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EF English First or Kid Castle??? HELP!

 
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Kevelyn



Joined: 10 Feb 2016
Posts: 1
Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 11:07 am    Post subject: EF English First or Kid Castle??? HELP! Reply with quote

Hey Everyone,

I'm a recent Graduate from the UK and been applying to a load of TEFL jobs in China, so far Ive had two different offers:

English first in Huzhou
Paying 9k inc housing
25 hours per week

Kid Castle in Shanghai
Paying 11.5k NOT inc housing
25 hours per week

I'm looking to save up to 2k a month, so Im not afraid of living simply, however I am from London and the big city feel of shanghai might be more my style? But I've heard its very expensive to live.

Any thought on these companies or areas would be amazing guys!

Thanks in advance Very Happy
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SH_Panda



Joined: 31 May 2011
Posts: 455

PostPosted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 2:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

11k not including accommodation sounds very low to me in Shanghai.

The other offer sounds good for a first time job. EF are a solid first company to work with, then once you are here you can look around for better once your contract is up.
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Shanghai Noon



Joined: 18 Aug 2013
Posts: 589
Location: Shanghai, China

PostPosted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PM sent, though I guess you can't reply unless you have a certain post count.
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LarssonCrew



Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 1308

PostPosted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 10:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A decent house in Shanghai with bills will be like 6.5 at minimum. So after tax and that you'd probably have 4000....
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Non Sequitur



Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China

PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 12:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do keep in mind that sharing with existing tenants is a lot cheaper than taking the lease yourself.
The upfront deposit and the exit notice period maybe items best left until you know if you will be staying longer term.
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CNexpatesl



Joined: 27 May 2015
Posts: 194

PostPosted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 4:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Both of those offers are pretty terrible. Sorry I had to be the one to tell it to you straight. Laughing

Personally I wouldn't come to China as a new teacher. Go to Korea and get your housing and flight paid for. Live in a first world country.
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thechangling



Joined: 11 Apr 2013
Posts: 276

PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 12:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

EF and Kid Castle are both corrupt and unreliable places to work for if you want a 'soft' landing in China. There are numerous threads about these places and their cheating of foreign english teachers. Don't become another statistic. Avoid working for all Training Centres in China if you care about some degree of quality in the teaching of english as a second language. Training centres such as these exist only to make money and will take advantage of staff and make short cuts on your salary, time, textbooks and charge exorbitant fees to unsuspecting parents. The owners of Training Centres are unscrupulous in their quest to get rich fast.
A Public university/school job will tend to be more reliable and adhere to your contract and accommodation provisions.
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Babala



Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 1303
Location: Henan

PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 4:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For a newbie I think there are benefits to working at a training center. Some training centers provide quite a bit of training for lesson planning, classroom management and further certification. I would recommend EF over Kid Castle.

That being said, I'm pretty sure it was the Huzhou EF that my friend had a visa problem with. There are other EF centers that I would recommend. PM me if you want more info.
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Markness



Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Posts: 738
Location: Chengdu

PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Training centers are what I like to call "the back-up plan", where you only work there in cases of emergencies... the nice thing is that they're always hiring... Very Happy

Pros of training centers: Give you exposure to many different types of students, some offer decent training (I say this loosely, because a lot of times there are "trainers" at training schools that have no clue what they're doing and it turns out to be a huge waste of time). Good for getting experience in. Usually able to get your visa working/processed properly.

Cons: Idiotic/incompetent admin/bosses. Worst students you can imagine (the ones who have no motivation to learn English). Some try and make you work 6 days a week (illegal), some make you work longer than 8 hour days with split shifts (illegal, unless you accept), some deduct your salaries for B.S. reasons (illegal). Some have the bare minimums for providing a means of education to students (no computer, and books that looks like its been chewed on by a pack of feral dogs/pee'd on). Some make you work during holidays (illegal). And the list goes on... but like I said..

Training schools are always hiring.. Smile Don't take it seriously, you can work at two at a time and not give a flying fart about the quality, and work like a dog to make a lot of money.... but that is only if you don't care about teaching quality, which is quite common amongst the teaching community here. Training schools are easy to work in, but hard to want to stay there.
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katia04



Joined: 09 Dec 2011
Posts: 18

PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 9:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, I would be careful with the 25 hours/week as well. I worked at EF a few years ago and we would technically only be scheduled 25 hours a week but sometimes we were stuck in the building for 40-50 hours a week because our classes would be hours apart, and we'd be given stupid tasks (like sorting flashcards for example) so that we wouldn't be "lazy." For both jobs, demand to talk to at least three other teachers working at each school so you have **less** of a chance of getting screwed.
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