How language teachers can find their own students without Preply or italki

I've taught English for 12 years and was an IELTS speaking examiner. I also make Russian comprehensible input as ThatRussianWord, and my co-founder Toby makes German comprehensible input as ThatGermanWord. We post about one video a week each, and after four months our two channels have 23,000 followers. This post is for teachers who are good at teaching and tired of finding students through someone else's marketplace.

The short version: a short video in your language, pitched at a learner's level, is the best trial lesson you can give. It costs you nothing per viewer, learners find it on their own, and by the time someone writes to you they already know how you teach.

What the platforms cost you

Preply and italki are a good way to start. They bring you students on day one, and they handle payments and scheduling. The price is what you give up once you have a full calendar.

• Preply keeps 100% of every trial lesson with a new student. After that it takes 33% of each lesson, falling step by step to 18% as your total hours grow (Preply's commission model).
• italki takes no commission on trial lessons, then 21% on single lessons. It drops to 15% only on packages of 15 or 20 lessons, and group classes cost you 30% (italki support).

The commission is only part of it. On both platforms the search ranking decides who sees your profile, and you compete with every other teacher of your language on the same page. Preply lists more than 46,000 English tutors. When a learner can sort by price, the easiest way to stand out is to be cheaper.

Many teachers try the other route: their own website. It is worth having, but a website does not bring visitors by itself. A learner who searches "German teacher online" mostly finds the platforms themselves, because they rank for those searches.

Why comprehensible input videos work as marketing

Comprehensible input is speech a learner understands at their level, with a little in it that is just beyond. A good video of it is useful on its own, so learners watch it, save it and come back for the next one.

That changes how a student finds you. On a platform, a learner picks you from a list after reading a profile and maybe watching a 60-second intro. With videos, they have listened to you for hours before they ever think about booking. They know your voice, your pace and your sense of humor, and they know you can pitch a language at their level. That is everything a trial lesson is supposed to show.

The platforms also do the finding for you. TikTok, Instagram and YouTube learn quickly that a video in slow, clear German interests people who are learning German, and they show it to more of them. You don't pay for that reach, and a good video keeps finding new viewers for months after you post it.

Toby doesn't teach and has never said he does. In a few months around 30 people still wrote to him to ask if they could book a class. He describes how he makes each video in about 15 minutes in How to make comprehensible input videos in under 15 minutes. If you are a teacher, those messages are students.

Teachers and creators who built a business this way

There is no single model. Some creators sell a cheap monthly membership to a large audience, some sell an expensive course to a small one, and many add live classes on top. What they share is free videos first and something to buy after.

• Miss Honey (Slow English Podcast) teaches English slowly and clearly to more than 4 million followers on TikTok and almost 1.5 million on YouTube. Her paid side is a Patreon with English courses from A1 to C2, a community for speaking practice, and live masterclasses that she streams on YouTube.
• Easy German started with street interviews and has 3.3 million YouTube subscribers. For years its members paid on Patreon. In 2025 it moved them to its own membership, with tiers from €4.99 for supporters to €34.99 for daily conversation classes on Zoom.
• Deutsch mit Benjamin has about 200,000 YouTube subscribers from fewer than 100 videos. Each video points to a free training, the training leads to a pronunciation academy, and above that he offers 1:1 coaching for professionals. You don't need thousands of videos if the offer behind them is clear.
• Herr Antrim has taught German at a high school since 2009 and posted on YouTube since 2011. He sells a monthly learners' club and level courses next to his day job.
• Piece of Hebrew has about 54,000 YouTube subscribers. A free ebook brings learners onto an email list, and the Club gives members transcripts, quizzes and a monthly live call.
• Learn Vietnamese With Annie has about 46,000 subscribers and sells premium audio lessons and 1:1 classes.
• Tanya teaches Russian posts short A1 and A2 videos on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, every word carried by props and the scene around her, and more than 37,000 learners follow her across the three.

The video itself can be very simple. Vivid German teaches group classes for absolute beginners, and his reels look like the one below: slow German, pictures, gestures and no translation. The caption invites anyone who wants more to a free beginner class on Zoom. Viewers comment "CLASS" to get the link, and the free class is where they meet him as a teacher.

A smaller language is an advantage

If you teach a language that fewer people learn, you may think video is not for you. The numbers say the opposite. Preply lists about 46,000 English tutors, about 3,100 German tutors and about 280 Hebrew tutors. On YouTube, German has channels with millions of subscribers, while the biggest independent Hebrew channels have tens of thousands.

Fewer people learn Hebrew, Vietnamese or Hungarian, but the ones who do have far fewer teachers to choose from, on the platforms and in their feeds. A learner who finds a good video in a smaller language often watches every video on the channel.

Hungarian with Sziszi is a good example. Sziszi grew up in Budapest and has a master's degree in teaching Hungarian as a second language. She built her audience on YouTube, where 45 videos brought her more than 21,000 subscribers. Today she posts little on YouTube. Her community lives on Patreon, where she keeps making videos and podcast episodes for members, with transcripts, study guides and challenges. YouTube brought the learners, and Patreon is where she teaches them. Sziszi, Piece of Hebrew and Annie show that a channel in a smaller language is big enough to run a membership and fill a calendar.

What learners actually watch

On Reelang, learners watch short videos from real creators in 46 languages, sorted by level. We can see which videos they keep watching and which they swipe past. These are not the numbers from TikTok or Instagram, and a topic that works for one creator can still fail for another. But across languages, some patterns are clear.

What we see on Reelang

Topics learners stay for, and topics they swipe past

Learners stay Learners swipe

• Romance and dating+29%
• Customer service+28%
• Restaurants+24%
• Baking+24%
• Small talk+21%
• Asking questions+21%
• Clothes+19%
• Daily routine+18%
• Money+16%
• Coffee and breakfast+15%
• Hobbies+15%
• Weather+14%

How often learners keep watching a video on this topic, compared with an average video of the same length. Topics with at least 150 videos in 8 or more languages.

How often a learner watches a video we show them, by length

1. 44%under 30 s
2. 33%30 to 60 s
3. 27%1 to 2 min
4. 18%2 to 5 min
5. 8%over 5 min

Learners on Reelang across 46 languages, October 2026. The feed shows each learner videos near their level, so this describes people actively learning, not every viewer on TikTok or Instagram.

People talking to people wins. Ordering food, small talk, asking questions, paying for things, going on a date: learners keep watching these 14 to 29% more often than an average video of the same length. They can picture themselves in the situation, and they will need the same words next week.

The classroom loses. Videos tagged "classroom" or "online learning" do worse than average, and so do news, politics and celebrity topics. For a teacher this is the most useful finding. A video of you explaining a rule at a whiteboard does worse than the same words said while you order a coffee. Show the situation and let the grammar ride along in it.

Short and simple is easier to finish. Learners watch 44% of the videos under 30 seconds we show them, and 8% of the ones over five minutes. Level matters too: beginner videos (A1) do about 11% better than average once you account for length, and C1 videos do about 44% worse. There are many more beginners scrolling, and fewer creators make videos they can follow.

The smallest setup that turns viewers into students

You don't need a course platform, a funnel or an email sequence on day one. You need four things.

1. One video a week you can keep up. Pick a pace you can hold for six months, not one you can hold for three weeks. Learners come back for the next video, so it has to come.
2. The same video on every platform. You can't predict where you will land. Toby's audience is strongest on TikTok, mine on Instagram, and neither of us would have guessed it. Post to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts and also LinkedIn, which has much less language content.
3. One link and one offer. Put a single link in your bio. Behind it, offer one thing: a free 20-minute call, a group class, or a cheap monthly membership on Patreon (Patreon keeps 10% plus payment fees on new pages). A list of six offers makes a learner choose, and many will choose nothing.
4. A way to stay in touch. Ask for an email address, even with a free PDF of the vocabulary from your last five videos. A follower belongs to the app. An email list belongs to you, and Easy German's move off Patreon shows why that matters later.

Then mention the offer, briefly and not in every video. "If you want to practice this with me, the link is in my bio" at the end of a good video is enough.

Expect a few misses first

For most people, the first video is not a hit. You will probably make a few, try different topics and formats, and see what works. Even with the data we see on Reelang and the videos we make ourselves, our own results still surprise us.

Part of it is luck. TikTok and Instagram show a new video to a small group first. If those first few hundred viewers happen to be very interested, the platform keeps showing it to more people. If a good video happens to reach people who don't care that day, it can stop there.

If you keep posting one video a week, the odds turn in your favor. Sooner or later one video lands and gets pushed, and the others start to find viewers too. Over time the platforms learn who your audience is, people who are seriously learning your language, and show your new videos to them first.

So treat it as a second channel, not a bet. Keep teaching on the platforms while your videos grow, and move students over as they find you directly. Each student who books you directly is one you no longer pay commission on.

If you want to start today, Reelang Studio takes you from an idea to a published video in about 15 minutes, and our page for language teachers explains how your videos can reach learners on Reelang too.