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Step 1 of 3 — Tell us about yourself. You are one of 9 specialists selected for the Cueword pilot.

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Specialist Academy

Step 2 of 3 — Complete all 6 modules to become a certified Cueword specialist.

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Module 1: Our Philosophy
~5 minutes · Being Articulate

English by Using It

Cueword is an English Communication Initiative by Cuemath. The conviction it is built on is simple: children do not learn to communicate from grammar worksheets. They learn language by using it.

So everything runs through stories. A child listens to a story, reads it, talks about it, and writes from it, with new words woven in along the way. The four skills are never trained in isolation.

Cueword does not drill one skill at a time. We build all four together on one connected story. That is what makes a child genuinely Articulate.

The Four Skills, One Story

We measure four skills of real communication. Together they give a complete picture of where a child stands, not just whether they can read or write at grade level:

L · ListeningMaking meaning from what they hear. Following a spoken account and catching the point.
R · ReadingReading aloud and making meaning from text. Comprehension and reading with fluency.
S · SpeakingSaying something worth saying, clearly. Describing, explaining, and giving an opinion with reasons.
W · WritingPutting ideas on the page in order, in complete sentences, with the right connectors.

A fifth pillar, Vocabulary, is pulled from the word meaning questions woven inside Listening and Reading. The evaluation itself tests all four skills on one connected story, which is exactly what WordFit means.

The Revealing Moment

In every evaluation there is a moment that changes the conversation. The child retells the story, or gives an opinion, or types two sentences, and the parent sees something about how their child uses English that a report card never showed them.

This is not a test. It is a discovery. You are helping the child and the parent discover together where the child is strong and where the next bit of growth lives.

Your job is not to test the child. It is to reveal something true about how they communicate, something the parent could not have seen without this conversation.

How Cueword Is Different

Worksheet programs and apps build one slice. A reading app strengthens reading. A speaking club builds confidence on stage. Each matters, but each is only one skill.

Cueword builds all four together with a live coach, on stories, and every term ends in a Showcase: a real performance of what the child made. We do not just build a single skill faster. We grow the whole communicator.

When a parent asks "what makes Cueword different?" the answer is simple: all four skills, one story, one coach who stays, and a performance to show for it.

Ready for the Knowledge Check?

4 questions based on what you just read. You need 3 correct to pass.

Knowledge Check

Answer 3 of 4 correctly to pass (70%)

Module 2: The Discovery Conversation
~10 minutes · Setup and Discovery, screens 1 to 5

Step 1: Connection Check and Setup (Screens 1 to 2)

Before the family is in it, get yourself set up. The connection check runs on its own as the page loads. If it flags slow, fix what you can before the family joins, and know the team is alerted automatically.

Screen: Confirm Details

Confirm Details

Child's First NameAanya
Grade LevelGrade 3 ↓
Parent's First NameMeera
Share your screen with Share Computer Sound ON. The grade selector loads the test: Grade 3 Penguins, Grade 4 Elephants, Grade 5 Sleep. The session is recorded and the first screen tells the family so.
Get the grade right here. It loads the whole test, and without Share Computer Sound the Listening audio fails silently.

Step 2: Welcome and What to Expect (Screen 3)

Walk the parent through who Cueword is and the three pillars conversationally while the child settles. Do not read it word for word.

You say
"Cueword is an English initiative by Cuemath. The next hour is short discovery with you, then a thirty minute exploration with Aanya, then your plan. The most important thing to know: this is a friendly dialogue, not an exam."

Land that one line. It changes how the whole family shows up.

Step 3: Discovery Is a Conversation With the Parent (Screen 4)

Five cards open one at a time. Ask, listen, and fill them as the parent talks. The panel on the right builds the profile as you go.

Screen: Discovery

The five cards

1. School and curriculumState, school, Cueword match
2. How is the child doing in EnglishNeeds support / managing well / going strong
3. Your goalsOne primary, one optional secondary
4. About the childTheir relationship with English
5. Anything elsePrevious tutoring, what has worked
Get the parent's own words into the goal. The plan at the end quotes it back to them.

Step 4: The Goal Beneath the Goal

Parents rarely state the real concern on the first try. One more gentle question usually finds it.

Parent says
"I just want her writing to be stronger."
You probe
"Tell me more. When she sits down to write a paragraph, what happens?"
Parent says
"She has the ideas out loud, but on the page it comes out in fragments."

Now you know: the real goal is helping her get spoken ideas onto the page in complete sentences. Write that down in the parent's own words.

Never stop at the first answer. One more question almost always reveals the real concern.

Step 5: The Cueword Profile and Bringing the Child In (Screen 5)

The tool builds a short profile from the Discovery answers, with the goal as a highlighted pill, then shows the four skills in evaluation order.

You say to the parent
"Here is the profile we built for Aanya. Did we get her right? Today she will do four short parts: Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing, about thirty minutes in all. It is a dialogue, not a test."

This is the moment to bring the child to the front. Use the warm up line from the grade's test document, then click Start Evaluation.

Key principle: by the time you transition, you should know the school, the parent's goal in their own words, how the child feels about English, and roughly where they are. The parent has seen you listen.

Ready for the Knowledge Check?

5 questions. You need 4 correct to pass.

Knowledge Check

Answer 4 of 5 correctly to pass (70%)

Module 3: Running the Evaluation
~10 minutes · The four skill evaluation

Golden Rules of the Evaluation

These rules govern every section. Internalize them. They are the difference between a good session and a great one.

Rule 1
Check the task is understood
Read each section intro card aloud, then have the child say back what they are about to do before you start. A child who fails on format tells you nothing about their English.
Rule 2
Explain the task, never the answer
Re explain what to do as much as needed, in your own words. Never hint, narrow options, or lead to the answer. That line never moves.
Rule 3
Keep your reaction flat
The screen already shows green or red. Keep your energy exactly the same on right and wrong, and move on without dwelling.
Rule 4
Protect the audio
Share Computer Sound on before Start Audio. The child hears the passage twice in all. Never read or paraphrase it yourself. The test measures listening.
Rule 5
On Speaking, let silence sit
Read the prompt warmly, then wait. A few seconds of silence is fine. Do not feed sentence starters. Children need runway.
Rule 6
Mark what actually happened
Record what the child actually said or wrote, not what they probably meant. First response counts. Never redo a prompt because they could do better.

The Four Sections, Always in This Order

The order is fixed because the two passages are one connected account, and the Speaking and Writing prompts draw on both.

Listening
Played, not shown
Play the passage, the child just listens first. Then read each question and its options aloud, the child answers, you click. Eight questions, two are word meaning.
Reading
On screen, stays put
The child reads paragraph 1 aloud and you pick a chip (observation only, not scored). Then questions like Listening. On tap items the child says the answer and you tap it.
Speaking
Three prompts on a picture
Read warmly, wait, then pick one band chip for what you actually heard. Tap any tags that apply.
Writing
Typed in the Zoom chat
Point the child to the chat box, let them type without spelling for them. Read it back, pick a chip, tap tags. The last prompt generates the report.

Chips and Tags: How You Mark Speaking and Writing

For each Speaking and Writing prompt you pick one band chip. The chip text is written for that prompt, but the bands always mean the same thing:

BandWhat it means
StrongDid the task fully, in complete sentences. A clear opinion with two real reasons, for example.
DevelopingCommunicated the idea with gaps. A partial answer, fragments, or one reason instead of two.
EmergingCould not really do the task yet. Single words, off track, or no clear response.
Your chips build the report shown live in the room. The emailed report is scored again by AI from the recording as a check. So rate honestly against the chip text. Never inflate to be kind, never deflate to be safe.

What the Tool Does on Its Own

Do not be alarmed by these. They are by design, not bugs:

You seeWhat is happening
A section advances before the child finishedThe soft time box. Unanswered questions count as skipped, not wrong. Carry on.
The hardest questions never appearedOnce a skill is placed, the tool eases off the hardest pair so a child never ends on a wall. The placement comes out the same.
The audio will only play twiceOne listen, one replay. Offer the replay only if the child needs it, do not burn it on question one.

Always End on a High

Encourage effort between questions, never answers. The child should leave the evaluation feeling good about themselves, whatever it revealed.

The parent remembers how the session felt. A confident, happy child is your strongest start to the report conversation.

Ready for the Knowledge Check?

5 questions. You need 4 correct to pass.

Knowledge Check

Answer 4 of 5 correctly to pass (70%)

Module 4: Delivering the Report
~10 minutes · Five pillars, bands, insights

Step 1: The Parent's Read FIRST

This is the single most important move of the whole session. The report renders blurred behind a gate. Before you reveal it, hear the parent.

You say (out loud, not on screen)
"Meera, before we look, how do you think Aanya did today?"

Listen, capture their words, do not interrupt. Their answer tells you how to pitch the next ten minutes. Then click Show report.

Step 2: The Overall Cueword Score and the Bands

The first thing the parent sees is the Overall score out of 100, a weighted blend across the skills, with a band beneath it. Frame it in plain language.

Screen: Cueword Report

Overall Cueword Score

72/100
A weighted blend across Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing, and Vocabulary

The bands run low to high. Frame every one as where the work goes next, never as a grade:

BandWhat it means
Needs focused attention"This is where we begin, and now we know exactly where to focus."
Building proficiency"The everyday foundation is there. The next step is the growth area, which is exactly what the classes are built to do."
At grade level"Aanya is right where her grade expects, with clear places to push further."
Above grade level"Aanya is ahead here, and we will keep stretching her."
Exceptional"This is a real strength, well beyond the grade."
Never translate a band into a school grade, and never say behind or ahead of other children. It is a starting picture, not a report card.

Step 3: The Five Pillar Gauges

Beside the Overall sit five circular gauges. Walk each in a sentence, anchored in something the child actually did.

Screen: Pillars

Five Pillars

Listening
78
Comprehension of the spoken account.
Reading
74
Comprehension of the text on screen.
Speaking
68
Describing, explaining, opinion with reasons.
Writing
62
Ideas on the page, in order, in sentences.
The fifth pillar, Vocabulary, is scored from the word meaning items inside Listening and Reading, so those two scores reflect comprehension only.
You say
"Remember the retell, where Aanya put the story back in her own words? That is this Speaking band. And the words I checked along the way, those feed the Vocabulary line."

Step 4: Revealing the Three Insights

The report has three insight cards you reveal one at a time. This is the most impactful part of the session. Each pairs a strength with a focus, shows what the child handled well and where they got stuck, and where it goes next.

StepWhat to doExample
1. Read itSay what the insight means in simple words"Aanya had strong ideas out loud, and on the page they came out in fragments."
2. Connect itTie it to a moment the parent saw"Remember the opinion she gave on the penguins? Clear out loud, then shorter when she typed it."
3. Frame it forwardStrengths reinforce. Growth points forward, never backward."This is exactly what the coaching builds, getting spoken ideas onto the page in full sentences."
Always name at least one genuine strength, even for a child who struggled. Frame everything as "what the report shows us," never "I think."

Language Rules for the Report

Never say
Banned words
weakness, problem, gap, behind, struggling, failing, poor. Never compare to a grade, a peer, or a percentage.
Always use
Growth language
room to grow, building toward, next step, where we begin, the starting point, a real strength.
If they push back on a number, do not defend it. Pivot to a real moment from the session. Then click See Learning Plan.

Ready for the Knowledge Check?

5 questions. You need 4 correct to pass.

Knowledge Check

Answer 4 of 5 correctly to pass (70%)

Module 5: Plan, Coach and Pricing
~10 minutes · Plan to close, screens 8 to 11

Step 1: The Learning Plan (Screen 8)

The plan opens with the parent's own goal quoted back at the top, then three recommendation cards. Present them as "what we would work on, and one thing you can start at home this week."

Card 1
Close the gap
The skill the report showed needs the most runway.
Card 2
Feed the strength
The skill the child is already strong in, taken further.
Card 3
Serve the goal
The parent's stated goal, in their own words from Discovery.
Connect card 3 back to the parent's own words. Each card has the focus, two academic points, and one practical at home habit.

Step 2: Curriculum and the Term Map (Screen 9)

This is where placement becomes concrete. Name it plainly, then sell the Showcase.

You say
"Today's evaluation places Aanya in Term 1 of the Grade 3 journey. A term is eight levels, each one a concrete outcome, all built on stories. And it ends in the Showcase, a live performance of what she built, in front of you."

Four facts to land: one to one and live, on the Cueword platform, customised per child, the same coach across the term. It is aligned to the family's state standards, or Common Core. The Showcase is the moment parents remember, so finish there.

Step 3: The Coach (Screen 10)

Keep this short and concrete: one coach, who stays all term, matched to the focus skill the report just surfaced.

Screen: Your Coach

The coach standard

Top slice of applicants. English or Education degrees. Trained on the Cueword Method. Matched within 72 hours of enrollment. No specific coach is shown on this screen, because the match happens after the session.
You say
"We will match Aanya to a coach within 72 hours, chosen for exactly the skill we want to grow first, so it is a fit to her, not a name off a list. And it is the same coach all term, which is where the real progress comes from."

Step 4: Slots and Pricing (Screen 11)

Help the parent pick two weekly times on different days that genuinely work, then let the screen do the talking. There is one plan.

Screen: Plans and Pricing

One plan

3 Month Plan
$25/class
26 classes · $650 total · installments available
No risk to start
Paid as attended. Refundable any time. No lock in. No payment taken today. Classes begin mid July.
You say
"It is one simple plan, twenty five dollars a class, twenty six classes, and you can pay in installments. Nothing is due now, you are only charged for classes as they are taken, and it is refundable any time."

Step 5: The Close (Screen 12)

Warm, brief, low pressure. Recap the timeline in one breath and reach both decision makers.

You say
"You will get the full report and plan, and Aanya's term map as a PDF, later today. Coach match within 72 hours, first class mid July. Shall I add a second email so the report reaches both of you?"

If the parent needs time

No pressure at all. Use the skip link on screen 11. The report and plan go to them either way, today. Say: "Take your time. I will send everything today so you have it, and you decide when you are ready."

Key principle: the parent should leave feeling informed, not pressured. End warm. Thank the child by name for the work, not the parent for the time. A good evaluation converts on its own.

Ready for the Knowledge Check?

5 questions. You need 4 correct to pass.

Knowledge Check

Answer 4 of 5 correctly to pass (70%)

Module 6: Mock Session
~15 minutes · Full simulation

Meet the Family

Mr. and Mrs. Patel are NRI parents, both in tech. Dad is on the call, Mom joins halfway. Invested but busy.

Aarav is in Grade 4, bright, reads well above his grade. He is quick to read but speaks in short fragments and rushes his writing. A bit quiet on camera.

You will walk through 7 scenes of a full evaluation. In each scene you are leading, and the family reacts to what you say. Pick the best response. You need 6 out of 7 to pass.

Ready for the Mock Session?

7 scenes of a full evaluation. You need 6 correct to pass.

Mock Session Simulation

Get 6 of 7 scenes correct to pass

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Step 3 of 3 — All times in IST. Each slot is 1 hour. You can edit this anytime from your dashboard.

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Specialist Academy

Complete all 6 modules to become a certified Cueword specialist. Click a module to begin.

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Resources

Everything you need to run an evaluation, in one place.

Specialist Playbook
Flow guideline, pre session checklist, objection playbook
Evaluation Playbook
Every question, answer, and rubric chip for Grades 3 to 5
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Diagnostic Tool
Open the evaluation tool

No-show Policy & Pre-session Email

Timing rule. Send the email 15 minutes before the scheduled session. If the parent hasn't joined 15 minutes AFTER the scheduled start and hasn't replied to your email, mark the booking as no-show in the admin portal.
Email template

Send via email only — no WhatsApp, no SMS. Replace the bracketed fields before sending.

Session Quality & Feedback

Your technique is scored after each session based on transcript analysis.

How Quality Scoring Works

🎥
1. Complete session
On Zoom
📄
2. Transcript uploaded
Automatically
🤖
3. AI analyzes
5 dimensions scored
📈
4. Score + feedback
Specific improvement tips

Scoring Dimensions

15%
Opening & Rapport
Tone, warmth, making the child comfortable
25%
Discovery Probing
Depth of questions, finding the WHY beneath the WHY
25%
Assessment Technique
FUAR probing, golden rules, creating revealing moments
20%
Report Delivery
Strengths-first, growth language, no banned words
15%
Close & Reservation
Warm, low-pressure, clear next steps

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Your Session Notes

After each session, jot down what went well, what was tricky, and what you'd do differently.

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Your Availability

Your live availability, synced from your Calendly. Manage the actual windows in your Calendly account.

Calendar

Your assigned evaluations. All times shown in the parent's local time.

Specialist Playbook
Flow guideline, pre session checklist, objection playbook

Once you are trained, you do not read from a script. This is your fallback, the flow at a glance, what to prep before a call, and how to handle objections. The full, word for word script lives in the Academy training modules.

The spine of the call, screen by screen, the goal of each step and the moves that matter, not lines to read. The tool runs on your shared screen with Share Computer Sound on; the family watches you drive it. Quote the parent's own words back, keep the child front and centre, and always leave the family with a real strength.

1 · Connection check & setup

You're set up and the right test is loaded before the family is in it.
  • Let the connection check finish on its own. If it flags slow, fix what you can before the family joins, the team is alerted automatically.
  • Share your screen with Share Computer Sound ON, the Listening audio fails silently without it.
  • On Confirm Details, check the child's first name, grade, and parent's first name. The grade loads the test (Grade 3 Penguins, Grade 4 Elephants, Grade 5 Sleep), so get it right here.
  • The session is recorded; the first screen tells the family so.

2 · Welcome & what to expect

The family knows what the next hour is, and that it's a dialogue, not an exam.
  • Walk the parent through who Cueword is and the three pillars conversationally while the child settles, don't read it word for word.
  • Land the one line that matters: the evaluation is a friendly dialogue, not a test.
  • Preview the shape: Discovery (~10 min) → Evaluation (~30 min) → your plan (~10 min).

3 · Discovery

Capture the parent's real goal in their own words, then bring the child to the front.
  • This is a conversation with the parent. Fill the five cards as they talk: school & curriculum; how [child] is doing in English; their goals; [child]'s relationship with English; anything else to know.
  • Get the parent's own words into the goal, the plan quotes it back at the close.
  • On the Cueword Profile, read it aloud and check it lands ("did we get [child] right?"). Walk the four skill cards so the child knows what's coming.
  • This is the moment to bring the child to the front, use the warm up line from the test document.

4 · The four skill evaluation

See how [child] uses English across all four skills. Mark honestly; stay neutral. Always Listening → Reading → Speaking → Writing.
  • Read each section's intro card aloud, then have the child say the task back before starting. Explain the task again in your own words anytime they look lost, the task, never the answer.
  • Listening: Share Computer Sound on before Start Audio. Play it; the child just listens first. Read each question and its options aloud; the child answers, you click. Two plays in all, offer the replay only if needed. Never read or paraphrase the passage.
  • Reading: the child reads paragraph 1 aloud and you pick the chip (observation for the coach, not scored). Then questions as in Listening; on tap items the child says the answer and you tap it in the passage.
  • Speaking: read the prompt warmly, then wait, give runway, a few seconds of silence is fine, don't feed sentence starters. Pick the chip that matches what you actually heard; tap any tags.
  • Writing: point the child to the Zoom chat box; let them type without spelling for them. Read it back, pick the chip, tap tags. The last prompt's button reads Generate Cueword Report.
  • Keep your reaction flat on right and wrong alike, the screen already shows green/red.

5 · The parent's read FIRST

The single most important move. Hear the parent before the score shows.
  • Do not reveal the report yet. Ask the gate question on screen: "[parent], before we look, how do you think [child] did today?"
  • Listen, capture their words, don't interrupt. Their answer tells you how to pitch the next ten minutes.
  • Then Show report.

6 · Walk the Cueword Report

Translate the score into plain language, anchored in what the child actually did.
  • Walk the Overall, then each of the five pillars in a sentence, Listening, Reading, Vocabulary, Speaking, Writing, anchored in real moments ("remember the retell, that's this Speaking band").
  • Reveal the three insight cards one at a time; don't rush them.
  • Bands: Needs focused attention → Building proficiency → At grade level → Above grade level → Exceptional. If they push back on a number, pivot to a real moment, don't defend the number.

7 · The learning plan

The parent leaves with something useful and something to start at home.
  • Present the three cards: card 1 closes the gap the report exposed, card 2 feeds the child's strength, card 3 serves the parent's stated goal.
  • Each card: the focus, two academic points, one practical at home habit.
  • Connect card 3 back to the parent's own words from Discovery.

8 · Curriculum & how classes work

Make the placement concrete; sell the Showcase.
  • Name the placement plainly: "today places [child] in Term [n] of the Grade [N] journey." It's a starting point, never a ceiling.
  • Walk a few levels of the term map, point at [child]'s focus skill, and sell ★ The Showcase, the live performance that closes the term and the thing parents remember.
  • Four facts: one to one live, on the Cueword platform, customised per child, same coach across the term. Aligned to the family's state standards (or Common Core).

9 · The coach

Confidence in one coach who stays.
  • Keep it short and concrete: one coach, who stays all term, matched to the focus skill the report just surfaced, within 72 hours.
  • The bar: the top slice of applicants, English or Education degrees, trained on the Cueword Method.
  • No coach is shown on this screen yet, the match happens after the session, by design.

10 · Slots & pricing

Help them pick two real times, then let the screen do the talking. No pressure.
  • Help the parent pick two weekly times on different days that genuinely work, in their timezone.
  • One plan: $25 a class, 26 classes, $650, installments available; paid as attended, refundable any time, no lock in; no payment today; classes start mid July.
  • If they need time, use the skip link without pressure, the report goes to them either way.

11 · The close

Warm close, both decision makers reached.
  • Recap the timeline in one breath: report + plan + the child's term map PDF emailed later today; coach match within 72 hours; first class mid July.
  • Offer the second email share so the report reaches both parents (grandparents say yes surprisingly often).
  • End warm, thank the child by name for the work, not the parent for the time. Reaching this screen saves and exports the session automatically.

Two minutes before the camera turns on. Run this every time.

  • Open the Cueword Evaluation Tool to this booking's session, ready to share your screen.
  • Zoom: screen share working and Share Computer Sound ON, the Listening audio fails silently without it.
  • Let the tool's connection check pass. It runs on its own and alerts the team if your network is weak, fix what you can before the family joins.
  • Confirm the booking's prefilled details: child's first name, grade, parent's first name. The grade loads the test (Grade 3 → Penguins, Grade 4 → Elephants, Grade 5 → Sleep), so get it right.
  • Read the grade's test document again, recently enough that you always know where the child is heading next.
Reset your posture before you start: the parent is quietly asking "is my child okay?", meet them there. Lead with strengths, frame everything as where the child begins rather than a verdict, and never compare them to a grade, a peer, or a percentage. You run the evaluation and match the coach, you are not the teacher, and the starting point is never a ceiling.

The one mental model

Cueword isn't a cost, it's an investment in the one skill every subject, interview, and relationship rides on, your child's ability to communicate and be heard. Reading and writing at grade level is table stakes; using all four skills well is the lever that compounds for the next decade. That isn't a ~$25 a class expense, it's a long-term investment whose return far outlasts the program.

Why Cueword is genuinely different

Be fluent in this, it's what justifies the investment in every conversation, and it's the heart of the competitor table below:

  • All four skills, one story. Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing are built together, that's what Articulate means. Almost every alternative trains just one or two.
  • Learning by using the language. Children don't learn to communicate from grammar worksheets; everything runs through stories they listen to, read, talk about, and write from.
  • One coach, one to one, who stays. A trained coach, live and one to one, the same coach across the whole term, the top slice of applicants, English or Education degrees, trained on the Cueword Method.
  • A performance to show for it, ★ The Showcase. Each term ends in a live performance of what the child built. You get a recording, not a report card grade.
  • Personalised placement, no wasted ground. The evaluation places the child into the right term of their grade; a child placed ahead gets credit for everything skipped and never re-does it.
  • Standards-aligned and measured. Pre and post scores across all four skills, built against the same standards US schools use.

Handling the objections

Always acknowledge the concern first, never dismiss it. Then reframe, and remember nothing is paid today, so there's no risk in starting.

"It feels expensive" / "We have a limited budget"

The most common one. Usually they just haven't seen the value yet, anchor it on the one to one hour.

"I completely understand, and thank you for being upfront. It's one simple plan, $25 a class, 26 classes, and you can split it into installments. Nothing's due today, and you're only ever charged once [child] has actually taken a class, refundable any time, no lock in. What that buys is a full hour of one to one time on exactly the skill [child] needs next, every single class. A private English tutor runs $70 to over $100 an hour for that, and even then it's usually just one skill."

Principles: acknowledge first; nothing due now, paid as attended, refundable; anchor value on the 1:1 hour across all four skills; offer installments; never invent a discount.

Sensitive, handle with care
"Can you do a discount?"

Be transparent. The value is the hour, not a markdown.

"I want to be completely transparent, it's one standard plan for every family, $25 a class, no side deals or negotiations. The value isn't a markdown, it's the one to one hour itself. What I can do is make starting easy: pay in installments, nothing today, and you're only charged as [child] attends."
"We only want one class a week"
"I hear you, and I want to set [child] up for real momentum. A new level opens about every third or fourth class, with practice in between to make it stick, so twice a week on different days is the rhythm that actually lands. I'd start with two, and if it ever feels like too much, we adjust."
"The child is too busy right now"
"Packed schedules are the norm, I get it. Classes are 60 minutes, twice a week, scheduled around your family, and when life happens you reschedule with the coach and only pay for classes taken. One to one is the most time-efficient option there is, because not a minute is shared with anyone else. Is there anything else making you hesitate?"
"My child is too young / this might be too much"
"I completely understand, you don't want them overwhelmed. This is the age their ear for language is most open, and they haven't yet built a fear of getting it wrong. The coach keeps [child] working right at the edge of what they can do, stretched, not drowning, and if they're ever not enjoying it, we'll be the first to tell you."
"Maybe later, it's not the right time"
"No pressure at all, I'll send the full report and plan today so you have everything, and you decide in your own time. One honest thought: communication grows by using it, and the habits are far easier to build now than to catch up on later. If there's something specific, timing, budget, anything, I'm happy to work through it."

The gentle probe: end with "Is there anything specific making you hesitate?" If it turns out to be budget, switch to the budget script above. Use the skip link, the report goes to them either way.

Special cases

  • The strong reader / advanced child, the starting term is set by the skill with the most to gain, not the strongest; she gets credit for everything she showed today and her coach speeds her up in week one. Nothing's locked.
  • A child with gaps, this is a friendly placement dialogue, not a diagnostic, and it never labels a child; if the coach spots an earlier-grade gap they assign a targeted gap pack rather than let the child struggle silently.
  • "Isn't this just more screen time?", separate passive (watching videos) from active: [child] talks for at least half of every live class, and the app is only a few minutes of coach-set practice. It's speaking, reading aloud, and writing, not watching.

Quick reference, the questions parents ask

Parent saysYou respond
"She reads above her grade, why only Term [n]?"The term is set by the skill with the most to gain, not the strongest. She gets credit for what she showed and her coach accelerates her in the first classes, it's a starting point, never a ceiling.
"He was nervous, does this decide everything?"Nerves are completely normal and we plan for them. This just tells us where to begin; the coach confirms and adjusts it in the first couple of classes.
"Why five scores when there were four parts?"The fifth is Vocabulary, pulled from the word meaning questions woven into Listening and Reading, so those two scores are pure comprehension and word knowledge gets its own line.
"Can I choose the coach, or see them now?"The match is made to your child's focus skill within 72 hours, so there's no name to show yet, it's a fit to her, and the same coach all term.
"Is there a free trial or money back?"Today's session was the trial, you've just seen how a class feels, and from there it's refundable any time, no lock in.
"Can I help him during the questions?"You're welcome to watch, the best help is letting him try, even the tricky ones. Nothing counts against him; I just need to see where he's starting.

Competitor quick-reference, "we already use X" / "X is cheaper"

Nearly every alternative does one or two of the five skills, none pair all four with a live one to one coach and an end-of-term performance. Acknowledge what they like, then widen the lens. Figures are rough, for your context only, never quote them to a parent as the competitor's exact price.

If a parent names…What it actually coversYour response
Kumon (English / Reading)
~$150 to 200/mo per subject		Self-paced worksheets, reading and vocabulary drill, basic writing. No live speaking or listening."Kumon is repetition on paper, good for drill, but no one ever hears [child] speak or read aloud, and there's no real writing with a coach. Cueword is a live coach across all four skills, on one story."
Sylvan / center tutoring
~$45 to 55+/hr		Small-group tutoring at a center, usually reading and writing remediation. Not one to one; no speaking or listening track."Sylvan helps with reading and writing, but in a small group, not one to one, and it doesn't touch speaking or listening. With us it's [child]'s own hour, on all four skills."
IXL / Reading Eggs (apps)
~$10/mo		A self paced app, adaptive reading and grammar practice. No live teacher; no speaking."Apps like these are practice, not teaching, nobody's listening to [child] read aloud or coaching how they speak and write. Ours is the daily workout between live classes, not the whole thing."
Outschool group classes
~$20 to 40/week		A marketplace of group classes, a writing class here, a public-speaking club there. One focus at a time, a different teacher each course."Outschool is one club at a time, in a group, with a new teacher each course. Cueword is one coach building all four skills together, term over term, toward a performance."
Novakid / Cambly Kids (ESL)
~$8 to 16 per 25 min lesson		Short conversation lessons built for kids learning English as a second language. Speaking and listening only."Those are built for non-native speakers to practise talking, just speaking, in 25 minute bites. Cueword is for grade level kids who already speak English and need all four skills to get strong."
Private one to one tutor
Varsity Tutors, Lindamood-Bell, ~$70 to 125+/hr		True one to one, by the hour, Lindamood-Bell is intensive reading; a private tutor is whatever you book. No four skill curriculum or end performance."That's real one to one, and usually two to five times our rate, for a single skill with no term plan or showcase. Cueword gives you the 1:1 hour and a structured term, for $25 a class."

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