To think this is a bit cheeky?

[Myboilerisbroken456]

I do private tutoring and charge £20 an hour. I'm a qualified teacher and have about 12 years of experience.
I've recently got a new pupil, her and her family speak English as an additional language, and her Mum asked me if I would offer conversation classes for herself and what the rate would be.

I said it would be £20 and she said that's far too expensive, can you do it for £10? £10 is below minimum wage!
I understand she thinks it's just conversation classes, but it still involves some prep.
What rate do you think I should charge?

Good grief even £20 is cheap!!

£20
if they want someone to do it for less they can find someone who is not a teacher/ or someone who is just looking for pocket money

That's what I thought too, I know a lot of tutors charge 40+

I think you're underselling yourself at £20. I used to charge that as a student for an hours tutoring and had lots of business, and that was 15 years ago.

Just say no.
£20 isn't expensive at all for 60 minutes.

Maybe I am underselling myself, I just couldn't believe the cheek of her expecting to pay below min wage. I know she thinks it's just conversation so there's no work involved, but it's still taking time out of my week.

£20. It doesn't matter how much prep is or isn't needed - she's paying for an hour of your time at £20 an hour.

£20 is cheap! She should be snapping you up! I would say you can't go any lower and suggest they find someone else.

Do not drop your price. If she thinks she can find someone for a tenner, good luck to her.

I'd put your rates up. 20£ is too cheap. We paid this 8-10 years ago for DD.

If she wants lessons she needs to pay what you charge for lessons. If she just wants to talk to someone for an hour to improve her English she can pair with someone who wants to learn her language or pay a teenager £10/h.

£38k for talking to someone in your mother tongue?!

£20 is fine, if people are willing to pay for it (not me) but it’s hardly cheap by anyone’s standards (except yours surely).

She wasn’t wrong to ask, you weren’t wrong to say no.

Where’s the cheekiness? Some people would do it if it’s just conversation (no lessons, materials, etc).

Yes this. It's still an hour of your time.

let her find english conversational classes elsewhere if she wants them for free.

Tbh you find very few ESL priced under/or £20/h unless you opt for a young online uneducated teacher based in Africa or India.

I dont think it is cheeky to ask. But you can just say "no sorry, the price is £20"

Non event

Did you tell her that it is below minimum wage? She's free to look around for a cheaper rate -telling someone that they are far too expensive is very rude. Doesn't matter if it's just a chat; it's an hour of your time. You aren't mates meeting up for a coffee.

Its an hour that you can't then sell to another customer at £20... so no, don't do it for 10.

Could she be from a culture where haggling is standard? She may not have meant it to sound cheeky.

Where's 38k come from? I wish 😂

Could possibly be, it's somewhere in the middle East, obviously don't want to make any assumptions but yeah it could be.

She didn’t say OP was far too expensive. She said £20 was far too expensive. There’s a difference.

I think OP should signpost the mum to Meet up, where she find a group and meet people and practise English for free.

Wow that's cheeky! If you were near me I'd hire you in a second at that price. I've been trying to find a local tutor who can help my son who has ADHD and autism with his reading and the cheapest I can find is almost £40 for 45 minutes

I think £20 is too low.

It is up to you how much you charge and who you teach. You do not have to explain or justify your charges.

Good idea, I'll try to signpost her to lower cost/free English classes.