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Freelance Teaching In Thailand

First of all, being a freelance teacher doesn't necessarily mean you have to be undocumented, however most freelancers do work undocumented and will go a life time freelancing in Thailand without ever having a problem with immigration. Freelance Teaching especially Freelance English Teechers are many in Thailand, the competition is very fierce not only among foreigners but also Thai people who are fluent in English and other languages, your job is hard enough without this so here is some advice on making it as a Freelance Teacher in Thailand.

How to go about being a Freelance Teacher in Thailand

Before you can think about going out there and do freelance teacher the best advice is the advice of others who have been there done that. Try to find other freelance teachers in your community and see if you can network with them. The great thing about knowing other freelancers is when they go on holiday or perhaps you want to go on holiday you can share each others work so no work gets lost. Your first gig might be from a fellow freelancer who has asked  you to take a few hours of their work because he/she may be taking the kids to sign up to a new school.

Before you start your own class you'll need some good teaching books. You might decide to start your books but think about this, the time it will take you to write for every single level you may have to teach will take more than a year to do. And you want to make money now right, best thing to do is to go to an English teaching school here, so you want to by the course ware books because your wife and you live in America and you want to teach her English over there. They won't see this as competition and make you pay for the books. These books you go get copied, put your name on the front and Bam, you have your own coursework and look all professional when someone wants to hire you. This may only cost $100 to do and is well worth the investment. You can even resell these books to your own customers as an expense to them when they sign up to do your books. I know this isn't ethical but as a freelancer you'll need to cut corners.

You need a place to do your lessons! Your a freelancer not an English Language school. You get paid by the hour and those hours don't come everyday, so renting office space is not going to work, and many of your customers might be all over the place and like the fact that you'll go to them. Best places to teach English are somewhere quite, the parents of the children you teach may or may not like you teaching their kids in the private of your home, (would you let your kids go to their teachers house?) probably not so quite coffee shops are great and neutral where people are happy to meet. You might have problems with the kids opening up their though so typically run the few classes you might have with them at their house first then make the suggestion to go to the coffee shop.

How much does a Freelance Teacher make in Thailand

The pay for a freelance English Teacher in Thailand is the best paying job than other languages like French or German however a Japanese freelancing position pays the best. Typical rates are roughly 200 baht per hour for private tuition and can go up to as much as 500 baht per hour, the big bucks are in large group tuition's where you can get as many as 20 customers for 100 baht each per hour. This is the most ideal but will take you many years to acquire the necessary marketing skills in order to get a group of that size. Speaking fluent Thai will also increase your chances of getting more students as it's easier to communicate and negotiate a good hourly rate.

Marketing yourself as a Freelance Teacher in Thailand

Unless your Thai is more than perfect you'll need the services of a Thai person to help you with the marketing. Writing marketing copy in English will fall on deaf ears in Thailand because they want to learn your language because they don't know it! You'll need to make flyer's up and pass them out to the local schools and universities. Advertise yourself as a foreigner who will teach English by the hour. Adding a website is great, otherwise a phone number is better. However if you don't speak Thai, you can't answer the phone, so again you'll need some help there. It's best to have two phone numbers one for Thai and one for English.

Tips for Freelance Teaching in Thailand

Teaching Thai kids is no different to teaching kids from all over the world, you need to keep it fun or they will lose interest. Most Thai kids you get will be failing English or whatever language you are teaching. The main reason is they aren't interested simply. So your job basically is to make it interesting enough so they don't complain to their parents and you bet they will complain and if their scores don't improve you'll be out of a job. If their score does improve though you'll get their work for a long time to come and customer retention is key to freelancing.
Freelance Teaching In Thailand

Freelance Teaching In Thailand

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About Chris

Chris founded LivingThai.org in 2011 and has received over 3 million visitors. He has lived here for over 10 years and speaks reads and writes very good Thai.

4 Responses to Freelance Teaching In Thailand

  1. Jay June 15, 2015 at 2:54 pm #

    Isn’t it illegal for foreigners to freelance in Thailand? Because a freelancer can’t get a work permit.

    Regards

    Jay

    • Chris June 15, 2015 at 5:20 pm #

      Yes it’s illegal, you’ll get a 30,000 baht fine max…that’s it. Of course 99.9% the reason someone would get into trouble is by pissing someone off, typically another foreigner ratting you out.

  2. Anastasia October 11, 2017 at 1:31 pm #

    Chris, I’m looking to move to Phuket in December for a couple of months. Is it possible to get a job as a waitress or bartender maybe? I have a Russian passport but I speak English freely(I grew up in Brooklyn). I have experience working as a waitress, I can teach English to kids but I don’t have a TOEFL certificate. I’m not looking to make big money, I just want to make minimum . I’m afraid in the time I’m there, I won’t be able to get a job or I’ll get deported or something. I’m not looking for any sex jobs btw, that is out of the question.I would like to hear your opinion on this .

  3. R. K July 7, 2019 at 7:51 am #

    I am looking for freelance tutor in bangkok, Sukhumvit 8 area, female teacher. Get in touch who are around and willing to startup today or tomorrow

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