Welcome to the Cambly classroom! This section covers the essential tools and knowledge you need to deliver effective lessons.
Here you'll find information on:
- The Cambly Classroom
- Cambly Library and Curriculum
- Tutoring Fundamentals
- Handling Common Challenges
- When a Student Is Too Advanced or Too Beginner for You
- When a Student Isn't Engaging
- When You Run Out of Things to Say
- When Students Aren't a Good Fit
- Trust and Safety
- Rating System
- Technical Troubleshooting
By the end of this section, you'll know how the classroom works and which tools are available, where to find curriculum and teaching materials, what Cambly students expect from lessons, how to handle common scenarios you may encounter, how our rating system works, and how to troubleshoot connection issues.
The Cambly Classroom
The Cambly classroom is where you'll meet with students. Before your first lesson, explore the Practice Classroom to familiarize yourself with all features.
Key classroom features:
- Video and audio controls - Manage your camera and microphone
- In-class messaging - Type vocabulary, send links, or clarify points via text chat with built-in translation
- Screen sharing - Share Chrome tabs, applications, or your entire screen with students (students can also request to share their screen)
- Whiteboard - Drawing and writing space with text editor, shapes, pencil tools, and countdown timer
- Picture-in-picture - Move student video anywhere on screen to maintain eye contact
- Feedback tool - Write and save feedback during or after lessons (auto-saves, accessible from History tab)
- AI-generated discussion topics - Generate conversation starters when you need inspiration
- Lesson details - View student information, goals, and notes from previous sessions
- Emojis - Send reactions during lessons
- Virtual background - Use Cambly-branded background to minimize distractions
- Blur feature - Adjust video clarity for trial students (camera off by default)
Pro Tip: We provide you with a student account pre-loaded with minutes so that you can call a fellow tutor for more hands-on practice with the classroom and advice.
For detailed instructions on any classroom tool, follow this link to our Classroom Features guide.
Cambly Library and Curriculum
The Cambly Library contains teaching materials you can use during lessons:
- Cambly Courses - Structured lessons designed for 30-minute sessions that require no prep. Students choose their course, and lessons auto-populate when they join
- Speaking Games - Icebreakers and pronunciation activities for all levels
- Limited-Time Courses - Single lessons on trending topics (movies, holidays, current events)
- Your Saved Links - Bookmark external resources for quick access during lessons
You can preview all courses and materials in the Library tab. To promote courses you're confident in teaching, add them to "My Courses" on your profile.
For more on using the Library, follow this link.
Tutoring Fundamentals
You don't need a teaching degree to help students practice English on Cambly, but a few basic techniques will help you create better learning experiences from day one.
Balance Talk Time - The best tutors get students speaking. A good rule of thumb: students should speak at least 60-70% of the time in most lessons. To encourage more student talk time, we suggest:
- Asking open-ended questions ("What do you think about...?" instead of "Do you like...?")
- Waiting a few extra seconds after asking a question.
- Share brief examples from your own experience, then ask the student about theirs.
Pro Tip: If you notice you've been talking for more than a minute straight, pause and bring the conversation back to the student.
Correcting Errors - Students appreciate corrections, but timing matters. Here are a few approaches:
-
Recasting - Repeat what they said with the correction built in naturally:
- Student: "Yesterday I go to the store."
- You: "Oh, you went to the store yesterday? What did you buy?"
-
Gentle direct correction - Point out the error kindly and move on:
- "Just a quick note: we say 'I went' not 'I go' when talking about the past. You're doing great!"
- Use the chat box - Type corrections during the conversation so students can see them without interrupting the flow. They can review these later.
- Wait for natural pauses - If the conversation is flowing well, jot down errors and review them at the end rather than stopping constantly. Consider using our feedback tool as well.
Ask Good Questions - Questions keep conversations moving and help students practice forming complete thoughts. For beginners, we recommend questions like:
- What did you do today?
- Can you describe your family/home/city?
- What do you like to do on weekends?
And for chats with more advanced students:
- What's your opinion on...?
- Can you explain why...?
- What would you do if...?
Use Available Resources - Don't feel like you need to create lessons from scratch. The Cambly Library has conversation topics, discussion questions, and structured materials you can use anytime, as well as our AI-generated discussion topics if a student wants to chat about something that you are unfamiliar with. The translation tool in the chat box can also help when you're stuck with beginners.
Pro Tip: Be patient and encouraging! Many students are nervous about speaking English. Smile, be patient with pauses, and offer specific praise ("Your pronunciation of that word was excellent!" or "I can really see your vocabulary improving").
Handling Common Challenges
Not every lesson will go smoothly, and that's okay. Here's how to handle the most common difficult situations.
When a Student Is Too Advanced or Too Beginner for You
For absolute beginners:
- Use TPR (Total Physical Response) - gestures, facial expressions, and body language help communicate meaning
- Use props or hold up objects to teach vocabulary
- Type key words in the chat box and use the translation feature
- Keep topics simple: introductions, numbers, basic daily activities
- Be patient! Silence means they're processing, not that they're lost
For students who seem too advanced or want specialized help you can't provide:
- Be honest: "I'm not familiar with TOEFL prep, but I can help you with general conversation practice"
- Suggest they search for tutors with specific expertise
- Offer to help them find another tutor (you can switch to student view to browse tutor profiles, or post in the Cambly Corner Facebook group asking for referrals)
When a Student Isn't Engaging
Some students give one-word answers or seem distracted. Try:
- Asking about topics they listed in their profile interests
- Using the AI discussion topics feature to suggest conversation starters
- Playing a speaking game from the Cambly Library
- Asking them directly: "What would be most helpful for you to practice today?"
If they're truly not interested in learning, you can politely end the call and hide from the student afterward (see "When Students Aren't a Good Fit" below).
When You Run Out of Things to Say
Use these conversation restarters:
- "Tell me about your typical day, walk me through from morning to evening"
- "What are you hoping to accomplish this year?"
- "Describe your favorite meal/book/movie to me"
Pro Tip: Browse the Cambly Library for discussion topics or speaking games!
When Students Aren't a Good Fit
Not every tutor-student match will work. That's normal! If you find a student isn't compatible with your teaching style and it is within the first 2 minutes of your lesson, we suggest letting them know and using the return feature to refund them their minutes.
- Let the student know. "I think another tutor with [specific expertise] might be a better match for what you're looking for. I’ll refund your minutes so you can find them."
- Click End Lesson
- Select "End lesson and return minutes"
- The student gets a full refund, you don't get paid for those minutes, and ratings won't count
- After ending the lesson, you can hide from the student by going to their profile or chat, clicking Report, and then selecting “Not a good fit for my teaching style”.
If two minutes have passed, we suggest trying your best to finish the lesson. If, however, you are unable to, you may politely let them know, suggest that they look for another tutor, and end the lesson.
Pro Tip: Hiding from a student without any explanation may cause confusion or discourage the student from booking future lessons, so it shouldn't be your default option when you find that you aren't compatible with a student.
Trust and Safety
If you encounter a student who uses offensive, inappropriate, or sexually explicit language, or who exhibits abusive behavior or harassment, please report them immediately to help keep Cambly safe for all tutors.
Reporting during a lesson:
- During a lesson: click the Report button (this immediately ends the lesson)
- Outside a lesson: Go to the student's profile or chat and click Report
Depending on the severity of the behavior, Cambly will take action to ensure your safety:
Rating System
Subscribed students are prompted to rate their lessons after each session. These ratings are used to create your tutor rating which is based on your most recent 200 qualifying ratings and shown to students when they are browsing profiles as a percentage of positive ratings.
As a new tutor, your profile will be tagged as "New Talent", rather than a rating, until you have accumulated enough ratings to have a reliably accurate rating that we can show to students.
Pro Tip: Maintaining a strong rating can help you attract new students and may unlock Priority Hours earlier for you, up to three weeks in advance.
For more details, visit our ratings help center article.
Technical Troubleshooting
Cambly is an online platform that connects users from around the world. Because of this, the most successful tutors have high-speed, stable internet set up via Google Chrome. We provide tutors with a connection test to quickly check if their setup is ready for a video call.
Below are some best practices and tips of things you can do to make sure your internet is optimized for video calling. Tutors who follow these steps are much more likely to experience fewer issues when using Cambly.
- Check to make sure you are on the most recent version of Chrome and of your computer's operating system.
- Minimize the number of additional devices connected to your wifi, the number of background programs/applications you may have running on your computer, and clear your cache (this helps clear out the stored data on your computer and frees up more space).
- Move your computer closer to your router, or if possible, plug directly into your modem.
- Make sure you have enabled camera and microphone permissions for Cambly in Chrome. You can find the total list of permissions by clicking the icon on the left side of the URL address bar and clicking on settings.
Pro Tip: Restart your computer and router at least once a week to clear temporary files and maintain optimal connection quality.
If severe technical problems occur within the first 2 minutes and make teaching impossible, you can use the 'End lesson and return minutes' option described in the previous section.
For more technical support, follow this link to our troubleshooting guide.
Ready to take your tutoring to the next level?
You now know:
- ✅ How the classroom works and which tools are available
- ✅ Where to find curriculum and teaching materials
- ✅ What Cambly students expect from lessons
- ✅ How to troubleshoot connection issues
Next step: Complete your first few lessons! Once you're comfortable with Cambly, move on to Part 3 to learn about Cambly's other products and how to grow your tutoring practice.