Reading a post on this forum made me wonder how teachers deal with people they receive by word of mouth, whether it be through a friend, or another pupil if they end up with someone they don't gel with, or would not have chosen to teach if they had met them through another means. Although word of mouth can increase a business, I do find that it is possible that although the person doing the referring might get on well with the person they are referring, it does not mean that another person will. I suppose what I am trying to say is that to someone else X might be a great teacher/person but then X might not be suitable to another person because of different personalities, etc. I do not know if this makes sense. Have any of you ever had this problem and how did you deal with it without hurting the person's feelings or your friend's feelings?

I always begin with an informal meeting to discuss how things work and introduce my terms among other things. I like to suggest that people go away to think before deciding. I do tend to remind people that in a one to one teaching situation you need to feel you can get along on a personal level.

I don't differentiate between people on the basis of how they came to me - I treat them all the same. Most of my pupils have been word of mouth recommendations and so far there hasn't been a problem. On the rare occasions when things haven't worked out, it hasn't really been up for discussion with the friend who referred them. If asked directly, I wouldn't say anything specific, just that "things didn't work out" or "so-and-so decided not to continue with lessons" or something similar.

I don't feel obliged to take someone on, just because they are recommended by a current pupil - either they are suitable and I have a space, or they're not and I don't! I don't think it is acceptable to discuss other pupils, and most people wouldn't expect to get any direct feedback other than a "thank you" for referring them.

I don't mind how students end up coming to me. It does work both ways - chances are that if they don't gel with you, then perhaps you won't be gelling with them and they might decide not to continue lessons. I always say let's do the first lesson on a trial basis with no obligation to continue, although once they decide to continue, I do ask them for a commitment of at least 1 term's worth of lessons.