Engl. Teaching-Charge How Much?

[swissie]

Have been asked to give private english lessons.

Location: Small town 170 km northwest of Bangkok near Myanmar border. This is not an Isaan situation, since the Thai's here are quite "affluent". And the Thai that wants to learn english is by no means some poor devil.

- I have no idea what I should be charging him per hour. Anyone?

Thanks & cheers.

[thequietman]

500 baht an hour. minimum 2 hours.

[Somtamnication]

I charge 500 per hour. And it goes up 100b per person added. So it is actually cheaper for each student. Maximum 5 students per session. They are more adventurous with their English when in a group.

For Koreans and Russians, 600 per hour, 200 per hour increase per student. Why? This is Thailand. Non Thais pay more, naturally.

[aridion]

Yeah, 500 sounds about right.

Edited December 11, 2012 by aridion

[beano2274]

Why not charge them for 20 hours in advance, then if they cancel at short notice (as Thais always do), then he/she forfeits 1 hour from the total

[poanoi]

I charged 200 when i did it,

but that's because i didn't speak thai, and (therefore) i'm not a language teacher

Edited December 12, 2012 by poanoi

[thaicbr]

I charged 200 when i did it,

but that's because i didn't speak thai, and (therefore) i'm not a language teacher

No you charged 200b because you do not understand what a conversation language teacher is.

sent from my Q6

[poanoi]

Nonsense, i won't rip off anyone no matter what, and an unskilled teacher like myself aren't worth more

than 200 baht.

I guess its a matter of honor or decency

[thaicbr]

Nonsense, i won't rip off anyone no matter what, and an unskilled teacher like myself aren't worth more

than 200 baht.

I guess its a matter of honor or decency

Nope. It's understanding your own worth. You do not need to speak Thai to teach conversational English. You do need to have confidence in your own abilities.

sent from my Q6

[HerbalEd]

Nonsense, i won't rip off anyone no matter what, and an unskilled teacher like myself aren't worth more

than 200 baht.

I guess its a matter of honor or decency

Nope. It's understanding your own worth. You do not need to speak Thai to teach conversational English. You do need to have confidence in your own abilities.

sent from my Q6

Exactly. Well said. But then ... maybe he does understand his worth and it's only 200 baht/hour. Edited December 16, 2012 by HerbalEd

[Scott]

Off-topic post and reply deleted. This is a straightforward topic. Someone has asked about the charge for teaching English.

Stay on-topic please.

[Bluetongue]

Hmm interesting. I came to this sub forum because today a 17 year old girl and her granma came around and wanted me to give her English lessons. I have a TEFL/TESOL certificate but whilst I was getting that certificate I realised I did not want to be a teacher so have not pursued any employment. I did have an adhoc request from a couple emigrating to NZ and I helped them, often the session was cancelled, I did no preparation once I realised they were seeking conversation only and charged them a carton of beer which usually came about once or twice a week. I didn't really want to do it anyway.

This one might be different I think she has some sort of ASEAN thing coming up, just from my quick chat to her today. Does anyone know anything about that? I have no idea whether her family is prosperous or not some families here are most not really. While my gut feeling is that 500 will turn her away. What does a Thai public school teacher earn? I will talk to my wife about what to charge, I fobbed the girl off today. Said I would do it and talk to her about the charge tomorrow. I feel that if she turns up for a few conversation lessons, that wouldn't put me out too much.

[Somtamnication]

And, again, charge upfront for 10 hours. If she cancels on the same day, charge her. Your time has value, too!!!

[thaicbr]

Hmm interesting. I came to this sub forum because today a 17 year old girl and her granma came around and wanted me to give her English lessons. I have a TEFL/TESOL certificate but whilst I was getting that certificate I realised I did not want to be a teacher so have not pursued any employment. I did have an adhoc request from a couple emigrating to NZ and I helped them, often the session was cancelled, I did no preparation once I realised they were seeking conversation only and charged them a carton of beer which usually came about once or twice a week. I didn't really want to do it anyway.

This one might be different I think she has some sort of ASEAN thing coming up, just from my quick chat to her today. Does anyone know anything about that? I have no idea whether her family is prosperous or not some families here are most not really. While my gut feeling is that 500 will turn her away. What does a Thai public school teacher earn? I will talk to my wife about what to charge, I fobbed the girl off today. Said I would do it and talk to her about the charge tomorrow. I feel that if she turns up for a few conversation lessons, that wouldn't put me out too much.

charge them a carton of beer again.. that way you will fit into the Thai view of the drunken falang..just kidding.

The hourly charge depends on how much work you want to put into the lesson.. are you going to provide basic worksheets or books. Are you going to access the internet to use Google for images, maps etc.

You know what you are going to do so charge appropriately. I would personally say minimum 300b per hour (2 hour lesson), paid 10 hours upfront and paid again on the 8th hour. A lot of Thais do not call and cancel, they just don't turn up.

Have Fun

Edited December 23, 2012 by thaicbr

[Kilgore Trout]

Generally speaking, not qualified teachers (meaning not qualified to teach the subject content in their home country) get 500, qualified teachers (qualified in their home country) get 1,000 for general private teaching and up to 3k per hour for specialized (IELTS, SAT, etc.).

These numbers have been pretty constant for a decade or more, although they may be ready to rise with current inflation, I may raise my rates by a couple hundred baht.

I always give discounts for more than 2 hour stretches or high weekly hours etc.

I also usually give the family a chance to prove their consistency, and if not fully trusted ask for payment in advance if I think they will cancel often.

[Jawnie]

These rates seem quite high. I'd be interested in hearing from those teachers who actually get these rates. And, if so, are the students consistent in attending class or at least in communicating about the class? From my perspective it seems easy to say this is what one should charge, but do you actually get these rates?

[Somtamnication]

I only teach Koreans, Japanese and Russians. Why Koreans and Japanese? They not only pay more, but for their kids, it is do or die. Russians want grammar and vocab lessons and appreciate a teacher.

I refuse to teach Thais privately anymore; ( have enough of them at the govt. school).

[Kilgore Trout]

These rates seem quite high. I'd be interested in hearing from those teachers who actually get these rates. And, if so, are the students consistent in attending class or at least in communicating about the class? From my perspective it seems easy to say this is what one should charge, but do you actually get these rates?

I've been getting 1000 baht an hour for years with kids who are native speakers or at least one parent is . I come with specific goals and regularly assess. Parents see results; I also don't put up with crap, If a kid consistently shows an unwillingness to learn, I'm out of there. Not worth my time or the money.

Not high rates really, in the states I would charge no less than 70 USD per hour for private tutoring, which is what Kaplan etc. charge.

For a qualified teacher, 30 USD an hour is cheap.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Kilgore Trout

[Neeranam]

I charge 500 per hour. And it goes up 100b per person added. So it is actually cheaper for each student. Maximum 5 students per session. They are more adventurous with their English when in a group.

For Koreans and Russians, 600 per hour, 200 per hour increase per student. Why? This is Thailand. Non Thais pay more, naturally.

I would never have a maximum at 100 a head. I used to teach about 100 in a university, which was fun and at your prices Id get 10,000 an hour.

[Towzak]

I do an extra hours tuition after school from Tuesday - Friday and each student is charged 400 Baht per month, they each receive 2 hours per week though in reality the lesson is 45 minutes long as they always nip outside to grab food and bring it back to what I now term the 'English Cafe' !!. So, going on this they are getting very affordable lessons indeed......I am the Baht-stretcher of English tuition ! However, the numbers are quite high and I seldom have less than 15 per class and I limit it to 30 so that generates quite a tidy sum over a month. With them being my students anyway I personally choose not to charge 300 - 500 Baht per lesson.

One problem I do find, apart from the tail-off as the months pass by (which I anticipate anyway), is despite the cheap tuition some parents still do not cough up at the end of the month. Clearly, some of them perceive it as cheap babysitting and they can leave their child in school an extra hour or so. I find getting parents to pay upfront somewhat difficult to implement so (reluctantly) decided to turn non-paying parents kids away.

I think the normal rate here would be 200 Baht per hour and perhaps 300 at a push though I did teach the staff at the local Tesaban for 500 baht per hour....well, they did offer !