Home Schooling Teacher

[NanLaew]

My wife has been talking to a young school teacher here in Udon regards giving a few hours extra private tuition at home to a couple of my kids. Looking at maybe a couple of hours on a mutually agreeable week day and then another 2 hour session on Saturday or Sunday.

What would be an appropriate amount to pay for this. What do 25 year-old teachers make normally and what would be acceptable?

[kokesaat]

A friend of mine pays 300 baht an hour to a Thai woman to home tutor math, English, and science each weekend. She was charging 250 an hour until recently.

[monekyface]

Thai or Westerner? 300 baht an hour seems insane for a Thai in Udon Thani!

Edited September 10, 2011 by monekyface

[kokesaat]

Thai or Westerner? 300 baht an hour seems insane for a Thai in Udon Thani!

That's Thai. She drives to the friend's home and teachs his daughter there.

[aridion]

It very much depends on the teacher. A teacher qualified with PGCE from abroad would likely charge 1,000 - 1,500 baht an hour. A tefl teacher around the 500 baht mark or slightly more. A Thai teacher anything from 200 - 400.

[Ijustwannateach]

A 25 yo foreign TEFLer would be lucky to get 500-600/hr for mere TEFLing in Bangkok, much less Udon Thani, unless the family is really rich and careless. And the PGCE, as usual, doesn't add to the wages on offer- probably unless they are really down on their luck they shouldn't be looking for work like this.

I'd say 400/hr would be hitting the mark as long as there are a couple of hours in each visit, and it's only TEFL. If you want someone with qualifications to teach math, science, etc., you're going to need to pay somewhat more (let's say 600-700B/hr). Otherwise pay the lower rate and hope the TEFLer knows what he's doing.

All the above is based on foreigners. If it's a Thai national, you should probably take a couple of hundred off both figures. Yes, yes, it's not fair, blah, blah, blah, but if the pay didn't support us we wouldn't be here, blah, blah, blah, so there. (I hope we can short-circuit those inevitable whines before they start).

[NanLaew]

^ Good luck with the short-circuit!

Thanks for the replies. It will be a Thai teacher and the primary focus will be on English for now. I may start with the new Thai minimum wage of 300 baht/hour as a benchmark. If there's a need for any other 'specialisations' such as math or the like, then incremental increase; say 50 baht/hour. If the results are good, then there's a bonus.

The brood I have consists of a 15 year-old step-daughter who appears to be doing OK and isn't being considered as needing extra help. The other stepdaughter, a 14 year-old, needs the extra tuition (not only English) and lastly our son who will be 4 in April. He's been in pre-school since last April and thriving. His teacher says he's very bright and he loves 'reading' magazines and newspapers, not just looking at the pictures. Since I am away working in Bangkok Mon-Fri, Mrs NL is concerned that he is getting too much Isaan-speak which is to be expected. When I had more time at home, I always encouraged English speaking which worked well with the kids but Mrs NL says that there's less incentive now that I am away!

Since we have the 2 kids of differing ages, I think separate lessons will be better. The 14 year-old is my son's favourite but she lets him get away with murder and I think having then together will be a distraction or a disaster. Maybe an hour one-on-one for the girl, 10 minute break then 30 minutes one-on-one with the boy and maybe a 'mixed' 15-20 minutes? Any advice on structuring this is appreciated, just in case my TEFL'er hasn't thought it out yet.