English Tutors in Switzerland — IB, IGCSE, A Level and Cambridge

CHF 95 per 60 minutes with Good Tutors Finder for English above CEFR A2 at any age, all-in — and that includes IB English A at Higher Level, Cambridge A Level and university-admissions work. A true beginner at A1 or A2 is CHF 85 at any age, including an adult, as is any English for a learner aged 10 or under. Distinction, our most accomplished tutors, is CHF 130 an hour and you choose it on any work. Prepaid packages lower it: five hours are CHF 440, which is CHF 88 an hour; ten are CHF 810, which is CHF 81; twenty are CHF 1,560, which is CHF 78. There is no enrolment fee and no travel surcharge. Elsewhere in this market Swiss language schools publish CHF 50–60 per 45-minute unit for private lessons, and one large network prices ten 50-minute lessons at CHF 1,200 shared between two participants — so the headline figures are not comparable until you convert them.

No, and this is the most common misunderstanding we correct. IB English A sits in the studies in language and literature group, which the IB describes as being taken in a language the student is academically competent in — not by definition a first language. English B is the language-acquisition course, described as being for students with some previous experience of the language, and only its Higher Level requires literary works. There is also a language ab initio route for genuine beginners, though which languages a school actually offers at ab initio depends entirely on that school's option blocks. If you are not certain which English course your child is on, ask the coordinator before buying any tutoring — the courses are not interchangeable and neither is the preparation.

English A Language and literature studies literary and non-literary texts together — advertisements, speeches, journalism alongside novels and plays — with four literary works at Standard Level and six at Higher. English A Literature studies literary texts only, with nine works at Standard Level and thirteen at Higher. The most practical way to decide is reading speed and appetite: thirteen literary works over two years is a genuine load, and a student who reads slowly in English will be behind from the first term. Language and literature also suits students heading towards media, politics, law and the social sciences, because the analytical skill it builds is closer to what those subjects use.

In English A Language and literature it is 30 per cent of the grade at Standard Level and 20 per cent at Higher, and it is prepared rather than sprung — the student chooses a literary work and a non-literary body of work and connects them through a global issue. That makes it the single most improvable component in the course, and it is routinely left until the last month because it does not feel like an examination. Rehearsing it out loud, repeatedly, with someone who will interrupt and ask why, is the highest-value five hours available in IB English. We will rehearse it with your child; we will not write it for them.

They are different qualifications with different assessment shapes. First Language English 0500 is a two-hour reading paper worth 50 per cent, plus either a two-hour directed writing and composition paper or a coursework portfolio of three assignments, also 50 per cent, with speaking and listening optional and separately endorsed. English as a Second Language 0510 is a two-hour reading and writing paper worth 70 per cent, a listening paper of about fifty minutes worth 30 per cent, and a speaking test that is separately endorsed — or, on 0511, counted into the grade. A school chooses which route a student takes, and the choice is sometimes made on arrival on limited information. It is worth asking whether it is still the right one a year later.

Because fluency and academic English are different things, and the second is invisible from home. A child who chats easily can still be well behind in register, in connectives, in citing evidence and in holding a single argument across five paragraphs. Schools see this constantly; parents rarely do, because the evidence at the kitchen table is a fluent conversation. It is also the commonest reason a bright new arrival underperforms in every subject at once, since English is the medium of all of them. The good news is that it is specific and teachable, and a diagnosis usually takes one lesson.

It depends entirely on the institution and the programme, and there is no national benchmark — swissuniversities' own country pages say only that language skills and examinations are reserved. The University of Zurich requires C1 and names IELTS Academic 7, TOEFL iBT 100, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency. USI asks for B2+ at master's level and names IELTS 6.5, TOEFL iBT 85 and Cambridge First at grade B, with certificates less than three years old, and exempts anyone whose bachelor's degree was taught entirely in English. ETH Zurich accepts TOEFL, IELTS, C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency at master's level and exempts Swiss Matura holders. At least one EPFL master's programme states that certificates are welcome but not required. Check the actual programme page before buying preparation.

Several publish it. One Swiss international school states, for mid-year entry, A2 at Grade 7, B1 at Grade 8, B2 at Grades 9 and 10 and C1 or C2 at Grades 11 and 12, and says that applicants for Grades 8 to 12 whose first language is not English may be required to sit an English Language Assessment. A Zurich school uses an online language assessment for middle and senior students still acquiring academic English. A Basel school says it does not require a formal entrance examination but that additional assessments may be needed. None of them names a commercial test brand. Ask admissions directly — every school we read answers the question plainly when it is asked.

It depends on the canton, and the order of the two foreign languages differs too. Lehrplan 21 requires two foreign languages — a second national language and English — and most cantons decided to begin both in primary school. In Canton Zurich, English starts in the third primary year and French in the fifth. In Canton Bern it is the other way round: French from the third year and English from the fifth. Other cantons differ again, so check your own canton's education page rather than assuming a national pattern. At Matura level, English can be taken as the second language or as the third-language option — it is a choice, not automatically compulsory.

Within a line we publish rather than blur. We will teach the analysis, explain the assessment criteria band by band, interrogate a line of argument your child has proposed, discuss what counts as evidence in a literary essay, read a draft your child has written and give feedback on it, and build a timeline against your school's internal deadline. We will not write, rewrite, edit or proofread any part of it, hand your child a thesis or a set of quotations, or run repeated rounds of edits. The IB's academic integrity policy says students should not receive additional help such as multiple edits of a piece of work, and defines misconduct as deliberate or inadvertent — so a tutor improving a sentence to be kind has still done it, and it is your child who carries it.

At CHF 85 an hour, which is our Foundation rate and applies to a true beginner at CEFR A1 or A2 at any age — including you, if you need it. That is the deliberate exception to our age rule and it exists precisely for the family who has just landed. If the level is unclear we quote Foundation and let the first lesson settle it; if the learner turns out to be B1 or above, the package is sold at Specialist and the first lesson is honoured at the rate we quoted. Nothing is ever repriced backwards. Practically: if term starts in six weeks, spend the time on listening and academic vocabulary rather than on general conversation. That is what the first day of school actually demands.

Typically 48 to 72 hours from your enquiry to a named tutor. Faster is sometimes possible and we will never guarantee it. There is no free trial, and the reason is not meanness: a free lesson signals that the hour is a sample rather than teaching, and it fills a diary with people who were never going to book. Instead the first hour is charged at the standard single-hour rate — CHF 85, CHF 95, or CHF 130 if you have chosen Distinction — and if you then buy a package that amount comes straight off it, so the hour you already had is re-priced at the package rate along with the rest. Ten Specialist hours cost CHF 810 whether you buy the package outright or take one hour first. And that first lesson carries both guarantees: your money back, or a different tutor with the hour credited. You choose which.

Tell us three things: the school, the year, and what English actually is in your family's situation — the language everything else is taught in, a subject on a Swiss timetable, a certificate a university has asked for, or a language nobody at home speaks yet. That is enough for us to come back with a named tutor who has taught it, typically within 48 to 72 hours, and enough for us to tell you honestly whether tutoring is the right answer at all. Sometimes it is not — sometimes a beginner is better served by a group course where there are other people to speak to, and we will say so. Nothing is charged to enquire and nothing is charged to be assigned. Book a tutor, or send a WhatsApp message on +41 76 213 1843 and ask what we would do in your position.