What's a fair price per hour for online teaching?

[Irrumator]

On 2/17/2023 at 5:40 AM, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Add that certain chain of language schools named after a famous street in New York into that mix. I've heard they charge ridiculous amounts, the teachers are paid a pittance, the teachers are lied to about scheduling and their number of hours, and finally, it's more a sales outfit than a school. Teachers are evaluated on how well they can push students into signing up for longer or additional packages.

I've heard exactly the same, and also that they are very ageist - no one over 40 ever gets a job with them.

[Irrumator]

On 2/3/2023 at 8:22 PM, Doctor Tom said:

I teach aerodynamics and general aviation subjects to aviation students online,  through a US based facilitator.,  They pay me $12 per hour,  so I clearly don't do it for the money, but its hassle free and I can pick and choose both hours of availability and what students I want to teach.  I don't teach English and I don't teach under 18s.    

Almost the same as me, except that in Thailand I HAVE to teach English because that's what the students want to learn.
My French is too rusty to teach that ad I don't speak other popular languages here, such as Chinese and Japanese.  
I don't teach under 18s either.  And I like the fact that I can pick and choose my jobs.  

[Irrumator]

On 2/3/2023 at 9:14 PM, itsari said:

I have had similar experiances with Indians and Pakistanis when dealing in business . Slippery customers to say the least 

They are in the UK as well.  

[brewsterbudgen]

2 hours ago, Irrumator said:

I've heard exactly the same, and also that they are very ageist - no one over 40 ever gets a job with them.

And even if you're under 40, you have to 'look the part'.  Awful place!

[Irrumator]

On 2/17/2023 at 5:30 AM, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

I teach English, but only upper high school and up. Sometimes I'll get good, mature M1-M2 students (7th-8th grade) but it is rare. If you're used to teaching advanced vocabulary, academic reading and writing, professional applications, you're certainly not going to switch into colorful flash cards, noisemakers, hand puppets, silly faces, for the next student. Haha. They are totally different beasts.

 

Some really don't get that. "You're an English teacher? Here, teach my 10 year old." Uh, no. But I'll have you know, that certain famous name BKK private school I once worked for and keep mentioning, once tried to hand a primary class off to me. The fact that secondary and primary teaching have totally different requirements should be common knowledge in education. That pretty much let me the know the quality of that school.

Tell me, did this school's name begin and end with 's' with another 's' third from the end?

[arick]

On 1/5/2023 at 3:12 PM, Irrumator said:

I have been full time teaching here in Thailand since 2004, all sorts from KG1 to M6 classrooms in schools, but mainly business English in companies and Government departments.

Since Covid came along, I have been teaching online English of all types.  I’m very experienced, speak Thai and am very familiar with the Thai mindset regarding studying.

Now that I am much older and don’t want to travel all around Bangkok, I want to concentrate on online teaching and I’m part way through constructing a Facebook page.  I’m also wondering what other platforms I could use.  Any suggestions welcome for the latter. 

 

However,  what bugs me is what is a fair price per hour? I do some work for one agency which pays 360 baht an hour (sometimes 300, for some reason) and another which pays 350 baht an hour.

 

Now, that’s all very well when they are finding the work for you but to my mind, it’s rather low.  I have seen private teachers pricing themselves at 450 – 500 baht per hour, and I personally know one guy (who is very good with younger kids) who charges 1,000 baht an hour – and gets it!

 

I don’t want to price myself out of the market, nor do I want to work for too little.  I prefer to teach 18 years and upwards, so university students but also working people who want to improve their speaking and listening skills for work or further education.  They also have more disposable income.

I only teach one hour classes because 30 minutes is a waste of time, and after an hour, most people’s concentration starts to flag.  Even 1½ hours is too much for many.

Any *serious* suggestions as to a fair price for an hour’s class and also where else I could advertise very welcome. 

1000 minimum 

[Snackbar]

Find your own students set your own price.

[Freddy42OZ]

Palfish just opened a flagship store in Bangkok. 

That is going to have a negative impact on English teachers in Thailand.

 

[recom273]

1 hour ago, Freddy42OZ said:

Palfish just opened a flagship store in Bangkok. 

That is going to have a negative impact on English teachers in Thailand.

 

How do you figure this?

 

Palfish have had an office here for 2-3 years, they advertise on Facebook and have an insignificant number of Thai students - the parents are happy to send their kids to Philippino teachers who get paid 80B per hour. 

[brianthainess]

Well it would depend on what you are capable of teaching, English is a bit mundane, compared to Rocket Science. init.  Edit I clicked on this thread before realizing how old it was. 

[thecyclist]

On 2/20/2023 at 1:23 PM, brewsterbudgen said:

And even if you're under 40, you have to 'look the part'.  Awful place!

Is that the school that used to(and maybe still does) advertise a 98.5 % success rate at skytrain stations?

Only if you yourself define what success is, can you make such promises ,especially with Thai students, who in general used to have high expectations combined with an unwillingness to study hard to live up to these expectations. 

But, maybe that has changed. Haven't taught Thais in ages.

[Freddy42OZ]

19 hours ago, recom273 said:

How do you figure this?

 

Palfish have had an office here for 2-3 years, they advertise on Facebook and have an insignificant number of Thai students - the parents are happy to send their kids to Philippino teachers who get paid 80B per hour. 

 

 

I had never heard of them until I read about their new flagship store.  The news seemed to imply that they haven't been very active here but are now going to make a major branding push.   Rich Thais like things that are shiny and new and look good, which the Palfish store certainly does.

Who cares about parents that can only pay 80B an hour?   

[recom273]

1 hour ago, Freddy42OZ said:

 

 

I had never heard of them until I read about their new flagship store.  The news seemed to imply that they haven't been very active here but are now going to make a major branding push.   Rich Thais like things that are shiny and new and look good, which the Palfish store certainly does.

Who cares about parents that can only pay 80B an hour?   

So you made definite statement upon something that you know nothing about .. 

 

I have worked for them since the first months of the company. Since China introduced the policy on after school / online classes they have been trying to get into different countries with little or no success.

 

There is no threat to English teachers as you stated, I’m unsure what the threat would even be. 

 

Chinese parents are fanatical about learning, some have bought big lesson packages and push their kids to study 2-3 times a week, for years. I have had some students for more than five years now. The combination of school and online classes really works, some kids develop great accents, and they can express themselves well.
I have had a few Thai kids book classes and the experience is very different, the parents will chop and change teachers and time slots, the parents make no effort to communicate, the kids will often get up and wander off to get something to show the teacher, their focus is often very limited. They come for a short time buying a small lesson packages. 

 

So, imho, no there is no threat to traditional teaching in Thailand by a Chinese online company. Maybe Thai parents don’t have the budget to spend, but more that the concept of online learning isn’t taken seriously here. 
 

There is an “editorial” in the paper that cannot be linked, if you want to read more about the company.