Welcome to Part 6 of the Cambly Kids Tutor Guide!

By now, you should know the basics of the Cambly platform, how to navigate the Cambly Kids Curriculum, how to set up a kid-friendly profile and workstation, how to book your first reservations with students, and how to tutor on Cambly Kids. In the final part of the Cambly Kids Tutor Guide, we will go over the policies that we have in place to ensure that our tutors and students continue to have safe and productive conversations!

Please be sure to read through each section carefully as tutors who do not follow our policies may no longer be able to tutor with Cambly.

Cambly Kids Policies

Note: The following policies are unique to Cambly Kids. If you have tutored adults on Cambly before, please read through them carefully as some policies are enforced differently on our kids platform.

 

Using the Report Button

Due to the unique nature of working with children, we ask that you avoid using the report button as it automatically ends the class when pressed. For the student, this is confusing and potentially damaging when an adult authority figure, like a teacher, leaves them abruptly.

We ask that this button is used only in instances where you encounter any form of harassment or offensive, inappropriate behavior, like nudity, hate speech, or other malicious activity.

If you find yourself in a difficult classroom, we suggest reaching out to a parent to help modify student behavior. Parents have signed up their children to learn English because they are dedicated to improving their child's education, and often they will try to accommodate a tutor's request for parental supervision in a classroom if it will help facilitate proper behavior and learning. If you are uncomfortable reaching out to a parent with your concerns, you can always contact us, and our student support team can contact the parent.

Banning Kids

As a reminder, banning is for grossly poor and offensive behavior (including nudity and offensive gestures or language like hate speech or racial slurs) rather than unmotivated, distracted, or overly playful children. Banning will completely block students from accessing their Cambly account and they will no longer be able to see, call, or message any tutors on Cambly.

Kids can have off days, and due to their immaturity and inability to self-regulate and manage their emotions, it can affect their performance in class. It is up to the tutor to utilize different classroom management strategies and teaching methods to reach and positively encourage a student who may be having a hard time focusing or participating.

Pro Tip: It is rare for a tutor to need to ban a Cambly Kids student as banning is usually reserved for grossly offensive behavior.

 

Hiding from Kids

If you are having issues teaching a particular student, the best course of action is usually to first talk with the student's parent or guardian. Parents are usually willing to sit beside an unmotivated or distracted student to help encourage appropriate classroom behaviors and responses.

If ultimately you decide to hide from the student, please be sure to notify the parents. More often than not, children won't understand why the tutor suddenly disappeared (particularly if a tutor leaves a session abruptly) and they could be confused, upset or disturbed when they find out that their tutor is missing. We highly encourage tutors to talk to the parents first via the Cambly messaging system. You can politely explain that you will no longer be able to accept reservations from them and recommend them to find another tutor. 

Please do not hide from a student in the middle of your session. We ask that you honor the 30-minute reservation commitment of your time if at all possible before choosing to hide your profile from a student. If you must hide your profile, we suggest trying to finish the lesson first.

Finally, before you hide your profile, please try your best to manually cancel any future reservations within the next 7 days with that student so that they are aware they need to rebook those classes. Cancelling future reservations will notify the student/parent via email, whereas hiding your profile from the student doesn’t notify the student/parent via email. This means that they may not notice the cancellation and still show up to the class only to find out that there is no class when the reservation time starts.


Starting Sessions Late or Missing Reservations

Please remember that for students in our Kids program, minutes do not roll over and are instead lost. We ask that tutors respect each student's reservation as they have invested both time and money to have these specific classes. Some families may have a very busy day and carve out specific times to practice English.

If a session started late or had tech issues and you have a back-to-back schedule, we suggest informing the student that the class will be x-number of minutes shorter due to the issue and that you have a reservation starting in x-number of minutes. By managing expectations upfront, the student won’t be surprised when a tutor ends sessions earlier than they expect. By utilizing effective classroom time-management techniques, tutors can prevent their schedule from getting off track and penalizing future students for an issue in a prior class.

If you are unable to attend a reservation, please let the student know as soon as you are able. We understand emergencies can happen to the best of us, however, many students plan their days around these reservations! It can create a very negative experience for them when tutors fail to show up to the reservations as they will not be able to find a replacement tutor in time to fill the time slot.

Ending Sessions Early

Because unused minutes do not roll over, it is a huge inconvenience to the student (and parents) when their classes are cut short and not held for the full, scheduled 30 minutes. When at all possible, we ask that the class is held for the full class time. We understand that it could be tiring to have back to back reservations, so feel free to schedule a break between your sessions!

If the issue is that lessons seem too short, you can extend the material by asking open-ended questions related to the material. If your younger or lower-level students can benefit from extension, you can consider the vocabulary and sentences taught in previous lessons and have students use those target words in the new lesson. You can have them give descriptions, identify colors, shapes, or feelings in order to get them actively engaged and speaking more often. Reviewing the material and going back over difficult slides is another option you may consider if you find extra time at the end of the session.

If you feel the content is far too easy for the student, please let us know, and we can modify the content level for the student so that it is more appropriate. We value your feedback in creating the best experience here at Cambly Kids!

Pro Tip: We understand that there will be times in which no matter how hard you try, circumstances outside of your control, (whether it be an emergency, tech issue, or an issue from the student side), will lead to a late start, early hang up, or a no show. In those situations, all that we ask is that you communicate clearly to the student what is going on as soon as you are able to. Just a quick message to explain can go a long way into avoiding negative interactions and reviews.

Use of Extra Resources

If you decide to use extra resources such as videos and games to supplement your sessions, be sure to stay in engaged with your student as they use it! Taking breaks to discuss what they've seen so far and asking questions as new concepts come up are great ways to both use a resource and also make sure that you're using your teaching skills to supplement the experience. Please avoid over reliance on these resources which we often see occur when a resource is used for extended periods of time without any interaction.

For a list of extra resources that can be used specifically with kids, please follow this link!

Cambly Wide Policies

Note: These policies are meant for ALL of our tutors to follow. As a tutor on our Cambly Kids platform, you are expected to adhere to these policies as well. Policies that are unique to Cambly Kids take precedence over any listed below if they happen to conflict.

Working with Students

1. Religion, Politics, and Other Controversial Subjects
2. Responding to Romantic Interest
3. No Solicitation Policy
4. Rude Users and Reporting Students

Classroom Etiquette

1. No Smoking/Vaping, Drinking Alcohol, Eating, or Chewing Gum
2. Dress Code
3. Teaching Environment
4. Being Respectful
5. Silent Sessions, and Sessions with Family, Friends, and Yourself
6. Ending Sessions Early and Abruptly 

Privacy

1. Video Recordings and Tutor Privacy
2. Sharing Personal Contact Information
3. Sharing PDFs and Google Docs
4. Meeting in Person
5. Multiple Accounts / Sharing Accounts

Working With Students

Talking about Religion, Politics, or Other Controversial Subjects

On Cambly, you may encounter students who have questions about religion, politics, or other potentially controversial topics while practicing English. Some tutor-student relationships are open and respectful enough to have fulfilling and productive conversations about these topics, but sometimes these topics can lead to negativity and can distract the student from their goal of learning English.

If a student wishes to engage in a conversation or if as a tutor you feel it would be productive to bring up these topics, please do so with an extremely high level of sensitivity. If you sense that the conversation is becoming hostile, please immediately desist and move to another topic.

Responding to Romantic Interest

Cambly tutors work closely with students on a frequent basis, which often leads to deep friendships. However, Cambly's policy is that tutors discourage and avoid romantic interest. If you or your student develop a romantic interest on Cambly, please report it to us. We'll block you from the student, but he or she will still be able to work with other tutors. Reportable offenses include: offers of gifts or money, romantic/sexual messages or comments, and asking for personal contact information. Romantic overtures may be interpreted differently in different cultures and can lead to discomforting and unexpected behavior. This policy helps keep both tutors and students safe.

 

No Solicitation Policy

Cambly is a place reserved for English learning, and we work hard to maintain a comfortable learning environment for both our tutors and students. As such, please refrain from providing or promoting any external service to students, and please refrain from accepting any external services from students. External forms of payment, gifts, or tips from students are not permitted. External forms of payment, gifts, or tips given to students by tutors are also not permitted. Cambly connects students and tutors for the purpose of practicing English on Cambly only.

 

Rude Users and Reporting Students

We work hard to keep Cambly a safe, positive place to teach and learn English, and we have a zero-tolerance policy for anyone-- student or tutor-- who misuses the service. Unfortunately, tutors sometimes encounter offensive users. Offensive behavior could range anywhere from using offensive language or gestures to nudity. We empower tutors to ban any grossly offensive user from Cambly instantly, and we encourage them to freely do so anytime they encounter extreme and troubling behavior. We review ban reports so if it turns out to be a misunderstanding, we'll let the student back onto the platform. In other instances where tutors feel uncomfortable, but the user hasn't done something grossly offensive, tutors may hide their profiles.

Cambly has implemented additional protections for tutors when working with free-trial students. When working with a free-trial student, the student's camera will be turned off by default. Once the tutor has a chance to feel comfortable with a user, they can then choose to switch the video/camera on. 

In less severe instances (technical problems, lack of participation, repeated calling, etc.) tutors may choose to hide their profiles from a student by reporting them. This will stop the student from seeing the tutor online, sending them messages, or making reservations with them. In this case, the student will still be able to call other tutors, as opposed to a full ban which blocks them from the platform altogether. If we get more than 2 reports for a student, we'll clear the student's free trial so they don't waste any more tutors' time.

While we understand how upsetting offensive behaviors can be, we expect tutors to behave professionally at all times and ask that they not engage any offensive student. In grossly offensive situations, rather than responding to the student's remark, etc, tutors should simply ban the user. In less offensive cases, we ask that tutors politely end the call first, and then hide their profile.

To report or ban a user, just press the red "Report/Ban" button at the top left of the classroom. You can also ban the user from their student page, which can be found in your History tab. You can ban students who send offensive messages by clicking on the wheel icon from the message window and selecting "Report" and then "Offensive". We also have automated systems that can ban potentially offensive users before they even contact a tutor. We're continually researching ways to improve our automatic safeguards.

 

Classroom Etiquette

No Smoking/Vaping, Drinking Alcohol, Eating, or Chewing Gum

Please refrain from smoking/vaping or drinking alcoholic beverages while tutoring. Also, please refrain from eating or chewing gum as that can interfere with your speech. Of course, non-alcoholic drinks are fine, as they can be helpful when you've been talking for many hours!

 

Dress Code

Our appearance reflects on ourselves and on Cambly. Cultural norms for dress and appearance vary around the world. We value openness, inclusivity, and discovery of people and cultures in an educational environment that is supportive for all participants - tutors and students alike.

Your students look up to you as an English-tutoring professional, so it’s important to look the part!  Our dress code is casual, but you should maintain a well-groomed and professional appearance while working with students. It’s similar to one you’d find in a university setting.

Fitted T-shirts are fine, but no sleeveless attire, exposed shoulders, exposed cleavage, sunglasses, or clothing with offensive images/language.

If a head covering is worn, it should be open and leave a clear, unobstructed view of the face and eyes.

Teaching Environment - Neat Background, Free from Distractions Requirement

Tutoring from a quiet, tidy, and well-lit area will help you feel more professional and will drastically reduce distractions for your students. Whether you choose to decorate the area around you or simply tutor in front of a blank wall, we ask that the background showing in your video feed be neat and free of any kind of distractions that might prevent the student from being able to focus during the lesson.

You should be sitting up or standing, with your computer resting on a flat surface to avoid camera shake. Your camera must be on at all times. You may choose to turn off the student's camera if they are a free-trial student and can turn it back on once you feel more comfortable. Your face should be fully visible and directly facing into the camera, not looking off to the side. If you choose to stand while tutoring, please be sure to raise your computer or webcam to about eye level. Please do not tutor from a bed or reclining position, and please avoid having other people visible in the video feed behind you.

For those with pets:

If you have a pet, please ensure that they do not distract from the lesson. If at all possible, tutors should not teach in the same room as their pets, as this may contribute to ambient noise. Occasional pet noise is okay, but constant pet noise is not conducive to learning and is against policy. Also, please do not allow them to walk around freely in the background.

Students may sometimes ask to see your pets, and this is okay, but it shouldn't take more than a few seconds to show and then let the pet go on its way.

For those who use internet add ons or additional software to help enhance their sessions:

Please ensure that these do not obscure your face in your video feed at any time. If you want to screenshare, please use the built-in feature, which will cause the screenshare to occur in the lesson material screen instead of over your own face.

Pro Tip: If you are having a technical issue with your internet add on or additional software, it is best to reach out to their specific support team to find a solution rather than writing into Cambly Tutor Support.

Being Respectful

Students from all over the world come to Cambly in hopes of taking the next step in their English learning journey. Many times, you'll encounter students who are taking their first step and are true beginners to both English and an online style of learning. As a tutor, please try to be patient at all times with your student, especially when they are struggling with a concept. Use of profanity is not allowed and will only detract from the student's learning experience.

Silent Sessions, and Sessions with Family, Friends and Yourself

At Cambly, our mission is to provide excellent yet affordable English instruction to learners around the world. We're proud to offer students the most reasonably priced subscription in the industry, often by multiples compared to other options.

Sessions without genuine instruction, including silent sessions, calls from family, friends or yourself, increase the cost of our service without delivering additional instructional value, meaning we may eventually need to raise prices on students who may not be able to then afford Cambly.

Sessions without genuine instructions raise students’ costs, deprive students of your availability, and strain our servers without providing a student any help in becoming a better English speaker, which is ultimately the mission of our company. As such, it is our policy that Cambly is a place for the teaching and learning of English only.

If a student requests a session without genuine instruction, please do your best to continue on with the lesson. If they insist on having a session without genuine instruction, please politely end the session.

 

Ending Sessions Early and Abruptly

We totally understand that sometimes you need to leave sessions early to attend other students or events in your personal life. However, please inform the students as soon as the call begins that you need to end the session before their time is up. By managing expectation upfront, the student won't be surprised when you log off early, and it's a much nicer experience for you and them!

Privacy

Video Recordings & Privacy

Your username, profile video, photo, and other information you add to your profile is publicly available online. Therefore, be sure to only include information you are comfortable sharing. To help maintain your privacy, you can use a tutoring name that is different from your real name. If you'd like to do so, you can update your Display Name (appears on your profile) at any time from your Account Settings. If you’d like to change your username (appears in URLs associated with your account) please send a request to our Tutor Support team.

Additionally, all video sessions and chat messages on Cambly are recorded and securely stored on our servers. Students can review their past sessions, which many have found to be an essential part of their learning process. Cambly also reserves the right to review and internally share sessions for quality control and training purposes. This helps us maintain a high level of excellence so both our tutors and students have the best experiences possible.

To help promote your personal brand inside of Cambly and attract new students, we prompt students with the option to share their video recordings with friends and/or on social media. If you'd like, you can turn this feature off from your Account Settings. However, as students have access to their Cambly videos regardless, it's possible that some may choose to share their tutoring video(s) with friends or online. We encourage our students to always ask tutors for permission before sharing videos with others.

In order to protect students' privacy, tutors should refrain from recording sessions or sharing student information or screenshots of the classroom even if they have the student’s permission.

Free-trial students:

Cambly has implemented additional protections for tutors when working with free-trial students. When working with a free-trial student, the student's camera will be turned off by default. Once the tutor has a chance to feel comfortable with a user, they can then choose to switch the video/camera on. 

In addition, you have the option to turn off your visibility to free trials, so that you never receive calls from these students. Simply visit your Tutor Dashboard and click on the drop down feature to select “Paid Users Only,” this means you will only be visible to paid Cambly students. You can switch this visibility on or off as much as you like.

Sharing Personal Contact Information

Tutors and students alike should refrain from soliciting or sharing any external contact information (Facebook, Skype, Email, WhatsApp, Instagram, WeChat, personal YouTube channel, etc.). This protects your privacy and ensures you get paid for talking to students. If a student offers you personal contact information, please politely respond that it’s against Cambly’s policy and discourage them from doing so. You can remind them that Cambly's messaging system should work well for your purposes and theirs.

Sharing PDFs and Google Docs

We welcome tutors and students to share and exchange external resources, including PDFs and Google docs. However, these docs must be public, meaning no password required for PDFs and no permission request needed for Google docs.

 

Meeting Cambly Students in Person

Tutors and students often develop such strong bonds that sometimes they consider meeting in person. We advise tutors to exercise their best judgment while arranging in-person meetings. You can use the Cambly messaging system to communicate details. Please note that Cambly does not perform background checks on students. Meeting a student offline may hold a similar risk to meeting any person offline whom you've met on the internet.

 

Multiple Accounts / Sharing Accounts

We ask our tutors to only create one tutor account, which comes with a student account automatically. Creating multiple tutor accounts under different email addresses is not allowed.

To ensure the safety of our students, we also do not allow account sharing. If someone asks to use your account to tutor, please instead invite them to apply and create their own account with us.

Pro Tip: Our goal is to make sure that everyone on our platform is safe. If you are ever in doubt about whether or not something follows our policies, please send a message to Tutor Support and we'd be happy to check for you!

To submit a support request to Tutor Support, please follow these instructions:

1. Log into your Cambly tutor account.
2. Click on the “?” in the top right.
3. Click on “Contact Us”.  

Student Support

Sometimes students, especially free-trial students, will ask their tutors questions about Cambly. You can find answers to the most frequently asked questions here. If your student is experiencing a technical issue, sometimes you can offer advice, but often the best thing to do is direct them to Student Support ("contact us" on the students' side). They're excellent and can resolve all sorts of matters nearly always in the student's native language.

                                                                                                                                                                               

You have now completed the Cambly Kids Tutor Guide!

In just a short amount of time you've learned the basics of the Cambly platform, how to navigate the Cambly Kids Curriculum, how to set up a kid-friendly profile and workstation, how to book your first reservations with students, how to tutor on Cambly Kids, and how to follow our policies!

We hope that you were able to learn all that you wanted to know about the Cambly Kids platform and that you are excited to get out there and start meeting our eager students!

We highly encourage you to bookmark this tutor guide so that you can quickly access it if you are having any issues while tutoring with us. We also recommend that you stay connected with your fellow Cambly Kids tutors! We are proud to have a community of tutors who are always willing to assist new tutors as they find their own teaching style. 

Here are a few ways that you can stay connected with us as well as your fellow tutors:

• Use Cambly Corner to see what other tutors are up to, share your Cambly experience, get advice, or just say hi!
• Use Cambly Kids Corner to get inspired! This is the group to share your resources, tips, and successes.
• Subscribe to the Cambly Tutors on YouTube for advice and inspiration from experienced tutors.
• Subscribe to the Cambly Wire which is a blog we created for our tutors to share tips, stories, and all things related to ESL online tutoring.
  
• Follow us on Instagram to stay up to date with the latest news.
• For the fastest support from the Cambly team, however, please submit a detailed request to our Tutor Support team.