Hi all. Long time resident and teacher in KM. There have been a lot of threads over the years about teacher salaries and it seems like not much has changed. There is a huge demand for teachers this year, but the salaries are WAY too low. I'm appalled at the salaries being offered. I've been in the market recently and I can't believe what public schools are offering for compensation. Posts in the classified section boast some of the leanest offerings I've seen in a long time (for example, "180 Yuan for a 90 minute class"). Please don't sell yourself or the market short, people. I'm not union folk, but I hope some of you can dip into your savings a bit, hold out, and demand a fair wage for your skills. Choose wisely and good luck!

I agree. Everything in Kunming has gotten much more expensive over the years, but English teachers salaries seem to have stayed the same. I see a lot of posts by schools and by native speakers themselves with low prices and this makes it much harder for other teachers to get a good salary. Anyways good luck to everybody trying to find work in Kunming!

Depends on confidence I guess. I deliver very high quality work and get a sufficient pay. People might lower the bar if they know their work is mediocre and easily substituted. A percentage of the teachers here doesn't take teaching seriously and they might pick up those 100/150rmb an hour jobs. I do my work with a lot of passion so i ask more and also get it. I think that's how it works.

How is 11,500 per month as a salary in Kunming?

Yeah, just ask for whatever you want and see what you will get!

The quality, man! You can ask anything you want but if you deserve that much? That's for the market to decide.

You are a native speaker doesn't mean you can teach English well and not every Chinese could be a good Chinese teacher either.

Especially when it comes to teach kids it is not that simple! That's why some schools rarely use a foreign teacher for kids including New Oriental School.

My friend's kid goes to a class with a good Chinese English teacher and just practices her English with native speakers from time to time – reasonable costs but with decent quality, and effective!

I believe this problem is purely market based. If supply outweighs demand we are going to see a drop in price.

Think of it this way, the schools see so many teachers available on the market that they can offer lower prices or simply move on.

The only way for this to change is if demand starts growing faster than the influx of english teachers (very little barrier to entry, sometimes only being Caucasian will do whether you speak english or not). Or if the supply diminishes by having more teachers move out.