I apologize in advance since this topic has probably been discussed a lot but my situation is a little unique so I thought I should seek advice here.
My husband and I moved to Taipei earlier this year and I’ve been studying at Shida. I’m Chinese American and my spoken Chinese is pretty fluent so I’m trying to improve my reading/writing skills. Previously, we lived in Beijing where I volunteered for three years as an English teacher. Coming to Taipei, I didn’t plan on teaching or tutoring since my focus is really to learn to read Chinese. However, a few weeks ago a friend called me up asking if I or anyone I knew was interested in tutoring two young girls (daughters of one of her old classmates). I thought it would be a good way to break up the monotony of studying everyday and to make a little money too. I met up with the family and we all got along well so we set up a time for the first lesson - which was today.
Prior to this, I’d asked around/did some research and decided that a rate of 750NT/hour would be fair (both girls together for both hours). My classmate at Shida who also tutors advised me to quote a higher price since his students’ parents had tried to negotiate with him. So I thought that at some point either before or after my lesson we would discuss pricing. However, after class, while discussing how things went, her daughters’ proficiency, etc., the mom just handed me some money. I was too embarrassed to count it in front of her so I just put it away. It wasn’t until I left that I saw that she’d give me 1200 NT. Is it wrong to think that 600NT per hour for two girls is a little low? The mom wants to focus on speaking but the girls are not at a level where it’s easy to engage them in conversation, maybe she thinks the job is easier than it actually is?
So how should I handle this? Should I just call her and tell her that I won’t be able to continue for 1200NT? Is 1500NT a fair price? Has anyone else had this kind of experience where you were paid without even a discussion about rates?
What you charge depends what people are prepared to pay for your skill set. That’s capitalism. You don’t mention your qualifications, so I’m assuming you only have your volunteering experience and don’t have a teaching certificate. Also, this particular situation was an informal arrangement: you weren’t specifically entering into a business transaction, or advertising as such. NT$1200 is a nice “round number” for Chinese people, and I would say, a reasonable sum under the circumstances (bear in mind that a typical white-collar salary is <NT$200/hour). You should first ask yourself: “did I provide $1500 of value to these girls”? But, even if you feel you did … is it really worth haggling over an extra NT$300 for offering a service which (unless I’m mistaken) you’re not fully qualified to provide?
750NT an hour seems a more than fair rate for teaching two kids to me. Other people charge much higher.
It sometimes happens - whether for kids’ or other classes - that people feel it’s an easy job. “Don’t worry. Just practice speaking.” Crap. Many students need to be taught some English before they can be guided in using it. You will probably need to do some prep and find find activities and games to get them speaking.
Hopefully others can advise you on how best to broach the subject of fees, but I’d suggest you explain to the mom at the next class that you will need to prepare (to a certain extent) for the classes and that you are giving up your own valuable study time to teach her daughters (whom - you might add - you think are just adorable and would love to keep teaching).
Unless you really have a desperate need to keep teaching these girls and don’t want to mess with the present set-up, sort this out as soon as possible.
Of course, fees should be set before anything happens, but unless you mentioned 600NT before the session, this mom was kind of rude just giving you the money without any discussion.
I agree with finley - to an extent. There are people out there charging NT$1 000 an hour. And some of them are idiots with no particularly valuable language skills or teaching savvy. And they aren’t planning on preparing for their classes. Their students will bore of the arrangement at some point in time.
But, if I understand correctly, you don’t really need these classes and don’t want to drag yourself there to teach begrudgingly week after week. So while it doesn’t make sense for you to kill yourself finding teaching activities for kids online (unless teaching is something you want to do as a career in the future), I’d say ask for more and put in a little work during the week to find activities or games. The preparation and classes will both be a nice change from your normal routine. Classes with no prep, on the other hand, will just be a major schlep for you.
If you decide that the whole scenario isn’t working for you, apologize profusely and just say you don’t feel you are qualified. Give the mom some phone numbers of other tutors. Let her try NT$600 on them.
I’m aware that NT$1 200 might be a large sum for certain families, but you know the family’s economic position better than I, and - in my experience - people battling for cash don’t consider private tutoring.
I was sort of looking at it from the other viewpoint; I hire contractors a lot in my work, and I’m sick to death of people who do a half-assed job, whinge and moan about what a lot of effort it all is, and still expect to get paid shitloads of cash simply for turning up. Those guys never get any repeat work. What I was trying to say was: if you’re great at your job, and you know it, and you can prove it, then by all means ask for $1500. If you’re just doing it for fun, and maybe not putting in as much prep and effort as somebody else charging $1500, then maybe $1200 is a reasonable rate. You could, perhaps, casually mention that your usual rate would be $1500, but because she’s a friend, you’re very happy to give her a discount.
The ultimate aim, surely, is to keep your customers happy enough to keep coming back for more. What’s better: $1200/session for 20 weeks, or $1500/session for three weeks (after which the face-saving mum will decide the family budget can’t afford quite that much keeping-up-with-the-Zhongses)? I’m pretty certain the wankers who charge $1000/hr just for turning up and being a wanker have a high rate of customer turnover … or perhaps they’re just really good at spotting gullible people.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. It seems I wasn’t clear about my rates. My rate for tutoring two students together is NT$750 per hour. The NT$600 per hour you paid for the first class is fine because I was not clear enough – bu hao yi si (etc. etc.). Would you prefer to pay for a month up front, or would you rather pay after each class?”
Thanks for the responses, they’re really appreciated!
I don’t have a teaching certificate. But at the school where I volunteered in Beijing, I actually taught classes of 20+ students daily for three school years. It was a free school for migrant children and the only people on staff were administrators, all of the teachers were volunteers. So although I’ve never been formally trained as a teacher, I feel that 2-3 hours of teaching Monday-Friday for three years does give me some relevant experience. However, since I haven’t tutored just two students before, I was still a bit nervous about my lesson today so I did quite a bit of preparation (the information on Forumosa was incredibly helpful!). Today’s lesson was comprised of: 1)Reading assessment; 2)Free talk (topic/prompts from me); 3) Interests survey; 4) Two games; 5) Free talk (topic 2); 6) Reading comprehension worksheet (didn’t finish - gave as homework). So while I don’t think I had the girls at the edge of their seats the whole time I do feel that they were pretty enthusiastic and had a fair amount of fun. There was a lot of information gathering for my purposes but I tried to break things up so that they wouldn’t get overwhelmed/bored.
ThreadKiller, your understanding of my situation is spot on. I don’t really need these classes. But since this opportunity has presented itself, I want to do the best I can. Not only would being half-assed about this not be in my nature, but it would also embarrass me and the friend who referred me. So while I was dreading talking about payment, I thought the conversation was inevitable. However, there was absolutely no mention of it and after class she just slipped me 1200NT.
I don’t know, I don’t want to sound greedy. But I spent a lot of time preparing for our lesson. I always get butterflies when I start with a new class so I went over my plans again and again to make sure it was educational, interesting and flexible in case their eyes started glazing over. Is that worth 1500NT?
Also, I don’t think money is too much of an issue with them. Both girls play two instruments each and the younger sister is also enrolled in another English buxiban.
That’s the kind of good advice I was hoping someone would give the OP.
finley - I’m with you too, though. I’m not keen on people expecting payment for tardy jobs and there is a lot of half-assed job completion happening around the world. But the OP doesn’t need the work and needs to make it worthwhile for herself.
Then go for 2k NT or, hell, even 3k NT if you don’t think money is too much of an issue with them.
It all depends on what you’re willing to take at a minimum and what they’re willing to pay ya. I was raking in $90/hr in high tech before tech bubble blew up right in front of everyone’s face.
But to give you a clue: it’s a buyer’s market now. Tread at your own risk.