Being found in the directory

The tutor directory is how a learner who does not already know you can find you. Being in it needs two separate things to be true, and it shows strictly less about you than people expect — which is deliberate.

Two switches, both required

• Verified — ours — A new tutor account starts provisional and we review it. This is a vetting step, not an automatic one.
• Listed — yours — An explicit opt-in. Verification alone does not put you in the directory; you have to ask to be there.

Both are needed. Either one off means you are not listed, and neither affects your ability to teach — circles, assignments and tracking all work regardless.

What a visitor sees

• Your name and avatar — As set in your profile.
• A verified badge — The whole point of the vetting step.
• The HSK levels you teach — So a learner can filter to someone who covers their band.
• The skills you teach — Listening, speaking, writing, exam prep, and so on.
• Your public circles — Links to circles you have chosen to make public. Private and unlisted ones never appear.
• Your bio — only if you made it public — A separate switch again. An unpublished bio is not shown to anyone.

Being found

Visitors filter by HSK level, by skill, and by searching your name or public bio. Three things follow from that:

1. Set your levels and skills accurately — They are the filters. A tutor with nothing set is invisible to everyone who narrows the list, which is most people.
2. Make your bio public — It is the only free text in the listing and the only thing that distinguishes you from another verified name. It is also searched.
3. Make one circle public — A visible circle gives a learner something to look at and a way in that does not require messaging a stranger.

You do not need the directory

Plenty of tutors here teach learners they already had. Invite them by email, run your circle, and never appear in the directory at all — nothing about the product assumes you are listed.

The directory is a way to be discovered, not a requirement for teaching.

Written and maintained by the Mandarin Temple Editorial Team.