Become an instructor

All My Smart Hands® instructors are required to have at least a basic knowledge level of American Sign Language. If you do not have any ASL experience, we would require you to either take a class in person in your city or online at www.signingonline.com It is important as a My Smart Hands® instructor that you have an understanding and respect for ASL. Even though we have an easy-to-follow training program that will teach you everything you need to know to run a My Smart Hands® class, we feel you need to have a basic level of knowledge of the language you will be teaching.

First step to become a baby sign language instructor: Send your resume, or a detailed email about yourself and your desire to join our wonderful team of instructors, to Gina. She can be reached at (647) 937-5463‬ or via email at RCdirector@mysmarthands.com. Please put ‘Application for MSH Instructor’ in the subject line of your email to Gina.

Second step: After your application is reviewed, Gina will send you our licensing agreement for your review and will schedule a time to call you for a phone interview. This interview is an opportunity for Gina to get to know you better and a good time for you to ask her any questions you may have about our program.

As a My Smart Hands®instructor you will receive:

• Ongoing support from Laura, your Regional Coordinator and all of the other MSH instructors!
• Your own webpage on our MSH website
• Your own MSH email address – yourname@mysmarthands.com
• Access to hundreds of marketing materials and games. You can simply print these off to suit your own needs.
• A full-colour class manual with the signs and songs we teach in class
• MSH original music that we teach in our classes. Check out these links to view a few of the songs we teach in our classes: Please Change Me! and I Love To Ride
• A MSH promotional DVD with the videos of Fireese signing. Fireese is the most famous signing baby on the internet with her first video receiving over 5 million views! These videos are valuable when promoting your classes, as many parents sign up on the spot once they see an actual signing baby. Many have heard of the concept but few have seen a signing baby in action!
• MSH training DVDs that are over 5 hours in length, giving you step-by-step instructions on how to run an amazing MSH baby signing class. You will also gain access to our MSH instructor forum where you can get valuable access to instructor information
• Discount purchasing on MSH flash cards to resell in your classes
• A MSH certification program where you receive a certification card once you successfully complete the program

Most importantly, you will receive a sense of accomplishment for learning a new tool for communicating with your baby and other babies that YOU can now share with other parents and caregivers!

Because we do pride ourselves on our focus to education rather than our ‘business,’ we want to keep the cost of becoming a My Smart Hands® instructor affordable. We know that it isn’t easy starting up your own business and appreciate the fact that many of us don’t have a lot of money to put out when undertaking such an endeavour.

With that said, the cost of becoming a licensed MSH instructor is $175.

The only other cost to you is the required fabulous MSH manual for each parent in your class. Our manuals are broken down into weekly themes. They have full-colour pictures of children producing the signs along with a description of how to make the sign for easy review long after the course is finished. The manuals have songs that we teach each week, along with homework suggestions for the parents  in your classes.

Each manual also comes with MSH downloadable songs that we teach in our classes. It includes original MSH songs that parents and babies really enjoy! The cost of the manuals are $20 (plus shipping and taxes where applicable) which includes the 15-song CD download ($15 for manual and $5 for music = $20 total). The cost for the manuals is passed along to the parents in your class registration fee. We feel very fortunate that our instructors are able to run successful businesses, and that is why we are able to keep our membership costs so low!

To maintain your membership with My Smart Hands®, you will be required to sign a new license each year. The renewal expectation is that you have purchased 20 or more manuals throughout the year. If you have not purchased more than 20 manuals, you will be required to purchase that amount to renew.

The answer is the sky is the limit! Here’s how it works: you determine the price you are going to charge for your classes. We do not tell you how much you have to charge because some areas (like Los Angeles, for example) can charge more, where others can’t charge as much. We suggest that you Google other Mom and Baby-type classes in your area (Mom and Baby music, yoga, dance, etc.) to see what they are charging. In your research, make sure it is a specialty class you are looking at when comparing prices. This will give you an idea of what you could charge in your area. You keep all of the registration money – we do not take a percentage of your business. The only expense to you is the cost of the manuals ($20 + shipping) and any rental fees you may have!

We offer a number of great programs and the good news is you have access to all of these programs with your initial $175 registration fee. As far as we’re concerned, if you are successful, we are successful!

We have 2 levels of curriculum: MSH Level 1 and MSH Level 2. These 2 levels can be modified to teach a number of different programs:

• MSH baby sign language classes
• MSH daycare classes
• MSH daycare worker workshops
• MSH teacher workshops
• MSH parent workshops
• MSH home school group classes
• MSH special need courses
• MSH online courses – NEW!

 

Our curriculum is extremely user-friendly that it is easily modified to suit your interests as a teacher. You will find great ideas in our MSH forum to make each one of these classes a huge success, and fun too!