A good friend of mine from the US plans on coming to spend one or two years in Bangkok and will be looking to teach English to the corporate sector in Bangkok. He is highly qualified with a BA in English and a Ph.D in Social Sciences. He also has some experience teaching English. He is not after a career in teaching but just wants to take a sabbatical from his current job, travel and teach. What he would like to know is first how easy/difficult will it be for him to land a job when he gets here? He's looking to teach business English to employees in the corporate sector, maybe two or three classes a week to small groups. Will he be able to secure a WP for this? What is the current going hourly rate for someone with his background? Anything else he should be aware of? I am sure he will join TV eventually but for now any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

HIgher degrees mean nothing here.

To answer re the corp rate. I am in Phuket. I charge 1500 b per hour for up to 10 people in a class, payable up front for 10 hours. This one customer has signed up for hours 40 and 50 and I broke the class up into 2 groups of 5, same hourly rate.

You need to find your niche and go for it.

The problem is that these are necessarily jobs that you get by showing up and applying. You usually earn a reputation and build clients. There are business English classes and if you (your friend) go through a school or an agent you wont be making anywhere near where Somtam makes as they take a cut/huge cut.

The higher degree doesn't make you more salary usually but can be used to promote yourself. Overall it is a tricky niche to get into. He might get lucky and meet the right connection day one or might take months to build enough contacts. If he is just looking for part time work 3-4 classes a week. He won't be making much more than 20-30k baht a month.

The other thing that I always do is insist on block classes. I won't drive 1hour round trip for a one hour lesson.

Rough guess would be anywhere between 750-1500 baht an hour if your friend builds a reputation and makes good connections.

HIgher degrees mean nothing here.

To answer re the corp rate. I am in Phuket. I charge 1500 b per hour for up to 10 people in a class, payable up front for 10 hours. This one customer has signed up for hours 40 and 50 and I broke the class up into 2 groups of 5, same hourly rate.

You need to find your niche and go for it.

Thanks for this. The reason for mentioning higher degrees is because he does not have any of the teaching certificates most teachers seem to need before getting hired. So he could still be hired without them.

The problem is that these are necessarily jobs that you get by showing up and applying. You usually earn a reputation and build clients. There are business English classes and if you (your friend) go through a school or an agent you wont be making anywhere near where Somtam makes as they take a cut/huge cut.

The higher degree doesn't make you more salary usually but can be used to promote yourself. Overall it is a tricky niche to get into. He might get lucky and meet the right connection day one or might take months to build enough contacts. If he is just looking for part time work 3-4 classes a week. He won't be making much more than 20-30k baht a month.

The other thing that I always do is insist on block classes. I won't drive 1hour round trip for a one hour lesson.

Rough guess would be anywhere between 750-1500 baht an hour if your friend builds a reputation and makes good connections.

Thanks. This is useful

Hint. Banks are now contracting with language schools to prepare for ASEAN, so I would think that a little bit of cold calling might help to get you in the door and keep the extra funds that the lang schools would have kept?

Lessons can easily be had, a lot of role playing, etc etc. Tons of cuties...

Hint. Banks are now contracting with language schools to prepare for ASEAN, so I would think that a little bit of cold calling might help to get you in the door and keep the extra funds that the lang schools would have kept?

Lessons can easily be had, a lot of role playing, etc etc. Tons of cuties...

Thanks for the hint! Just made a quick call to one Language School in BKK and was quoted 600.00 baht/hour teaching company employees. they certainly take a huge cut.