Terms and Conditions

for German tuition face-to-face or online

last revised on 1 March 2024

Please note that you automatically accept the terms and conditions listed below by booking your first tutoring session with me and that no additional written agreement will need to be in place to invoke these.

1. Timings:

I normally offer face-to-face or online tuition - by appointment - at the following times:

Monday – Thursday                         9am - 8pm

Friday - Saturday                             10am - 6pm

Sunday                                             Please get in touch to discuss possible Sunday tuition.

Additionally, I might also be available ‘out of hours’. Please contact me, if you would like to discuss sessions outside the above times.

2. Tuition:

I adapt my tuition style, methods and resources according to the tutees’ needs by aiming to tailor activities to suit the individual, pair or group.

Tuition sessions must take place in a quiet and ideally relaxed surrounding/room to allow the tutees and me to fully focus on the language learning.

Tuition sessions normally last for 60 to 90 minutes, but I will also run longer and consider shorter periods. These need to be agreed at the time of the booking. The length of tutoring depends on many different factors, such as starting point and expected outcome. At one end of the scale, I provide ‘crash-course’ or ‘top-up’ style programmes, aiming to reach a certain proficiency level within very limited time, and at the other, those suitable for life-long learners and those that substitute the tutee’s education at school, Further or Higher Education provider long-term, as well as those that solely focus on building exam confidence and familiarity with the exam papers and procedures.

Tuition (online and face-to-face) must take place in professional/school-like environment within a suitable setup/surrounding and/or dedicated area/space which includes being dressed appropriately.

3. Attendance:

I take pride in thoroughly preparing sessions, as well as reflecting and further improving these afterwards. Considerable time is also invested into marking and/or feeding back. Therefore, it is essential, if a tutee is not able to attend a scheduled session that I am informed as soon as possible. Please contact me on my mobile (07751149854) or send an email to info@learnwithagerman.com. This should allow both parties to reschedule the tuition slot in due time and for a mutually convenient alternative date within one working week (Monday – Friday) of the postponed session.

Unfortunately, I will have to charge for any session a tutee failed to attend or if cancelled with less than 48 hours’ notice. These will both incur the full charge for that scheduled session. Please note that late cancellations due to true emergencies will not be charged. However, those due to illness, being unable to attend for whatever reasons – which are not ‘true’ emergencies – will be charged in full.

If you are late for a session and have not alerted me, I will aim to wait for 15 minutes before I consider the session as being ‘cancelled without notice’ and the full amount will be charged.

It might seem harsh but in situations, such as power cuts, I will have to charge for the session, unless – of course – the problem is at my end.

Should I not be able to deliver the session, I will aim to postpone it at the nearest convenient time for both parties. If this cannot be rescheduled within that working week, the session will have to be cancelled.

4. Cost of tuition:

Free* initial consultation:

I offer a 20-30 min consultation session free* of charge to establish personal learning needs and to suggest/discuss a programme of study.

Online tuition:

On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays

I will then charge an hourly rate of 

- £35 for individuals

- £55 for pairs

- £75 for groups up to four.

Unfortunately, I had to raise the hourly charge for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to

- £50 for individuals

- £75 for pairs

- £90 for groups up to four.

Face-to-face (in person) tuition:

On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays

I will charge an hourly rate of 

- £60* for individuals

- £90* for pairs

- £120* for groups up to four.

If you are interested in class sessions, please contact me to discuss a fee.

Unfortunately, the hourly charge for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays is now

- £80* for individuals

- £120* for pairs

- £180* for groups up to four.

*NB: I will charge an additional £5+ to contribute to compensating for the time it takes to travel more than 10 miles.

5. Payment:

Tutees can pay cash or by cheque, use PayPal or BACS transfer the money. Please note that I do not accept card payment. On request, I can invoice and will issue receipts for payments made. Should you choose PayPal, please ensure that I receive the correct amount of money, as PayPal deducts a fee, should you use the ‘business’ option for your transfer(s). Please note that payments made in advance are not refundable and would only be paid back under exceptional circumstances, i.e. if the tutee is no longer physically or mentally capable of participating in a face-to-face or online tuition. (A medical note from a GP or hospital doctor might be required.)

5.1. Cash or cheque:

Please let me know in advance, if you require a receipt for any cash payment.

All cheques must be payable to “Sönke Beyer”.

5.2. Bank transfer and invoices:

Payment and advance payment for one or more lessons can be made by bank transfer.

Details are available on request.

Many Banking Apps now also allow you to “Pay a mobile contact” by simply entering the amount and mobile phone number of the recipient. If necessary, please contact your bank or building society for further details.

If your company requires an invoice to be settled at the end of the calendar month, please provide me with the following details:

Name of the contact person, full address of company, including telephone number and email address of the contact person.

5.3. Due payments:

All payments must be received within 48 hours of each lesson, unless agreed differently.

In the highly unlikely event that payments are delayed for longer an initial additional administration fee of £30 will have to be paid, plus a daily fee of £10 will be added to this until the payment has been credited to my account. As such, there might be an outstanding amount after this has happened if the total payment does not cover the total number of late days before the payment was received. Please note that I will always prefer to settle any issues amicable, but – if forced – will make a court claim (see https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money).  

6. Borrowing or renting resources:

From time to time, I might suggest that tutees could/should borrow or rent one of my language learning resources. These resources are taken out at the tutees’ risk. In the unlikely event that a tutee should damage or lose the resource, it will be the tutee’s responsibility to replace the resource or to pay for it (in full – for new). By agreeing to borrow or rent/signing against the resource name in the table on a ‘Borrowing or renting resources’ form, tutees agree to replace damaged or lost resources or at least pay in full to allow me to replace it/them with something equivalent.

All the learning materials (hard and soft copies, as well as online resources) which I have created are copyright and tutees automatically, without any written contract, agree that they will only print these for their own personal use, as all rights will remain reserved. No part of these resources may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever, neither electronic nor mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without my expressed written permission.

Please note that I can also provide exercise-books, textbooks and revision guides. However, this is usually the tutees’ responsibility.

7. Ending Tuition:

Should the tutee wish to end the tuition, please ensure that at least three weeks’/three sessions’ notice is given in writing. Tutees/parents or guardians of minors may either e-mail me or hand the communication to me in person. This should allow me to plan bringing my tutoring for the tutee to a satisfactory end and to rearrange my tuition diary. If the tuition is stopped by the tutees/parents or guardians without the required notice, they are obliged to reimburse me for the loss of income in full, i.e. pay for the lessons that should have taken place.

Please note that I reserve the right to stop tuition at any point.

8. Liability:

When I am tutoring minors, it is a necessity that a responsible adult is present in the dwelling at all times, as I can neither be held liable for looking after minors nor a dwelling or its content.

Although I support tutees within their school/FE/HE curriculum and in preparation for their exams, I do not provide a homework or assignment service answering tasks meant to be the tutee’s own work, as institutions must not accept work which is not the candidate’s own.

I am not liable for any direct, incidental, consequential, indirect, special, punitive or damages of any kind arising out of providing tutoring for tutees, any omissions or errors in the content of the used resources. Tutees, automatically and without written agreement, waive any and all claims arising out of the tutoring provided.

Tutees use any resources suggested by me, especially digital resources and websites, at their own risk and are responsible for breaches of copyright (cf. https://www.gov.uk/topic/intellectual-property/copyright) and other laws.

9. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

I have been registered with the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) since June 2018 and only store your name, address, telephone number and email address on my password-protected smartphone on which “data protection is enabled”. Please note that your email address is also stored in my password-protected email application which manages my emails.

10. DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service, formerly “CRB”) Certificate:

I hold an Enhanced DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service, formerly CRB) Certificate and am subscribed to the Update Service (last update in September 2023).

E&EO (errors and omissions excepted)/subject to change

Call me, Sönke Beyer, on 07751149854, 

email info@learnwithagerman.com or
skype learnwithagerman

to arrange an initial consultation