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anonymous
Q: How much I should charge (hourly rate) for private English tutoring?
12 years 30 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
I do 100rmb for Skype lessons and 200rmb per hour of personal tutoring. Some guys undercut everyone else and do lessons for as low as 10USD but they usually get overloaded with work and many of their students aren't too bright.
If you have experience (like if you've taught English in China before), at least 150 RMB an hour.
In Dalian I charge between 150-200 ph.If they need more advanced IELTS prep or anything that requires more effort or planning I charge more,IM into my 5 th Year and have a good business background.I currently left teaching in schools and now work directly for a large financial company(western ). But I have started at 150 p/h for the last 4 years.God loves a trier!
I do 100rmb for Skype lessons and 200rmb per hour of personal tutoring. Some guys undercut everyone else and do lessons for as low as 10USD but they usually get overloaded with work and many of their students aren't too bright.
you can charge a lot. always be sure to have to students pay upfront for the actual lessons. i find it eeasier to save money if they pay for 10 lessons at a time.
Don't charge under 150/hr. If you have been recommended by a friend of a friend then you can do a little white lie and say you normally charge 250/hr but will give them a friends discount so just 200.
REMEMBER Chinese ALWAYS barter so be prepared to back up your price with quality reasons such as you have experience and explain what you can offer, throw in the cost of the textbooks for free and offer a 1hr demo if they really try and push. If there is an option to get more students you can even tell them if they bring friends you can push the price down for them.
My system is easy, I charge a 150/hr base fee for 1 student, every additional student that joins pays 50/hr so 2 students is 200/hr which is 100 each, 3 students is 250/hr so 83/hr and so on. You make more and the students pay less which encourages them to bring their friends along for the journey!
Also Chinese have a similar saying to us along the lines of "you get what you pay for" and they know that if they pay shit they're gonna stink at English (pun definitely intended) so you can check their background a little and decide exactly what to charge but don't do less than 150/hr otherwise YOU look desperate/not a good teacher AND it lowers the price for ALL other natives once word gets around that some teachers charge 100/hr or less!
Good luck!
maggiegirly:
Man,I agree with your system,it's reasonable.
Just wondering what's your technique for getting students?
Thanks.
hiddenjelly:
The easiest way is to be recommended. ;-)
If you already work in a training center and you build a good relationship with some of your students (such as out of class meets, bar or meals etc) then you could even proposition them to become your students after they finish their course.
Another way is to hire a few locals to stand outside schools on a Friday afternoon when the parents arrive to pick up their kids, give them some flyers with your face slap bang in the middle and some other info about you. Have a Chinese friend who can help with the flyers translation.
Finally, you could visit a school who does adult only classes (find a small school thats at least 18 months old) and suggest to them that you do a partnership whereby they help with marketing and sales and you can teach and design a program, make sure you write a contract with them and agree on the profit split that is mutually beneficial.
It is a great idea to get a payment for a month of classes or any predetermined amount of hours up front. I have yet to have a parent or student turn down this part of the arrangement. 200rmb to 300rmb per hour is reasonable.
Depends on the customer, your experience, and how good you are. I've seen rates from 150-500 an hour. Like derek says, get them to pay for a set of classes up front. That way, if they bail at the last minute then they didn't waste your time and you still got money for it.
tbh if it's not fun for you charge more...if you think it's fun you can charge less. I tutored boring students and not so boring students. If the tutoring to you is boring charge at least 300 rmb. If it's not so boring and it's a fun place to go and you like it the student cooperates well doesn't disrespect you and listens well make it 150 or 200 rmb
If you're in a tier one city and have skills then don't go lower than 500 to travel to their home. Even friggin piano teachers make 600/hr in shanghai. Training centers charge more than that for one on one. In my opinion 600 is a bargain for english tutoring. Although you're only going to be able to pull this off if the person referring them also paid that much. In addition you'll need rich clients (homes over 200 square meters). This is a confidence thing. If you are a teacher at an international school or bilingual school as your day job you should certainly be charging 500 or more. Any less than that and rich people assume you're not that good. Some people charge up to 1000 or more an hour if they have a reputation or work a niche English teaching market. My personal best was 750 hour for one student or 900/ hour for twins.
