Job Discussion Forums

[mnguy29]

Well, I searched and found nothing on Wall Street. I will have an interview by phone soon. I know a little about them, cruised their website. Anyone have anything to share good or bad? This is in the south of China.

[Non Sequitur]

I visited their site in downtown of an attractive city and it is slick.
What I gleaned is that they expect degrees, ESL quals and teaching exp.
Their statements almost had an evangelical air.
But, like all recruitment advertising it's a 'wish list'.
May be able to get what they want in my location, but other hard to staff locations might be a different story.
My advice is act super keen, high moral tone etc etc
I'm sure that's what you're like but bring it to the fore

[deputamadre]

My friend (25 y/o, B.A., 2 years experience) worked for Wall Street in Shenzhen. He said:

Small classes
Students (or their company) are paying a lot of money for their classes, so they have high expectations.
Lessons are prepared for you, so minimal prep time.
Usually around 24 teaching hours per week, but closer to 40-50 hours spent in the office.
The problem is that the company expects you in the office during the day, even when you're not teaching until the evening.
And you have to wear a suit, or dress shirt with tie.

[mnguy29]

Well, I just interviewed for an hour with them on the phone. This is in Guangzhou. They have 3 options to choose from in salary, 35, 25, and 15 hours a week. This INCLUDES class time and prep time. They said you do not have to be there 8 hours even if no classes scheduled till evening. They do things quite differently than most training schools in China. They seem to have good benefits such as holidays, vacation and medical. Also, they are American owned I think. Now they want me to do a demo class by phone? With no lesson plan supplied? I dont really understand how to do this so I told them so. I am not very keen on the shirt and tie for work.

[chaz47]

Are they still hiring? I could probably be satisfied there. I already have the suit thing down. What sort of salary are they offering for competitive qualifications?

[mnguy29]

Where are you teaching now? I am not sure they need more teachers where I am interviewing. I interview again in a few days.

[topas]

Wall Street China is not a great place to work. On the plus side, the pay is decent.

On the downside, the work environment can be pretty uncomfortable, the company is incredibly cheap about supplies, overtime, centre construction, etc. Full-time teachers have 6 contact hours a day, and one service hour, in which you're expected to develop classes (on broken computers), write supplementary materials, attend meetings, make copies (on broken photocopiers), prepare referral "parties", and organize your paperwork.

The contact hours are a bit more intense than at most schools, because you have to run the class, participate in the class if you have an odd number of students, and write student evaluation reports all at once.

They are constantly pushing to hit targets for both sales, which means you end up with 12-year olds, the mentally challenged, and a lot of students with unrealistic expectations in your classes. One student was promised a date with my (unwilling) colleague if she signed up. There are also service targets, which mean that your schedule can change at the last minute and you'll have to teach classes you're not prepared for, and you'll have students in your classes who aren't supposed to be there because they haven't done the prerequisite lessons.

WSE China never lets you forget for a minute that it's a business, and I don't think anyone in the company actually cares about helping students learn English.

[sharpe88]

You're joking.

"Well, I searched and found nothing on Wall Street. "

Not really.

"They do things quite differently than most training schools in China."

Pretty much them in a nutshell.

"WSE China never lets you forget for a minute that it's a business, and I don't think anyone in the company actually cares about helping students learn English."

[Johnny_Utah]

I have just recently wrapped up a year long contract with wall-street in beijing, and I would like to contribute some of my experiences, and what I know about wall-street... I will not mention which center for fear of potential blow-back as I plan on staying in Beijing.

Wall-Street promised me 1000$ for airfare upon completion of a years contract, and they have decided since I am not staying on with the company, that there is no need to pay me my airfare since I have no proof of a ticket coming to China, and no proof of a Ticket leaving China. I have had this happen before at University's, it seems to be a common tactic to screw someone who is leaving.

Many times they had "mistakes" with my pay, where they transferred the money into my bank account 1-2 weeks late. Im not talking once or twice..this is at least 5-6 times, and i had to literally throw a fit to get paid a few times.

The work it's self is not hard, just quite tedious because of how many hours you have to put in. In the end, you are earning less than 100 yuan per hour, which is a tremendous rip-off considering what they charge these students for their "encounters" with the foreign teacher.

I read someone's comment about Krusty the clown, and English corners some where else on this forum, and that fit's the Wall-street English corners to a T. You are standing up there in front of 20-60 students depending upon the time of day, sometimes you honestly would be better off with a clown suit, a couple of custard pies a whoopy cushion & one of those hand buzzers, because even though they are "motivated adults" they could care less what you are talking about, and continue on with the chatter in Chinese.

To summarize up my experience there: I have taught at grade-schools more professional than wall street. I have been told by a co-worker in management that these days they are really picky about who they hire in Beijing, because of the huge amount of "teachers" here. If you have real certifications, don't waste your time with these monkeys folks.

[Solar Strength]

There is lots on Google about Wall Street Institute of English - most of it NOT very good!

Wallstreet Institute of English Testimonials

Apparently there have been bad reviews on Wall Street Institute of English from Thailand to Turkey to Taiwan. Like Berlitz, it doesn't seem to matter where the school is located, they all seem to have problems with teacher retention for various reasons.

[marina33]

Hi,

I am familiar with WSE in Guangzhou. Another CHinese friend wanted me to come with her to see if it was worth the money (it is more costly).

After half an hour watching a demo class, I told her we should go.

I explained to her that she could get the same instruction in any number of small language schools in Guangzhou, there are plenty.

In my opinion, WSE is more about flash and dash than actual teaching. Chinese (local--I'm Chinese American) put a LOT of faith in that name alone.

If you want a reputable school, try EF in Guangzhou, if you want $$$, work for ANY of the language schools and free-lance on the side.

Good luck
Marina Wang

[Solar Strength]

[Wall Street Rep]

[Jeremiah]

I worked for Wall St. in Shanghai a few years ago and thought they had a relatively good system. It's true, they are all about the show and you have to dress nicely and definitely work a lot, but the pay was nice!

I left there because I didn't want to work so much and dress nicely, but, I think it was a good experience. It's not for everyone, but if your looking for a well-paying job and need some help with lesson plans, it is worth a try.

As for the lesson plans, I just wish I had photocopied everything before I left! I use a lot of their stuff in my university classes.

As for the statement below, which is the reason I'm contributing, that is completely untrue. WSE was the 1st training center to use CALL. It began in Italy in the 1970's by some guy who I once met in the Jin Mao Tower.

Other centers have copied the Wall Street method.

"Their presentation is real slick but, in reality, they aren't doing anything different that hasn't been done before or isn't being done at other language schools."


But, on the other hand, now you can get what they offer for less at other centers, like Marina said, so signing up there isn't worth it. But, like she said - Chinese folk love a good brand name!

Doesn't everyone? Would you rather say you graduated from Harvard rather than Po Dunk Community College? Oxford rather than Sir Al's Technical College in Liverpool?

[mat chen]

Jeremiah. Where are you? Have you not read about the Wall Street financial meltdown. This school is doing the same as the financial berons of the real Wall Street. They take big bucks on the selling of falsehoods.
You have hours and hours of interviews to get the job. I visited the school in Beijing and saw a lot of well dressed teachers with painted smiles. You could tell they were in pain.
If they really had their act together they would rename the place. Maybe something like British Pretroleum language Institute.