learn_russian | something more formal than как дела (Reply)

Hi! I'm new to this community (well, sort-of new - I've been skulking around reading the entries for a while) and, as may be expected, I have a question (okay, two) about Russian which I'm hoping the people here will be able to answer.

I know there's another way to say "How are you?" than just "Как дела?" but I can't remember what it is. All I really remember is thinking, "Hm, I've never heard that before." when it was first taught to me, and I don't think I've heard it since, either... but I know как дела is very informal and I don't want to use it in a letter to a teacher.

My second question is how would you say "Maybe I can tutor the other people in my class"? Something like "Можно я буду учить другые студенты в классе" maybe, but it doesn't sound quite right to me. (I've somehow gotten stuck in a Russian I class at college, even though I've been studying for three years, so despite my grammatical incompetence I'm sure I can help someone.)