Why I Limit My Classes to Nine Students

There’s a moment in every group class when a teacher has a choice to make. A student says something - not quite right, close but not quite - and the teacher can either let it go and keep the lesson moving, or stop, address it, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

In a class of twenty, you let it go. You have to. There simply isn’t time.

In a class of nine, you don’t.

That’s the short answer to why I cap my group classes at nine students. But there’s more to it than that, and I think it’s worth explaining - because when people see the price of my classes, the first question they sometimes ask is: "Why so few students?" The honest answer is: because anything more would mean doing the job badly.

Quality over quantity - every time

I’ve been teaching English for 25 years, and I’ve taught in a lot of different environments - large lecture halls, corporate training rooms, one-to-one sessions, and everything in between. What I know with absolute certainty is this: language learning is personal. The mistakes you make are your mistakes. The gaps in your knowledge are your gaps. A class that doesn’t address you specifically isn’t really teaching you - it’s teaching the room.

With nine students, I know every person in that class. I know where they’re strong, where they’re weak, and what they need to hear. I know whose written English lets them down, whose pronunciation holds them back, and who has the vocabulary but lacks the confidence to use it.

Every mistake gets caught

One of the things my students tell me they value most is my correction system. During every class, I note every mistake made - in real time, in the chat. After class, I compile these into a PDF that each student receives. Those mistakes then feed directly into future lessons.

That system only works in a small group. In a larger class, mistakes slip through. In my class, they don’t.

You get to speak

This one sounds obvious, but it’s worth saying. In a class of twenty, you might speak for a few minutes in a two-hour session. In a class of nine, you speak - properly, at length, on real topics, with real feedback. Speaking is a skill. Like any skill, it improves with practice. My students get that practice every single class.