No, joining SkimaTalk is free! There are no monthly or annual fees. You can book sessions on a per lesson basis.
The teaching method, teaching quality, and even individual teacher rates vary at SkimaTalk. We have a variety of teachers who run their teaching businesses through SkimaTalk and treat students as their important clients. That's why students have been impressed with our lessons. One SkimaTalk student was so happy that she "almost cried."* Our teachers have been known to turn lessons into "life-changing experiences."*
SkimaTalk conducts a screening of teacher qualifications such as if he / she is a native speaker and has potential of becoming a good teacher. However, it is the community of students who decides whether he / she is actually a good teacher. Only teachers with positive student reviews continue to teach on SkimaTalk for long periods of time. If a student wants to make sure that the teacher is good, we recommend that the student choose a teacher who has a high ranking and / or a history of zero to very few cancellations and no-shows. To uphold the community's reliable rating system, we request that all students rate their teachers and their teaching sessions.
Students can shop online for "a 25-minute English lesson" on SkimaTalk, starting with just one lesson and going from there. While there are many who take lessons regularly, students can also be those who have an urgent need of a personal English coach due to a sudden business trip, English interview / presentation, etc. Students can "crowdsource" tasks, such as asking one teacher to conduct interview practice and another to proofread a document.
* Actual comments from students.
You need a PC, an Internet connection, and either a built-in microphone and speakers or a headset to take lessons. Also, you have to install Skype on your PC (free download). See the 'About Skype' section to see how to download Skype on your PC.
We recommend Google Chrome on PC/MAC. This is because our website is optimized for Google Chrome on PC/MAC. You can use other browsers and devices (e.g. smartphones), but they may not function fully or show pages properly (If you find a page that is not displayed correctly or that has malfunctioned, please let us know by email at support@skimatalk.com.)
On the 'Search by Date'* or 'Search by Teacher' page, you can find available sessions. You can choose a session by clicking the 'Add to Cart' button. You can add more than one session to your cart at a time. On the 'Cart' page, you can book the session(s) by using SkimaTalk coins, which can be purchased in advance on the 'Cart' page or 'Buy Coins' page. See 'Payment & SkimaTalk Coin System' section of the FAQ for details on SkimaTalk coins.
* If you are logged in, the displayed time is based on the time zone that you configured in 'Settings.'
Some of our new teachers offer free sessions to students. You can look for teachers who offer free sessions on the 'Search by Teacher' page. The price will be displayed as 0.00 coins for such free sessions. To book a free session, you are required to pay 9 SkimaTalk coins. The 9 coins will be returned to your account if you complete an evaluation of the teacher within 24 hours after the session ends. If you cancel the session, 9 coins minus the cancellation penalty (see 'About Cancellation' section for more details) will be returned to your account. However, if (1) you didn't show up at the session without a cancellation notice (a no-show) or (2) you didn't evaluate the teacher within 24 hours after the session ends, the 9 coins will not be returned to your account. Also, please note before booking a session with a new teacher that the possibility of new teachers' no-shows is a little higher than other teachers since they may not be used to the SkimaTak system and/or Skype.
SkimaTalk learning sessions last 25 minutes.
The teacher should call you via Skype Video at the scheduled time. Log in to Skype, which you should have pre-installed, and please wait for the teacher to call you. We recommend that you log in to Skype at least five minutes in advance of the session to make sure the lesson begins on time.When connecting with a new teacher for the first time, you will receive a contact request via Skype from the teacher. Once you accept the request, you will be able to use the chat function and communicate with text as well.
Click 'Evaluate' link at 'My Page' to proceed to a page where you can rate the teacher. Feedback consists of a rating and a comment section. Ratings are anonymous and the teacher will not be able to see which student gave them which rating, but will be able to read the comments. Other students will be able to see the average rating of a teacher. Please try to rate all of the lessons you have taken. We would appreciate it if you could at least leave a suitable rating according to how your teacher conducted the lesson.
We recommend that you take at least 2 sessions in a row. You could discuss with your teacher whether you would like to take a 5 minute break between the 2 sessions or take a 50 minute session without a break. These 2 sessions will be recognized separately and rules will be applied accordingly on the SkimaTalk system. For example, if you want to cancel the sessions, you need to cancel both.
If you are logged in, the displayed time is based on the time zone that you configured in the 'Settings.' If you are not logged in, the displayed time is in Japan / Korea time.
Yes. Please change the time zone setting when you move to a different time zone because some data is retrieved not just from your time zone setting on SkimaTalk but also from your PC's location. If your actual location and time zone setting on SkimaTalk do not match, the session schedules may be shown incorrectly. Therefore, please change the time zone setting as soon as you move to a different area.
By purchasing SkimaTalk coins, you can book sessions using the coins. All payments for SkimaTalk coins are conducted securely via credit card (via Stripe). Your credit card information will not be stored by SkimaTalk but by Stripe, a specialized, online payment company.
With SkimaTalk coins you can book 25-minute online learning sessions. The session price varies depending on the teacher and the Course. As the average price for a 25-minute session is about 9 coins, with 100 coins, for example, you can expect to have around 11 sessions. You can purchase SkimaTalk coins on the Pricing & Plans page. SkimaTalk coins are non-refundable but valid for 60 days after the purchase date. Since the minimum amount of coins you can purchase is 1, you have the option to pay as you go. Alternatively, when you purchase coins in bulk, you benefit by skipping the payment process when booking a session, and you also save by avoiding the transaction fee (JPY40), which is customarily paid to the online payment company for every purchase.
Yes. Discounts are available under subscription plans. The payment is made automatically through your credit card every month. At the time of payment, coins for one month will be added to your account. Coins are valid for 60 days.
There may be times when you cannot book sessions due to a sharp increase in students. Therefore, we recommend that you start with the 'Pay As You Go' plan and shift to a subscription plan only after you see how many sessions you can take periodically. Please note that we cannot exchange coins for cash. See here for more details of subscription plans and their discounts.
To subscribe to a plan, please follow these steps: 1) log in to SkimaTalk 2) click 'Pricing & Plans' 3) choose a plan 4) click 'Checkout', and 5) follow the instructions on the next page to subscribe to a plan.
Yes, you can use both plans at the same time. When you don't have enough coins, you can always purchase coins through the 'Pay As You Go' plan.
There are two ways.
(1) Purchase the coin amount sufficient to place an order
(2) Purchase coins in bulk.
(1) Purchase the coin amount sufficient to place an order (the difference between coins you have and coins you need for a session) on the 'Cart' page.
After adding sessions to your cart, click 'Cart' at the top of the page to review your order, and input your credit card details required on your cart page.
(2) Purchase coins in bulk.
You can purchase coins anytime from here, where you can find more details.
Sorry, but we cannot give you money back for unused coins. SkimaTalk coins are non-refundable.
To cancel your plan, please follow these steps: 1) log in to SkimaTalk 2) click the 'Pricing & Plans' tag 3) click on "Your Plan" 4) and on the next page, click "Cancel." After following the steps, your plan will be canceled and automatic payments will stop. Please note that already purchased plans are non-refundable. Therefore, if you wish to cancel a plan, please make sure to do so before the next billing date.
Sorry, but we cannot transfer coins between accounts.
The Everyday Lesson plan allows students to take a set number of lessons each day. There are 2 plan options: Everyday 25 minutes (1 session per day) and Everyday 50 minutes (2 sessions per day).
To subscribe to a plan, please follow these steps: 1) log in to SkimaTalk 2) click 'Pricing & Plans' 3) choose a plan 4) click 'Checkout', and 5) follow the instructions on the next page to subscribe to a plan.
All payments are conducted securely via PayPal or credit card (via Stripe). Your credit card information will not be stored by SkimaTalk but by such specialized, online payment companies (PayPal or Stripe). We assure you that it is very secure. The payment is made automatically through your credit card every month.
Each lesson credit allows you to book a session priced at 9 coins or lower. You can check the number of available lesson credits at the "Your Plan" page. If you wish to book a session priced higher than 9 coins, you can do so by using a combination of the lesson credit, equivalent to 9 coins, and SkimaTalk coins.
The number of sessions you can book at a time = The number of lesson credits on your plan.
For example, for the "Everyday 25 minutes" plan, the number of lesson credits is 1. Once you have booked a lesson, you will not be able to book a new lesson until the booked session is completed (or canceled).
If you have already completed your lesson for the day, you cannot book an additional session for that same day, but you will be able to book a session for a future day.
A day is defined as 3AM to 3AM on the next day. Each day at 3AM, your plan will 'reset' the daily history. For example, the session that starts at 2:30AM on January 2nd will be regarded as the session of January 1st. Therefore, you are still eligible to book a session on January 2nd (more specifically the period from 3AM on January 2nd to 3AM on January 3rd). Note: even if you change your timezone setting, the 3AM time will be based on the timezone you selected when you signed up for the plan. Please note that you cannot change the timezone setting for the Everyday Lesson plan.
No, lesson credits do not carry over to the next day.
You can cancel a session at "My Page" after you login.
We set a limit on the number of sessions a student may cancel per day to ensure that all of our students and teachers can use our service in a comfortable way. Your understanding on this policy will be highly appreciated.
Cancellation within 1 hour before the session start time: the lesson credit will become invalid.
Cancellation more than 1 hour before the session start time: Everyday 25 minutes plan: 1 cancellation/day; Everyday 50 minutes plan: 2 cancellations/day.
If you exceed the daily cancellation limit, you will not be able to book a session for that day. However, the number of cancellations resets each day at 3AM. At that point, you will be able to book a session for the day. Please also note that you cannot book a session with a lesson credit for the time slot that you previously canceled.
If you fail to show up for a session without cancelling the session, the session will be counted as your No-Show.
Once your No-Show count for the month exceeds the limit, you will not be able to book sessions for the remainder of the month. Therefore, please be advised that you must cancel a session on the SkimaTalk site when you cannot show up for the session.
The monthly No-Show limits are as follows: Everyday 25 minutes plan: 3/month; Everyday 50 minutes plan: 6/month.
You can take a lesson 24 / 365 because SkimaTalk teachers are located all over the world.
Please note that you may find some time slots are more difficult to book than others, since many of SkimaTalk's teachers are in North America and thus there is a significant time difference.
There is no day that you cannot take a lesson.
However, many of our teachers take days off before, during, and after the following holidays, and therefore, there may be fewer lessons available during these periods.
New Year's Holiday: December 31st and January 1st
Thanksgiving Day: The fourth Thursday of November in the United States / The second Monday of October in Canada.
Christmas Day: December 25th
The 1st month's duration is one month from the plan start date, which amounts to '1 month + 1 day.' For the 2nd month or later, the duration is '1 month.' The billing date is the 'plan start date' for the 1st month, and the 'plan start day + 1' day for the 2nd month or later. If your plan start date is the 28th of the month or later, your billing date will eventually be the 28th of the month (due to the fact that February only has 28 days.
Examples of billing dates:
[Plan start date is July 1] Future billing dates: Aug 2, Sep 2, Oct 2, etc.
[Plan start date is July 15] Future billing dates: Aug 16, Sep 16, Oct 16, etc.
[Plan start date is July 31] Future billing dates: Sep 1, Oct 1, Nov 1, etc.
Students are not allowed to book a teacher's schedule with the sole purpose of securing a teacher's specific time slot. (Students cannot book a session with a lesson credit for the time slot that you previously canceled.); this action may hassle the teacher. Also, if we detect any action that we deem inappropriate or could be considered harassment, the student's Everyday Lesson plan may be discontinued and he or she will not be allowed to subscribe to an Everyday Lesson plan thereafter.
To cancel your plan, please follow these steps: 1) log in to SkimaTalk 2) click the 'Pricing & Plans' tag 3) click on "Your Plan" 4) and on the next page, click "Cancel." After following the steps, your plan will be canceled and automatic payments will stop. Please note that already purchased plans are non-refundable. Therefore, if you wish to cancel a plan, please make sure to do so before the next billing date.
Students can cancel a session by clicking the 'Cancel' button in the 'Upcoming Sessions' section. The cancellation fee varies and depends on the time the student clicks the cancellation button. See here for more details.
If a student fails to notify SkimaTalk of the cancellation, no coin refund will be issued. The transaction for a student's cancellation fee is processed through SkimaTalk coins, not cash.
We apologize for the inconvenience. Sudden cancellations may occur occasionally. Lessons can be cancelled at the last minute, and the same conditions apply for both teachers and students. See here for more details.
Each time a teacher cancels, the cancellation is recorded and the number of past cancellations will be displayed on the teacher's page. Usually, teachers who have a history of many cancellations have a higher possibility of cancelling in the future. Therefore, we recommend reviewing the cancellation history of a teacher before booking a session.
Attempting to cancel or reschedule a session via SkimaTalk or Skype message but not through the SkimaTalk system or prompting a student / teacher to cancel a session is strictly prohibited. If you receive such a request, please report it to us at support@skimatalk.com without responding to the teacher’s message. When you report it, please copy and paste the teacher’s message into the email.
This policy was implemented to avoid frequent cancellations by students who want to book sessions from specific teachers far in advance with the sole purpose of securing a teacher's specific time slot and frequently canceling the booking. The cancellation (24h -) limit is 9 per month. There is no cancellation fee up to 9 cancellations per month. However, 10 coins will be deducted from your coin account for every 10 cancellations.
– 10 coins penalty per every 10 cancellations.
– Time of cancellation count reset: End of each month. (Base Time: UTC)
– Targeted cancellations: All cancellations canceled more than 24 hours before the lesson start time. (Doesn't include sessions canceled more than 8 days in advance or student's no-show)
– When the number of coins in the student's account is less than 10, the number of coins will become negative after the penalty. The student is required to pay for the coins upon their next coin purchase.
First, check your privacy settings and make sure that your Skype account accepts calls and messages from anyone. Visit the settings of your Skype account and set it to 'Allow calls / messages from anyone.'
If your Skype settings are set correctly and you have not received a call from your teacher after five minutes* from the scheduled time, you are required to report the teacher's no-show by clicking 'Report Teacher's No-show' button in the 'Upcoming Sessions' section of 'My Page' during the next 10 minutes (between 5 minutes and 15 minutes from the session start time). The report is effective only for those 10 minutes**, evidence that you were actually online. Otherwise, you are not eligible to get a coin refund.
* If your teacher contacts you within 5 minutes after the scheduled time, teacher will extend lesson time to make it 25 minutes. In this case, it's a penalty for the teacher, and you are not eligible to get a coin refund.
** Teachers are supposed to wait at least 15 minutes when a student is late. The teacher will then leave after 15 minutes and will be unreachable. Therefore, if you clicked the 'Report Teacher's No-show' button more than 15 minutes after the lesson start time, no coin refund will be issued.
There are 3 possible causes in the case of a teacher's no-show.
(1) Teacher's Fault
All the coins will be returned to your account. See here for more details. If a session is conducted after a delay and the student has submitted a no-show report, or the reason why a student reports his or her teacher's no-show is an Internet connection problem, the session may not be counted as the teacher's no-show. In this case, there's no penalty for the teacher.
(2) Student's Fault
When there is an error on the student's Skype configuration (privacy setting / registered Skype name error / time zone setting error), the student is not eligible for a coin refund. Be careful when inputting your 'Skype Name' (a unique username that exists only one on Skype). Some people input a 'Skype Display Name' by which teachers cannot identify your account because the same name could be used by other Skype users.
(3) Other Causes (in case the cause cannot be identified or the SkimaTalk site is down or has system issues)
A failed connection sometimes happens even if both the teacher and the student are online. In this case, if the teacher reports your no-show via the SkimaTalk system, the session will be cancelled, which means there is no payment and no penalty for both sides. All the coins will be returned to your account. The student will not be eligible to rate the teacher. The same condition applies when the SkimaTalk site is not accessible or has system issues.
SkimaTalk will not be able to provide make-up lessons from other teachers, because teachers individually provide lessons for their students, and the lessons are settled individually. Of course, all the coins you paid will be returned to your account. See here for more details about coupons.
If you called the teacher within 15 minutes after the lesson start time, we will provide you a full refund. Teachers are supposed to wait at least 15 minutes. However, if you called more than 15 minutes after the lesson start time, no refund will be issued. The teacher will leave after 15 minutes and will be unreachable.
Yes, students can find the teacher's Skype Name on 'My Page' or in the confirmation email after booking. If the student doesn't receive a Skype call from the teacher at the session start time, it is possible that the teacher is trying to call the student but cannot reach them for some reason (e.g. the student's Skype Name is incorrect). Therefore, the student is requested to call the teacher via their Skype Name immediately if the student doesn't receive a call from the teacher at the scheduled time.
After logging on to SkimaTalk, go to 'Settings' and click on 'Account' to change your Skype Name. If you have lesson reservations, please perform the following two steps:
(1) Send the correct Skype name to your teacher via SkimaTalk Message.
(2) Call the teacher from the 'Upcoming Lessons' section on 'My Page' at the start of the lesson because the teacher may have trouble calling you.
Teachers may only cancel a lesson through the SkimaTalk system. If a teacher sends you a cancellation request directly, please ask him/her to officially cancel the lesson through SkimaTalk.
If the teacher does not cancel the lesson through SkimaTalk after you asked him/her to do so and you do not receive an email notification from SkimaTalk, please let us know before the lesson starts by emailing support@skimatalk.com about the situation. We may deactivate the teacher's account due to the violation of our rules. If it is past the start time, please wait until 5 minutes after the start time. If your teacher still does not contact you after the 5 minutes, go to 'My Page' and click 'Report Teacher's No-show' button. See also 'My teacher didn't show up!' section of FAQ.
In general, we do not allow coin refunds. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks to online teaching is the risk of having poor sound and/or video quality due to a faulty Internet connection.
However, if you were completely unable to contact your teacher due to an Internet connection problem, please let us know by emailing support@skimatalk.com. In your email, please include a screenshot of the Skype call record showing your inability to reach the teacher. If possible, also attach screenshots showing previous situations in which you were unable to contact the teacher.
We cannot guarantee that all SkimaTalk users can access our site at any time because the SkimaTalk website can sometimes go down due to unexpected issues. If such an event happens, we will try to fix the site as soon as possible and cancel all the sessions that were not conducted due to that problem. Once we repair the site, we will delete records of those affected sessions and return all the coins used toward them.
We will handle such instances on an individual, case-by-case basis. Before the end of a lesson, please submit any evidence, such as a computer screenshot or photo that will show that the system bug actually happened. Otherwise, you will not get a coin refund. We thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.
It's possible that SkimaTalk emails cannot reach your email account due to system errors. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that all users receive such emails all the time. Please check the 'Upcoming Lessons' section on 'My Page' for the latest booking status as this is more accurate. When booking a lesson, please set your own reminder(s) just in case SkimaTalk is unable to send a reminder email.
The teacher might cancel the session due to scheduling conflicts. In this case, SkimaTalk should send an email notification to you. So, please check the inbox of your email account. If you have not received an email from us, please contact us at support@skimatalk.com.
We will handle such instances on an individual, case-by-case basis. Please submit any evidence, such as a computer screenshot or photo that shows that the system bug actually happened. Otherwise, we will not be able to treat it differently. We thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.
No, teachers are prohibited from eating, smoking, chewing gum, or consuming alcohol during SkimaTalk sessions. Please report any such behavior directly to SkimaTalk (support@skimatalk.com) within 48 hours of the end of the session and you will receive a full refund for the session.
Please email us at support@skimatalk.com with a detailed explanation of the situation within 48 hours of such an event. We will deal with the situation on a case-by-case basis. Please note that we cannot accept your request if you email us more than 48 hours after the event took place; nor can we accept your request if you fail to respond to our follow-up emails within 7 days of the session end time (even if your initial email was sent within 48 hours after the event took place). Therefore we recommend that you respond to our emails promptly.
With Skype, you can make Internet calls for free. For more details, visit the Skype homepage at www.skype.com.
If you are a PC user, you can download it from here (for free). You can also download the Skype application onto your smartphone from your respective app store.
The Skype website shows you just how easy it is to use Skype.
Visit and refer to the Skype website about sound problems.
If you are a Windows user, click 'Tools' --> 'Options' --> 'Privacy.' There you can change the settings.
If you are a Mac user, click 'Skype' --> 'Preferences' --> 'Privacy.' There you can change the settings.
You might have input 'Skype Display Name' instead of Skype Name. Your Skype Name must have between 6 and 32 characters. It must start with a letter and can contain only letters, numbers and the following punctuation marks:
full stop (.)
comma (,)
dash (-)
underscore (_)
An error shows up on SkimaTalk when you input an ID that does not follow the above rules. Learn more.
If you use Firefox as your browser, please change the settings according to this page. If your browser is not Firefox, please email us at support@skimatalk.com with your detailed situation.
See here for the details.
You can communicate with your teacher on the SkimaTalk website, but you cannot always send or receive messages. You can do so after you book a session and within 48 hours after the session end time (this is to prevent spam). However, if a student follows a teacher, they can communicate via SkimaTalk message at anytime. If a teacher sends you a direct cancellation request, please ask him/her to officially cancel the lesson through SkimaTalk. See the 'Troubleshooting' section for more details.
A teacher can be added to the 'Following Teachers' section on 'My Page,' which will make it easier for you to find the teacher later on. The maximum number of teachers you can currently follow is 100.
Teachers evaluate the skills based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) , which are guidelines used to describe the achievements of learners of foreign languages. After each session, teachers evaluate a student's skills based on 8 skill levels, 6 levels from CEFR and 2 levels: 'Just started learning' and 'Native Fluency,' added by SkimaTalk. The most recent 5 sessions are used to evaluate current students' skills.
Please note that this evaluation is not an official certificate that proves students' language skills. See here for details of the 8 levels.
It is possible to schedule a session on your smartphone. You can conduct a learning session on your smartphone by downloading the Skype application for smartphones. It's free and downloadable from app stores.
You can delete your account from the 'Others' tab on the 'Settings' page.
Please email us at support@skimatalk.com.