chrispilok Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 Thinking of getting someone to tutor me in Thai. My Thai is roughly "pre-intermediate". I am wondering what is important in a tutor. For example, I wonder how important it is to have someone who has tutored other people before. Also how important is it that they be fluent in English? I teach at a University in Bangkok so I could get a student but they wouldn't have much experience. I might find a faculty member but they might expect too much money, and might teach very formal language. What is the going rate, 200 baht/hour? 250? Well, if you have had a tutor that worked out for you, please let me know your thoughts. I'd rather avoid having to start with the wrong person and then have to quit on them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie26 Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 alot of my friends and myself currently get 500 baht an hour and they have to come my house but around 400 mark i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LIEBE Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 What is the going rate, 200 baht/hour? 250?... it might be fair for a tutor... how about my english tutor? TFers saw that my english sucks and I dont think that chatting didnt help me thou :roll: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispilok Posted March 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 alot of my friends and myself currently get 500 baht an hour and they have to come my house but around 400 mark i think. Are you tutoring in Thai or some other language. I assume English tutors ask for more money than Thai tutors (supply and demand thing) but ... I don't really know. I'll have to ask around more I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoobLaw Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 Chris, English proficiency in a tutor is not important. In fact, if you want to focus on Thai, it's best to avoid the English language completely during the sessions. What's important is that the tutor is knowledgeable and proficient in the Thai languauge, understands the grammar and spelling, the rules, live and dead sylables, etc. My last three Thai teachers did not speak English at all and speaking English in the classroom was not acceptable, but they were qualified, well-educated, and knew the language well. Furthermore, as with teaching English, it should not be assumed that because one can speak the Thai language, they can teach it. When someone asks me if my Thai teachers speak English, I try to emphasize that it's about communication, not translation. With the exception of the first three weeks of basic 1, using PBS, none of the teachers at Chula or AAA spoke English in the classroom. Furthermore, I recommend for the best learning experience, it's best to be in a classroom with other students (usually Japanese) who do not speak English as a primary language and where speaking English or Japanese speaking is discouraged. As for your finding a qualified tutor, I would start with your University. Speak with a Thai professor and ask him if he recommends a graduate, or undergraduate student, from the Faculty of Arts, that has proficiency and is advanced with the language. Incidentally, my first tutor did not speak English, but she majored in French at the Faculty of Arts and minored in Thai. Most of the time was spent with me reading aloud and the tutor listening. When I didn't understand something, or mispronounce something, I was corrected or she'd answer questions for me. It helps when things are expplained and defined in Thai exclusively. My next tutor was very well-educated, enthusiastic, and came prepared. She hand-picked newspaper and magazine articles on my reading level, assigned homework, and drilled me on writing excercises. Some early basic examples were to memorize 12 months, seven days, and colors. Other times, I would have to draft an essay to be checked at the following session. The going rate, for a decent tutor, is probably 300 baht/hour and up. 250 is on the low-end. A higher priority is finding someone who is truly qualified. On a final note, the most important aspect of learning Thai languge is self independant study. A tutor, or teacher, is a guide only, and if you don't do the homework and prepare on your own between sessions, the time not going to be productve. Many people think that if they just practice speaking Thai, it'll come eventually. However, as Khun Lung once said to me, "It's not Spanish" and there are not people who are "good with languages". To the contrary, there are those who work their asses off and those who are lazy. Simply attending classes, meeting with tutors, and practicing while out and about does not cut it. ⪤´Õ¹Ã¤ÃѺ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispilok Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 Chris,... As for your finding a qualified tutor, I would start with your University. Speak with a Thai professor and ask him if he recommends a graduate, or undergraduate student, from the Faculty of Arts, that has proficiency and is advanced with the language. Incidentally, my first tutor did not speak English, but she majored in French at the Faculty of Arts and minored in Thai. Most of the time was spent with me reading aloud and the tutor listening. When I didn't understand something, or mispronounce something, I was corrected or she'd answer questions for me. It helps when things are expplained and defined in Thai exclusively. My next tutor was very well-educated, enthusiastic, and came prepared. She hand-picked newspaper and magazine articles on my reading level, assigned homework, and drilled me on writing excercises. Some early basic examples were to memorize 12 months, seven days, and colors. Other times, I would have to draft an essay to be checked at the following session. The going rate, for a decent tutor, is probably 300 baht/hour and up. 250 is on the low-end. A higher priority is finding someone who is truly qualified. ... ⪤´Õ¹Ã¤ÃѺ Thanks for your thoughts on this Adam. I'll take your advice. (The reason I thought English might be important is to have the perspective on how English and Thai are different and anticipate the mistakes a native English speaker would have in speaking Thai.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 alot of my friends and myself currently get 500 baht an hour and they have to come my house but around 400 mark i think. really? find me some student,pls. i teached 3 americans, alway skip the class, i got 500 bht (minimum) but i had to teached for 2 hrs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inamorato25 Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 I took lessons last summer and only paid 350B an hour, and my teacher was awesome. 500 seems a bit high. Or maybe I'm just a cheapskate. As for qualifications, having a qualified teacher is always best, but it costs more. As for English ability, it's an absolute YES on that one. Even if s/he doesn't use English in class, your teacher should have advanced knowledge of your language to anticipate problems, and to facilitate explanation. And this is not just my personal experience or opinion -- the SLA research in this area is crystal clear: students in classes with teachers who speak their L1 outperform monolingual target-language classes. Choosing a teacher who can or will not speak English just makes your learning more difficult and slow. In fact, in presentations I've done on methodology, I've always told participants I'd pay $100 to anybody who could produce a valid experimental study showing that immersion is more effective than bilingual support (only support, mind you -- the main language is still Thai, in your case) in adult language classes (kids classes are a different story). Not one of the underpaid and over-worked teachers who have attended has claimed the prize -- although a few have tried At the very least, your teacher should be fluently bilingual in some other language so at least you know they have some idea of what language learning is all about. Either that, or huge boobs. Either is acceptable. :twisted: In any case, if you are confident that you know what you want to learn, you should be the one telling your teacher what you want to study, and not the other way around. In my classes, we'd speak/read/write Thai as much as possible, but when I wanted to say "how can I say this," she taught me what I wanted to know. Since it was personally relevant and useful, I used it all the time and learned it pretty much right away. The name, BTW, for this style of learning is "community language learning" -- but it only works if your teacher can understand the nuances of your language. So more than qualifications, you need somebody who you can relate to well, that speaks English, and has a knack for explaining grammar, vocabulary, usage and the nuances of sociolinguistic norms. All that for only 350Baht. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispilok Posted April 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Thanks Inamorato, Yeah. You know the most help I've had to date in speaking Thai was from a former American colleague of mine at the University that I teach at. He was fluent in Thai and the reason he was so helpful is that he understood the pitfalls for a native English speaker in learning Thai. Don't ask "sabai dii mai?" all the time when you meet a Thai person to give a trivial example. Chris p.s. If you happen to know anyone that you could recommend please private message me. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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