we get thousands of applicants per month, we enforce a strict criteria to ensure we only let the top applicants enter the next phase.

Step #2. Training through Rype University

The second step is a training course we take our teachers through called Rype University. This is where we share how teaching at Rype works, strategies and tactics to provide the best learning experience for members, making sure they have the right equipment, and much more. This is another way to know who can take the initiative to complete the entire training.

Step #3. Live 1-on-1 interview (with our Teacher Lead)

Once we’ve seen that teachers have completed their training, we perform a live 1-on-1 interview with them. This is when we assess the 3 criteria we look for: personality, professionalism, and qualifications. It’s also what makes us stand out from every other platform out there, is the handpicking process we have designed to let only the best teachers in.

Step #4. 60-Day Trial

Teachers have now been accepted into the trial phase of teaching at Rype. Over the next 60 days, there will be a trial period where we will carefully assess the feedback students provide for the teachers.

Step #5. Continued success (4.5/5 or higher)

After 60 days, a teacher is welcomed officially into our community. However, every teacher is required to maintain a golden standard of quality to remain on our platform.

How to Start Learning Spanish With Rype

We hope this mini-guide was helpful for speeding up your journey in finding the best Spanish teacher for you. Now you should have a better idea of what to look for, where to find teachers, and how to approach them.

If you’re ready to start learning Spanish, we recommend checking out Rype’s free trial offer today. It’s completely risk-free, and you’ll be able to experience for yourself the quality of teachers we have on our platform.

See you inside.

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