Have You Had Private Thai Lessons?

[nidge]

Hi People,

I have, after 2 years of looking, found a Thai tutor in Chaiyaphum. I was given a price of 200 baht per hour or 30 hours for 5000 baht. As far as i am concerned i am getting a good deal but i'm interested in how much other people pay?

My tutor normally teaches Thai children to read and write, I have not asked about qualifications because in my opinion letters after your name means nothing if you can't communicate with your students. I'm her first farang so her English is not too strong but i feel like i am learning very quickly. Hopefully by the end of next week i will get past reading about children playing with kittens, puppies and chickens in the rice fields!

Nidge.

[jdinasia]

That's cheaper than the Intensive Thai program at Chula (granted they are CHULA). They charge 25k baht for 25 days of classes )per hour breakdown is 250 baht/hr, and that is per person for groups of up to 10 students.

[withnail]

Previously I have paid 300, 400 and 500 for private lessons. The best teacher I had charged 400 the worst 300. The 500 Baht teacher was expensive because she was normally an English teacher. She helped at the time, because she was fluent in English, but wasn't really qualified or experienced in teaching Thai.

Quite frankly price is not the first thing I look for in a Thai teacher. I would rather pay the better teacher I had 600 than the worst 100. The better teacher I had worked full time teaching Thai as a foreign language and had lots of experience in preparation for the P6 exam, I consider 400 for someone with her experience a bargain.

[nidge]

Quite frankly price is not the first thing I look for in a Thai teacher.

Price wasn't the first thing i looked for either. the first thing was looking for a teacher! In the darkest depths of "non farang" Issan it is not easy to find one. My teacher is the only available one without me spending more time driving than learning. That's why i was interested to compare prices with other people as i have no comparisons of my own. Anyway, looks like i got a good deal as well as a good teacher.

[stonybonytony]

There's only 1 teacher on the island where I live, he charges 200 baht an hour and is frankly terrible as a teacher. I had private 1 to 1 lessons in Bangkok for about 250 baht an hour, with a couple of different teachers and they weren't much better. The only qualification the teachers seemed to have was a rudimentary grasp of English, they had no little or no idea of grammar or sentence construction, and all of them often responded to my 'why is this word here' questions with 'that's just how Thai people talk'.

I would willingly pay more for someone with an ability to teach rather than just to speak Thai.

[kriswillems]

I had a private teacher in one language school and she was overworked, depressed, didn't prepare any lesson and she was not a good teacher (although she tried hard). I paid 250 B/h (for 20 hours). After that I went to another language school and the teacher was better. I paid 350B/hour (for 20 hours). To be honest I think I can learn more in a classroom than by private courses.

I need a teacher that pushes be to the next level, a teacher that is hard for me, a teachers that gives me a lot of homework, corrects all my mistakes and that let's me read difficult lessons. I think it's important that a teacher prepares the lessons. It's so much easier for a teacher to teach you something you already know. I have the feeling most private teachers are teaching me things that I already know.

[dsfbrit]

I had a private teacher in one language school and she was overworked, depressed, didn't prepare any lesson and she was not a good teacher (although she tried hard). I paid 250 B/h (for 20 hours). After that I went to another language school and the teacher was better. I paid 350B/hour (for 20 hours). To be honest I think I can learn more in a classroom than by private courses.

I need a teacher that pushes be to the next level, a teacher that is hard for me, a teachers that gives me a lot of homework, corrects all my mistakes and that let's me read difficult lessons. I think it's important that a teacher prepares the lessons. It's so much easier for a teacher to teach you something you already know. I have the feeling most private teachers are teaching me things that I already know.

To start with the Price - an hour for about 250 Baht is reasonable - thats roughly what I pay/paid 60 hours = 15000 Baht.

I identify with this post completely though.

I had/have a teacher who is very nice, knows grammar well (English and Thai), but is unstructured. She does not seem to know what to teach me next. I ask for and get lots of written homework, but it is not marked with any great accuracy. The more she gets to know me, the less she can be 'bothered' to make an effort to teach - she sees me as a friend (groan).

I have been for nearly 180 hours now and I wanted to take the P6 exam. I will have to go elsewehre I reckon though.

So good luck, I don't really know how you measure your improvement in a language unless you take exams at various levels, which this and many language schools and private teachers do not seem to offer.

[Tod Daniels]

Unfortunately as with many things here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" there is a great disparity between qualifications and teaching styles of private teachers. The prices are also vary quite a bit as well. I think in the 250-350 baht an hour range for a good teacher would be a good price.

Sometimes even well known schools will have less than stellar teachers. I wouldn't discount a school or its teaching method based on a single teacher's performance. I don't believe there is any real qualification a thai must attain to teach thai to foreigners; just as there are oh-so many unqualified foreign english teachers plying their trade in this country. It is obviously a two way street in language teaching here.

See if you can get a 'free' lesson to try out ANY school or private teacher. If they are unwilling to do that and insist on pre-payment up front for bulk hours, I would give them a pass. You are unlikely to EVER get your money back on unused hours even if after the first 15 minutes you realize it was a mistake.

In learning this language; it really is a buyer beware market. Of course that being said; if you stick with some better known schools, use referrals of friends who you know attended a school or used a private teacher, I think you will come out okay. I would suggest the following;

*Talk to other students currently attending the school or using the private teacher *BEFORE paying for anything.

*Try to get honest feedback instead of sock-puppet responses from foreign thai wannabes.

*Try to get a free lesson.

*See the curriculum.

*Look at the text books they will use.

The good thai language teachers and schools are out there; you just have to winnow the chaff to get to the wheat.

Good luck

[BugJackBaron]

Unfortunately as with many things here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" there is a great disparity between qualifications and teaching styles of private teachers. The prices are also vary quite a bit as well. I think in the 250-350 baht an hour range for a good teacher would be a good price.

Sometimes even well known schools will have less than stellar teachers. I wouldn't discount a school or its teaching method based on a single teacher's performance. I don't believe there is any real qualification a thai must attain to teach thai to foreigners; just as there are oh-so many unqualified foreign english teachers plying their trade in this country. It is obviously a two way street in language teaching here.

See if you can get a 'free' lesson to try out ANY school or private teacher. If they are unwilling to do that and insist on pre-payment up front for bulk hours, I would give them a pass. You are unlikely to EVER get your money back on unused hours even if after the first 15 minutes you realize it was a mistake.

In learning this language; it really is a buyer beware market. Of course that being said; if you stick with some better known schools, use referrals of friends who you know attended a school or used a private teacher, I think you will come out okay. I would suggest the following;

*Talk to other students currently attending the school or using the private teacher *BEFORE paying for anything.

*Try to get honest feedback instead of sock-puppet responses from foreign thai wannabes.

*Try to get a free lesson.

*See the curriculum.

*Look at the text books they will use.

The good thai language teachers and schools are out there; you just have to winnow the chaff to get to the wheat.

Good luck

I have had only a couple of lessons in Thai both the free cheap-charlie intro lesson

sometimes offered.

One was in Chaing Rai and was simply fantastic...She was an older teacher who used

just about every method in the book(I was an English teacher myself)

and really worked you. If I was living in Chiang Lai instead of just passing through

I would have gladly paid for her course.

The other was in Pattaya with a young teacher and frankly it was amateurish though in fairness it

was a class with one other student. I have seen this kind of teaching in Korea too.

Teaching is NOT the easiest job in the world.

Edited April 15, 2008 by BugJackBaron