Highest Paid ESL Job in BKK?

[mrkapom]

Hey everyone,

I lived in Chiang Mai for almost 3 years until moving back to the West a few months ago. I mostly taught at an NGO for a small amount of money, and taught English on the side for extra cash, generally making 300 B per hour. I knew few people who ever made more than that on an hourly rate, except when teaching multiple private students at once. Today I met a guy who claimed to be making 2500 B per hour teaching business execs and the like in Bangkok. I called BS, he stuck by his story, but frankly I just don't believe him.

I know the pay generally higher in BKK than Chiang Mai, but the most I ever heard about people making would be maybe 60,000 K a month, teaching full time at international schools or universities.

So my question to you is, what is the highest ESL wage you've either personally received, or known for a fact that someone you know was making?

I suppose it could be possible to get that if you were teaching privately and managed to get 8-10 students who were each paying a few hundred baht an hour to be there (and who actually showed up on a regular basis instead of cancelling every other week).... but seeing as how he doesn't speak Thai and only lived there for a year and a half, I'd be surprised if he was able to pull that off. The way he described it, it sounded like he was teaching groups of bankers from a single company, etc. He had a TEFL, some experience in Korea, he's a native speaker... but there are tons of those floating around the LOS.

Thanks.

[Johnnie99]

So many people will tell you that they earn 100,000 baht per month plus, at an 'international school'.

Generally, it is absolute nonsense. They are simply the sort of people who think overstating their salaries somehow makes them more impressive.

No doubt there are many who will reply saying what they earn and that 'their friends' tell them, blah blah.

You are more correct in what you have heard about the salary expectations.

[Centrum]

This debate raged on the 'teacher's forum' some years ago.

One guy claimed he was on close to 200,000 per month, when benefits were added in.

Everyone called him a liar until he posted a copy of his pay slip.

International school in the heart of Bangkok. Only hired from overseas.

[Sabot]

So many people will tell you that they earn 100,000 baht per month plus, at an 'international school'.

Generally, it is absolute nonsense. They are simply the sort of people who think overstating their salaries somehow makes them more impressive.

No doubt there are many who will reply saying what they earn and that 'their friends' tell them, blah blah.

You are more correct in what you have heard about the salary expectations.

Approximately half of the teachers at my school make at least 100,000 baht per month. This does not include any type of benefits, just salary.

Granted, most of our teachers have been working at the school for at least 8-10 years and most of them receive at least a 6% yearly raise. Start with a salary around 60-70K and it doesn't take but a few years to get a fairly high salary.

We are not an international school, but we do teach in an English program.

There are several schools that pay well in Bangkok; and they're not all international schools. You just have to shop around for the right school and when you meet someone that comes from a high-paying school try to get hired.

[pauleddy]

Some of the first-tier international schools pay 150,000 or even more if you are Head of Dept, but you generally need to be a real teacher (you have QTS, experience in a secondary school and a BEd or MSc or more from UK or equiv). TEFL teachers rarely make much more than 40k unless very lucky. Business Eng "in Company" can sometimes pay well.

If you work at a first-level Uni which offers staff extra "International" courses (where the parents are paying 100,000 or more for a BA Business etc, taught in English) then you can earn 3000b per hour, so a 3 hr class gives you 9,000b. I know, because I did that for a few years. I believe that the rate in some very select places is now about 3250b per hr.

If you are lucky enough and strong enough, you can do four Thai gvement program courses (as farangs are normally obliged to unless they can reduce by one because of running an English Club or smthg)...and then you do three international courses per term. That takes your Uni salary above 100k easily.

Eddy

[KhnomKhnom]

Some of the first-tier international schools pay 150,000 or even more if you are Head of Dept, but you generally need to be a real teacher (you have QTS, experience in a secondary school and a BEd or MSc or more from UK or equiv). TEFL teachers rarely make much more than 40k unless very lucky. Business Eng "in Company" can sometimes pay well.

If you work at a first-level Uni which offers staff extra "International" courses (where the parents are paying 100,000 or more for a BA Business etc, taught in English) then you can earn 3000b per hour, so a 3 hr class gives you 9,000b. I know, because I did that for a few years. I believe that the rate in some very select places is now about 3250b per hr.

If you are lucky enough and strong enough, you can do four Thai gvement program courses (as farangs are normally obliged to unless they can reduce by one because of running an English Club or smthg)...and then you do three international courses per term. That takes your Uni salary above 100k easily.

Eddy

Thanks for personal direct information from your own direct experience. Really shows up the constant third hand and no hand blather of nay-sayers so prevalent here.

[SlyAnimal]

I've seen adverts posted for tutoring, teaching corporate clients and for English camps in BKK which worked out to 1000-2000 per hour.

I haven't seen many advertised in that price range, but then I'm not looking for them either. They just occasionally pop up on various fb groups etc I belong to (and I believe they get snapped up pretty quickly too).

300 per hour is definitely on the lower end of the spectrum pay wise. But I guess in Chiang Mai there is an over supply of NES, and it's all about supply and demand.

[Fatty123]

So many people will tell you that they earn 100,000 baht per month plus, at an 'international school'.

Generally, it is absolute nonsense. They are simply the sort of people who think overstating their salaries somehow makes them more impressive.

No doubt there are many who will reply saying what they earn and that 'their friends' tell them, blah blah.

You are more correct in what you have heard about the salary expectations.

Yep. When I was out there my salary was around 45k. On top of that, I earned about 25k through private work. I remember a converstation I had about 5 or 6 years ago.

American Teacher: How many private students have you got now?

Me: Nine

American Teacher: Yeah, but how much do you charge?

Me: 600B per hour, two students max per lesson.

American Teacher: Oh. That's why. You're so cheap! You know what I charge?

Me: (sigh) No.

American Teacher: 1,000 Baht. 1,000 Baht dude. I ain't workin' for peanuts.

Me: How many private students have you got?

American: Ermm. Well none at the moment but.. (the restaruant table erupts with laughter)

And many use the term 'Intenational School' far too loosely. This (in my experience) has included EP programs at Private schools and working for a school with an awful rep with 'International' in the title (initials are SIC if that helps). Or even bi-lingual schools (which are usually excellent, but they aren't international schools, sorry)

Worse still are the 'lecturers' at uni

A 3rd class degree in Media Studies and they think they are lecturers in English . There are some real lecturers of course. The ones with Phds or a Master's at the very least (usually from western unis).

Edited December 15, 2014 by Fatty123

[bangmai]

Many times, a good hourly rate is completely offset by commute and prep time. I live 80 meters from CMU, and I've been told that they have a bunch of foreign teachers, who are paid 300 thb per hour, and it is usually a single hour. Personally, I was offered 230 thb per hour to teach SAT Math at a nearby cram school. No pay if students didn't show up, and I don't think any of them have WP.

The best pay in EFL? That would be the ones, who run the TEFL programs.....can you say "pay to work," and you still might be violating a number of labor and immigration laws.

[brewsterbudgen]

I teach at an IELTS/TOEFL Institute in Bangkok and my basic is 68,000 baht a month (80 hours contact). Anything over that is paid at 800 baht an hour and I usually do around 20 hours over-time. Plus I do IELTS Examining (around 8-10,000 baht a session) and private classes for which I charge 2,000 baht an hour. It's a comfortable salary.

[Phatcharanan]

I teach at an IELTS/TOEFL Institute in Bangkok and my basic is 68,000 baht a month (80 hours contact). Anything over that is paid at 800 baht an hour and I usually do around 20 hours over-time. Plus I do IELTS Examining (around 8-10,000 baht a session) and private classes for which I charge 2,000 baht an hour. It's a comfortable salary.

Presumably you have a degree or equivalent qualification to be an IELTS examiner.

[brewsterbudgen]

I teach at an IELTS/TOEFL Institute in Bangkok and my basic is 68,000 baht a month (80 hours contact). Anything over that is paid at 800 baht an hour and I usually do around 20 hours over-time. Plus I do IELTS Examining (around 8-10,000 baht a session) and private classes for which I charge 2,000 baht an hour. It's a comfortable salary.

Presumably you have a degree or equivalent qualification to be an IELTS examiner.

Absolutely. A degree, CELTA or equivalent plus experience is required. There's also an interview that has to be passed.

[up-country_sinclair]

I do IELTS Examining (around 8-10,000 baht a session)

How many hours are in a "session"? I'm guessing it's a full day (8 hours).

[Happy Grumpy]

A friend of mine works in a kindergarten.

Starts at 8:30 finishes at 3:30. They only teach in the morning for one hour. It's a mixed Thai/English program. The kids sleep after lunch.

He goes to students houses after work from 4-5.30, and also on Saturdays for 5 hours between the morning and afternoon.

He said the FT job pays just under 40k and the part-time stuff earns him 35k. Think he said he charges 700b p/h.

He's a young lad without a degree and has been doing it a while. Out of the 75k he says he usually has about 30k left over which he just sticks in the bank.

Without a degree or other skill I'd guess he'd be on minimum wage in his home country.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Happy Grumpy

[brewsterbudgen]

I do IELTS Examining (around 8-10,000 baht a session)

How many hours are in a "session"? I'm guessing it's a full day (8 hours).

It's paid per test, so for Speaking you do around 16x 14 minute tests between 1pm and 6pm, and then mark the Writing scripts which takes a couple of hours.

[AceHigh555]

Although it's worth considering how much you can make as a teacher in Thailand, it's more important to remember the real reasons you decided to come here and teach. You may only make the equivalent of minimum wage in your home country, but comparing the figures this way is ridiculous because the cost of living is probably 75% less for most people coming from western countries, like the U.S. for example. The real factors that matter are lifestyle related - living in an exotic country, the ability to travel in between semesters and during breaks, the joy of teaching foreign students, learning a new language, etc. It's not really about the money, and I think teachers who work themselves to death teaching just to make a higher salary are diminishing the lifestyle factors that make living here so great. If you really want to make some extra coin, do something else with your spare time instead of extra teaching. There are other ways to make more money so it just seems silly to have tunnel vision and put all your effort into teaching. More than 30 lessons per week is ludicrous.

Edited May 28, 2015 by AceHigh555

[cgphuket]

There are some companies that hire ESl teachers for group corporate teaching and pay as high as 2500 an hour, but only 2-3 hours a week, this is never the wage for a 40hr/week job.

[GanDoonToonPet]

I started off at a branch of the 'SS' as a lot do , spending a couple of years there getting my sugar lumps on 35k then 38k. After that I upgraded to one of the many 'mid tier' Bangkok EPs that pay 50k; all was tax free mind.

Next was a high paying EP with all the modern technology, professional colleagues & students who could actually speak English if you can believe it! Of course the WP / extension was paid & came with mediocre health insurance.

There was a complicated bonus scheme but as an EP G10-G12 physics / math teacher I was earning 70k+ after tax most months. Contrast that to the TP English teachers on 47k (before tax) & EP English teachers on 52k...There are good & bad positions out there even within the same school.

Sadly, I chose the wrong time to start working at the school as the highly paid, secondary subject teachers weren't rehired this year & were replaced by cheaper agency teachers under, shall we say, less favourable conditions.

All part of the race to the bottom...

Edited June 2, 2015 by GanDoonToonPet

[SlyAnimal]

I saw a post from someone on facebook the other day saying that the British Council in Bangkok was hiring. ฿950 - ฿1050 per hour depending on qualifications/experience with a minimum 12 hours per week. Sounded like CELTA was required/preferred and they were also able to provide CELTAy courses or something like that at a reduced cost.

Although from looking at their site, it seems like the deadline for applications has already lapsed. It's probably worth keeping an eye on though, as even with the minimum 12h per week, that'd be around 50k which is pretty decent (And I assume there's a good chance of more than 12h per week).

http://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/teach/recruitment

[zeichen]

For BC jobs the CELTA is required and not other TEFL certificate qualifies. I am not sure if they still require it but used to be you also had to be a UK Citizen. They were actually hired with a diplomatic visa and not a non B. Part timers didn't have that requirement though.

[Loaded]

For BC jobs the CELTA is required and not other TEFL certificate qualifies. I am not sure if they still require it but used to be you also had to be a UK Citizen. They were actually hired with a diplomatic visa and not a non B. Part timers didn't have that requirement though.

The BC, IATEFL, UCLES and IH work hard together to achieve and maintain monopolies, and exclude competition.

IELTS, TKT, Cambridge Young Learner exams, DELTA and CELTA are promoted and protected by this association of vested interests.

I had a full-time teaching contract with the BC many years ago. They are no better than any other professionally run language school. They have the benefit though of receiving UK cash subsidies and until recently tax-free status. These are advantages locally-owned schools cannot enjoy but locally-owned schools still need to compete with this large and influential 'business' organization.