Job Discussion Forums

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

Quick question while the kids are gone....a teacher here (who teaches computers) wants English conversation classes. I told her 200/hour...but last week she paid me 200 for the 2 hours. Am I wrong to ask for 200/hour? Is that too much? I don't think it's too much, as I do spend time planning plus the simple time that it takes from my day.

Thanks for the advice!

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

You can ask for whatever you want...sounds like it simply wasn't clear that your price is 200/hour and not /class.

200 is in line with what other people are charging in DF.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

I think it depends on location as well as what type of service you are providing to your student. In these parts charging 200 pesos per hour for a 1-on-1 conversation class would be way over the line. How much do others charge for private conversation classes in your area? How much time do you need to prepare for the class? What exactly are you providing during 2 hours a week? Improving basic fluency, accent reduction, preparation for a specific oral exam such as the oral production part of TOEFL or the Cambridge exams?

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

I agree with much of what BRdB wrote. At least in this area, if you asked for 200 pesos/hour people would laugh at you and think you were kidding. I think a more typical rate here might be between 50 and 100, and probably at the lower end of that.

leslie · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 235

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

I can agree with that. Know your market...it's easy to price yourself right out of it and just as easy to undervalue your services. Mexico is big and varied enough that you can find every price range for private classes.

Things to consider..

Class in your home or theirs? At their office? At a cafe?

Who pays for the books, if you use them?

How many hours per week, and what time of day?

Class cancelations, paid, not paid, requires notice? - don't underestimate this one.

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

Hi All...

Thanks for your advice! I understand both sides of the arguement. At our school, the kids are charged (for the most part) 200 pesos an hour. There is one supply teacher there (whose English is okay but...) who charges that and she has the kids come to her house. I lost out on tutoring a few kids as I asked around at the school and stuck to my original choice of quoting 200. I'm not desperate for the money and in my opinon, it's worth it.

As for the teacher, I talked to her today and she was fine with 200/hour rather than a class.

Thanks again everyone!

...dixie

MELEE · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:30 pm Post subject:

FreddyM · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 180 Location: Mexico

I'm not doing any private classes right now, but hope to (been telling myself that for months) eventually. There are quite a few teachers where I work charging $200, even $250 an hour to teach individual elementary school students. One even charges $350 an hour! None of them are native speakers and are having a helluva time preparing for the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) exam from Cambridge. Of course, these teachers are also very well networked and have known the families they provide the services to for quite a long time.
So, in D.F., $200 is definitely not out of the question, but you do have to establish yourself pretty well before people start seeking you out for those kinds of lessons.
I've been lazy about getting started on it because I really have no idea where to begin, what books to use, what lessons to teach, etc...I'm sure there is a lot of prep work in the beginning. And I'm not desperate for the money right now either. But if done correctly, I could probably make more money doing private classes than what I earn in salary...I know that many of the teachers that do charge those rates DO in fact earn more by that than by their regular teaching day job.
So go for it...as you establish yourself, people will start to talk and recommend you to others. If that happens, you might even end up starting to turn down clients.
Good luck!

PlayadelSoul · Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 346 Location: Playa del Carmen

Sgt Killjoy · Joined: 26 Jun 2004 Posts: 438

When I last did privates a few years back, I was charging and getting 140 pesos an hour for privates. In fact, I had my hands full and had to turn away students.

As others have ssaid, it depends on the market, and it depends how much you value your time. If you value your time highly, then charge higher. I don't think there is any minimum private class price.

One thing about pricing yourself too low is that your students will value your classes less than if they had to pay more.

MELEE · Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:45 pm Post subject: