Frequently asked questions

Korean university students in Korea. Tutors join by applying on our Teach on GwenchanaClass page and being accepted by our team. Tutors marked “Verified by GwenchanaClass” are part of our managed team and charge the standard platform price; community tutors set their own price.

The level test has 10 questions and takes about 2 minutes. Then you pick your goal, your interests and the language you are most comfortable in. You can also tell us when you like to have lessons and whether you prefer a tutor of a certain gender or age, or skip those questions. We show your level (Beginner to Advanced), three tutors who fit you and an 8-week study plan for 1:1 lessons. It is free and you don't need an account. If you sign up or log in, the result is saved to your account. Without an account you can leave your email, and the GwenchanaClass team will follow up about your level and goal. Open the level test again to see your result and plan, or take the test again any time. My lessons lists your earlier results too, newest first.

With simple, transparent rules: tutors score higher when they teach your goal, fit your level, share your interests and speak your language, and their rating counts too. If you answered the optional questions, tutors who teach at the times of day you picked (in your time zone) and match the gender or age group you asked for move up as well. After you take the level test, the tutor list is sorted this way (the Recommended order) and shows why each tutor fits you. You can also sort the list by Popular, Price, Top rated or Newest.

An 8-week plan for 1:1 lessons, built from your level, your goal and your interests: three phases, a language focus for each week and example topics, plus a suggested number of lessons per week. The GwenchanaClass team wrote it as a starting point, so go through it with your tutor in your first lesson. It comes back whenever you open the level test again, and My lessons links to it. Lessons are still requested one at a time, and a tutor confirms each one; plans cannot be bought as a package yet.

Some tutors offer a free 15-minute consultation where they check your level in conversation and suggest what to work on. Each learner can have one, and a request that is still waiting for the tutor counts (cancel it to pick another time). A request the tutor declines, doesn't confirm in time or loses to another learner doesn't count: it is listed under Requests that didn't go through in My lessons, where Request another time opens the consultation again. Request it from the level test result or from the profile of a tutor who offers it; the tutor confirms it like any lesson. Afterwards the tutor can write a short level report, which you can read in My lessons.

Everyday conversation, K-Culture and slang, TOPIK and studying in Korea, and business Korean, from beginner to advanced. On Find tutors you can search by name, university, major or interest and filter by goal, level, university, major, lesson time, language, tutor type, price and minimum rating, and sort the list by Recommended, Popular, price, Top rated or Newest.

Open the tutor's profile and press Share profile. On a phone, and on some computers, this opens the share sheet. Where there isn't one, the page copies the profile's address and tells you it did, and if your browser can't copy it, the address is shown so you can copy it yourself. It opens the tutor's public profile and tells the tutor and us nothing about you. In chat apps, the link you share arrives with a picture made for that tutor.

Yes. Press the heart on a tutor's card or on their profile (when you are logged in; if you are not, you are asked to log in first and come back to the same page). Your saved tutors are listed in Saved tutors, the one you saved last first, and you can remove one there with its Remove button or by pressing the heart again. You can save up to 100 tutors. The list is private: only you see it, and the tutors don't know. A saved tutor who is not taking requests right now (hidden, or not published) is left out of the list, and shows again if they are back; until then they still count towards the 100.

Yes. Press Quick view on a card and a window opens with the photo, badges, university, rating, price, languages, goals and levels, and the start of the bio, plus the one-minute introduction if there is one (it plays only when you press play). From there, View full profile opens everything, Request a lesson opens the booking window on the profile, where you pick what to practise and a time and send your request (nothing is requested from this window), and the heart saves them for later. Close it with the Close button, the Escape key or a press outside it, and you are back on the list where you were. If a tutor is taken off the list while the window is open, it tells you so.

Yes. The My goal card in My lessons lets you choose what you want to learn Korean for, the level you want to reach and how many lessons a week you aim for (1 to 7). You can change or clear it any time. This week's goal at the top of the page then shows how many of this week's lessons you have done or booked: the week runs from Monday to Sunday in your time zone, and only confirmed lessons are included, so a lesson that is not confirmed yet is left out. Only you can see your goal: tutors and the GwenchanaClass team cannot. It is deleted with your account.

Yes. Your certificate of completion shows the lessons you completed on GwenchanaClass, your total hours, your tutors and the latest level a tutor assessed, under the name in your account settings. Only lessons your tutor wrote a report for count; the free consultation does not. Print it or save it as a PDF for a CV, a school application or an employer.

Yours. Tutors set their weekly hours in Korea time (KST), and we convert them to your device's time zone automatically. When you pick a time, and in My lessons, the tutor's Korea time is shown too. The lesson time filter on Find tutors also uses your time zone.

Open a tutor's profile and press Request a lesson. In the window that opens, choose what you want to practise if the tutor offers lesson options (each has its own price), pick one of their open times (at least 48 hours from now and within the next 14 days) and press Request lesson. You need to be logged in. A request is not a booked lesson yet: the tutor has to confirm it at least 24 hours before the lesson starts. Until then it is listed in My lessons under Waiting for tutor confirmation, and the next question says what happens after that. Lessons are 50 minutes and start on the hour or half hour. You can hold up to 7 upcoming requests and lessons with one tutor and 14 in all. To learn with a tutor again, press Book again next to a past lesson in My lessons: it opens that tutor's window, with the same practice option chosen if they still offer it.

Some tutors offer their lessons in directions, for example Everyday conversation, TOPIK prep or Business Korean. An option can have a level, and each has its own price. The tutor's profile lists them. In the window that opens with Request a lesson you choose one, then a time, and the lesson costs what that option costs; when there are several, none is chosen for you. A tutor without options teaches the standard lesson at their own price. The price on cards and in the list is the lowest of a tutor's options. An option you think is strange can be reported: see the next answer.

In the window that opens with Request a lesson, press Report this option under the option, then Send report. You need to be logged in. Use it for an option that is misleading or spam, or that gives a phone number, an email address, a link or the name of a messenger: tutors may not put those in an option. When three different people have reported an option, it is hidden automatically, the tutor is told and the GwenchanaClass team looks at it; a request that already used it stays as it is. We do not tell you what the team decides. Only the team can see who reported an option. For anything else that is wrong, write to us.

Your tutor gets a notification and has until 24 hours before the lesson starts to confirm or decline it; if they do neither, the request is cancelled automatically. You can cancel it yourself any time before then. When they confirm, the lesson moves to Upcoming in My lessons with a Confirmed label, and you get a notification. If they decline, or nobody confirms in time, the request is cancelled and listed under Requests that didn't go through, with buttons to request another time or find another tutor, and you get a notification too. Several learners can ask for the same time: when the tutor confirms one, the others are cancelled and told that the time was taken. Nothing is charged for a request or a confirmation.

The tutor has just confirmed a lesson for that time, you already have a lesson or a request that overlaps it, or the time has come closer than 48 hours (a request needs at least that much notice). Each tutor teaches one lesson at a time and so do you. Please pick another time.

Online, on the video link your tutor sets up (for example Zoom or Google Meet). The link appears next to the lesson in My lessons 75 minutes before it starts and stays until it ends; only the learner whose confirmed lesson it is can see it. Video calls inside GwenchanaClass are not available yet.

Your tutor can write a lesson report after each lesson: what you covered, feedback, homework and the next goal. Reports appear with the lesson in My lessons, and once a lesson has its report you can review it.

Yes. Once a lesson has ended and your tutor has written the notes for it in My lessons, you can rate it and write a review, one per lesson, and edit it later. The notes are how GwenchanaClass knows the lesson took place, so a lesson without them, or one your tutor marked you absent from, can't be reviewed. Tutors' ratings are worked out from the reviews learners can see. The GwenchanaClass team can hide a review.

If you don't join a lesson, your tutor can mark you as absent once it has ended. You get a notification, the lesson shows as missed in My lessons, and it can't be reviewed. If you were there, or the tutor marked the wrong lesson, please write to the GwenchanaClass team on the contact page with the lesson time. The team can remove the mark, and you are told when a mark is taken back.

Wait in the lesson link for a few minutes. If your tutor doesn't join, write to the GwenchanaClass team on the contact page with the lesson time and your tutor's name. The team can cancel the lesson, and you can request another time. The rules for late or missing tutors are still being decided.

Go to My lessons. Press Cancel next to a confirmed lesson, any time before it starts, or Cancel request next to a request that is waiting for the tutor, any time before the tutor's deadline. You are asked once to confirm: Yes, cancel cancels it, and Keep it leaves it as it was. A cancelled lesson cannot be brought back; you would send a new request. Lessons that have already started cannot be cancelled. The time opens up again for other learners. Rules for late cancellations and refunds after a lesson is confirmed have not been decided yet and will be announced.

Yes, inside GwenchanaClass. When you are logged in, the bell at the top of the page shows when a tutor confirms or declines your request (or does not answer in time), cancellations, lesson reports, reviews and answers from the GwenchanaClass team, and Notifications lists them all. When a lesson starts within the hour, a reminder appears at the top of every page, with the video link once the tutor has shared one. We don't send these by email or as phone notifications yet, so check GwenchanaClass before your lessons. When emails are switched on, you choose which kinds you get in the Email settings of your account settings; the bell always shows everything.

Each tutor's price per 50-minute lesson is shown in US dollars on their profile: $14 for Verified by GwenchanaClass tutors, and $14 to $17 for community tutors, who set their own price. Some tutors offer lesson options such as Everyday conversation or TOPIK prep, each with its own price: their profile lists them, you choose one when you request a lesson, and the price shown on cards and in the list is the lowest of them.

Not yet. This is a demo, so no payment is taken when you request a lesson or when the tutor confirms it. How to pay will be announced before paid lessons start.

No payment is taken today, so there is nothing to refund. The refund rules will be part of the terms we publish before payments start.

Prices are what you see on each profile today. Any change to pricing will be announced.

Korean university students. You don't need teaching experience. To start, sign up as a tutor: that form is in Korean and has your tutor application on it, which is filed when you confirm your email. If you already have an account, log in and apply on the Teach on GwenchanaClass page (the page is in Korean).

Our team reviews your application. If you are accepted, your account becomes a tutor account with a Tutor dashboard, where you fill in your profile, set your weekly hours in Korea time and publish your profile so learners can find you and send you lesson requests.

This has not been decided yet. GwenchanaClass does not take real payments yet, so there is nothing to pay out today. When and how lesson fees are paid to tutors will be announced before payments start, together with the tutor agreement. Until then, the earnings estimate (수익 (예상)) in the Tutor dashboard shows what your finished lessons would come to each month after the platform fee. A lesson counts once you wrote its report or marked that the learner did not come: you are paid for a lesson you were there for, even if the learner missed it. It is only an estimate, not a payout. The first lesson guide (첫 수업 가이드) lists the rules that are still open.

Community tutors pay a platform fee of 15% of what the learner pays (the price of the lesson option the learner chose, or the tutor's own price for a lesson without one), as the Tutor dashboard says next to the lesson price. Founding tutors pay no fee for their first month. No payments are taken yet, so no fee is charged today. How the fee applies to Verified by GwenchanaClass tutors, who teach at the fixed $14 price, will be part of the tutor agreement before payments start.

Yes. The first lesson guide (첫 수업 가이드) in the Tutor dashboard covers preparing for a lesson, tips for the intro video on your profile (a vertical 9:16 video of about a minute), the 50-minute lesson flow, a script for the free 15-minute level check, what to do after a lesson and lesson etiquette. It is written in Korean. When you have read it, press 가이드를 다 읽었어요 at the bottom of the page: the tick in the dashboard's 시작하기 checklist is saved to your account, so it shows on your other phone or laptop too, and the GwenchanaClass team can see whether you have read it. The resource bank (자료실) has the GwenchanaClass team's manuals, curriculum, slides, workbooks and scripts to download.

In the Tutor dashboard under 수업 링크 (lesson link). Save a fixed Zoom or Google Meet room; the same link is used for all your lessons. Only learners with a confirmed lesson with you can see it, from 75 minutes before that lesson starts until it ends.

In the Tutor dashboard under 수업 옵션 (lesson options). Press an example (일상 회화, TOPIK 준비 and so on) to add it, or write a name of your own: 8 options in all, 3 of them your own. For each one set the level (or all levels) and the price ($14 to $17 for community tutors, $14 for Verified by GwenchanaClass tutors) and switch it on or off. Learners choose one when they request a lesson and pay that option's price; the price on your profile and in the list is the lowest price among the options that are on. A name cannot have a link, an email address, an @handle, a phone number or the name of a messenger in it, and it cannot be changed once it is made: delete the option and add it again. When three different people have reported an option, or the team hides it, it is hidden from learners and you are notified. Only the team can show it again or delete it, and the same name cannot be added again until then. If you think it was a mistake, write to us on the contact page.

In the Tutor dashboard under 수업 가능 시간 (available hours), pick the times you can teach each week in Korea time (KST): tap a box for one start time, or use 한꺼번에 고르기 (choose at once) to open or close a range of start times on several days, or copy one day to others, and 실행 취소 (undo) if you change your mind. Lessons start on the hour or half hour and last 50 minutes. Learners see your times in their own time zone and can request open times in the next 14 days, at least 48 hours ahead. You confirm or decline each request in the Tutor dashboard. To skip one particular date, add it as a 휴무일 (day off).

In the Tutor dashboard under 휴무일, pick a date (Korea time, KST) and add it. Learners are not offered your times on that day and cannot request them. The rest of your weekly hours stay as they are. You can have up to 90 upcoming days off, as far as 365 days ahead; past dates disappear by themselves, and you can delete a day off any time. A day off changes nothing that is on the day already: requests waiting for you can still be confirmed or declined at the top of the dashboard until 24 hours before the lesson, as always, and a request you don't answer is cancelled automatically at that time. A confirmed lesson stays until the GwenchanaClass team cancels it for you on the contact page. When you add a day, the dashboard tells you how many lessons and requests it has.

Once a lesson has started, open it under 내 수업 (my lessons) in the Tutor dashboard and write what you covered, feedback, homework and the next goal. The learner reads it in their own My lessons, and can rate a lesson only once it has a report. After a free level check, write the level report the same way. Only lessons with a report count as taught and appear on your activity certificate. A finished lesson with neither a report nor a no-show mark is left out of your earnings estimate.

Yes. The activity certificate (활동 인증서) shows your teaching on GwenchanaClass, counted from your lesson reports. Print it or save it as a PDF for your portfolio or applications.

Yes. On the recommendation letters page (추천서), write what the letter is for and, if you like, where it goes. You can have one open request at a time. The GwenchanaClass team checks your lesson record, then writes and issues the letter or declines the request with a note, and you get a notification either way. An issued letter can be printed or saved as a PDF from the same page.

Wait in your lesson link. Once the lesson has ended, press 학생이 오지 않음 (student did not come) next to it under 내 수업. The lesson then counts in your earnings estimate, because you were there, and the learner gets a notification asking them to contact GwenchanaClass if it is wrong. You can take the mark back for 24 hours; if the learner had already seen it, they are told it was taken back and the lesson can't be marked again. If the learner joined late and you taught the lesson, write the report instead. A marked lesson has no report and can't be reviewed. Free level checks are not marked. How long to wait for a late learner is still to be decided. Until Zoom records who joined, the report or this mark is how GwenchanaClass knows you took part. Lessons you marked this way stay in 취소·결석 내역 in your dashboard for 60 days.

Join as soon as you can, and tell the GwenchanaClass team on the contact page (Teaching on GwenchanaClass) with the learner's name and the lesson time. How a lesson is handled when the tutor is late or doesn't join has not been decided yet; the first lesson guide lists the rules that are still open. If you know you can't teach a lesson, ask the team to cancel it as early as possible.

A learner's booking is a request that you confirm. New requests appear in a box called 확정을 기다리는 요청 at the top of the Tutor dashboard and in your notifications, with the learner's name, level and goal, the lesson time in Korea time and your deadline. Press 확정 to confirm or 거절 to decline (you are asked once more before declining). You have until 24 hours before the lesson starts; a request you did not answer by then is cancelled automatically and the learner is told. Several learners can ask for the same time: confirming one cancels the others for overlapping times and tells them. A time you already have a confirmed lesson at cannot be confirmed again.

Tutors cannot cancel a confirmed lesson in the app yet. If you cannot teach it, tell the GwenchanaClass team as early as possible on the contact page (Teaching on GwenchanaClass, or Mentor Q&A), with the learner's name and the lesson time. The team cancels it for you: you and the learner are both told, and it leaves your earnings estimate. A lesson that the learner or the team cancelled is listed with the reason in 취소·결석 내역 in your dashboard for 60 days. A lesson you wrote a report for counts as taught and stays. The first lesson guide lists the rules that are still open. Adding a 휴무일 (day off) does not cancel anything that is on that day already.

Ask a mentor with Mentor Q&A. Mentors studied teaching Korean and can help with lesson preparation, the materials and difficult situations. Their answers appear on the contact page, and you can write in Korean.

You can browse tutors and take the level test without one. To request and manage lessons, sign up with your email and a password, then open the confirmation link we email you. When the Log in page shows Google or Kakao buttons, you can sign up with one of those instead. To teach rather than learn, sign up as a tutor (that form is in Korean).

Yes. Your account settings have a personal invite link and show how many friends signed up with it. Rewards for invites will come once payments launch; what they will be has not been decided yet.

Use the contact page. If you are logged in, you can see your messages and our answers there. Otherwise we reply to the email address you give us; this is done by a person, so it is not instant.

On the Notices page: point at the Help menu in the bar at the top of the page (or click it; on a phone, tap the menu button, then Help) and choose Notices, or use the Notices link at the bottom of every page. It lists news from the GwenchanaClass team, pinned ones first and then the newest, ten at a time. Anyone can read it, with or without an account. Notices are written by the GwenchanaClass team. Learners and visitors read them in English; the team can add a Korean version for its Korean-speaking members. Things that concern you personally, such as an answer to your lesson request, still arrive as notifications (the bell), not as notices.

Yes, in the Email settings of your account settings. Email notifications are not switched on yet. Your choices are saved now and apply once they are. There are three kinds, all on until you switch one off: booking and lesson emails (requests and their answers, cancellations, new lessons and the reminder before a lesson), lesson reports and feedback, and other messages from GwenchanaClass (replies from the team, application and letter results, assignments). Every notification and reminder email ends with a link to these settings. The bell and the Notifications page always show everything; only the email is skipped, and a skipped email is not sent later if you switch the kind back on. Tutors who switch the booking emails off will not hear of new requests by email: a request that is not confirmed is still cancelled automatically 24 hours before the lesson.

Yes, when the Log in page shows the Continue with Google or Login with Kakao button. The first time, we ask you once to check your name and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. With Kakao, your Kakao nickname becomes your name: change it on that page, or later in account settings. Google sign-in doesn't work inside in-app browsers such as KakaoTalk's, so open the site in Chrome or Safari for it. If your GwenchanaClass account already uses the same email address, you get into that same account.

Use the password reset option on the Log in page. We'll email you a link to choose a new password. If you signed up with Google or Kakao, you have no GwenchanaClass password: keep using that button, or set a password from your account settings.

Yes, if your account has a password. In account settings, under Change email address, type the new address and your password. We email a link to your current address and one to the new address: open both within an hour (in the same browser if you can), and the address changes. Until then, keep logging in with your current address. If you sign in with Google or Kakao only, set a password in account settings first. Messages you already sent us and a tutor application keep the address you wrote in them.

Log in, click your name at the top of the page to open your account settings, and delete your account there. This removes your profile, level test results, bookings, saved tutors, email settings, learning goal, tutor applications, uploaded files, invite link and the messages you sent while logged in, and can't be undone. If you are a tutor, you can't log in any more and your profile disappears at once (your days off, and the saves other learners made of your profile, are deleted with it), but the GwenchanaClass team keeps a copy of your name, email and profile text, and can still see which lessons you taught and the recommendation letters it issued to you, for 30 days (to settle your last lessons and confirm letters). Then it deletes the copy and the letters. Your learners keep their own lesson history and reports, without your name.

Yes. GwenchanaClass works in your phone's browser, and you can add it to your home screen so it opens like an app: in Chrome on Android, open the menu and choose Install app or Add to Home screen; in Safari on iPhone, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. There is no app in the App Store or Google Play yet. Without a connection you see a short offline page, because tutors, lessons and messages need the internet.