Job Discussion Forums

[the lowlander]

North America Education International (NAEI) has little, if nothing, to do with "North America", certainly from a teacher/student standpoint.

There is absolutely no evidence of any North American connection on the ground.

However, with regards to "Education" the company certainly qualifies, if you count a couple of photocopied textbooks as education.

And it's "International" too, in as much as the teachers come from various native speaking "international" countries such as, Bulgaria, Ivory Coast, and the Philippines.

The whole gig is sold to the Chinese student's parents as a cutting edge North American teaching programme taught by native speakers.

NAEI classes are run in established primary/middle schools, with the student's parents paying big bucks for the courses, and the students giving up free periods to attend.

As you might imagine, this makes for demanding parents and unhappy students.

The profits are split 50/50 between NAEI and the host school.

Prospective teachers are told that this is an overseas school/western university preparatory programme, and that students will be heading off to western schools/universities upon its completion.

This is not the case.

The "course" prepares no-one for anything, and 99% of the students are too young to be going anywhere for the next 6+ years.

A huge problem for anyone working in this job (apart from the fact that your idea of what you are supposed to be doing is not the same as your student's parents idea of what you are supposed to be doing, and the teaching materials you are given are laughable) is the fact that the host schools frequently want to re-jig NAEI's classes, to suit their own needs, so NAEI's teacher's timetables can change on an hourly basis. It can be a real madhouse, making it impossible to arrange a second job, or organise a social life.

Housing is a problem too.

It's either in the school, and generally substandard, or not too bad, but really far away.

The main things to remember when considering this company are:

1. The "programme" is sold as one thing to the student's parents and another thing to the teachers, ultimately leaving both sides feeling short changed.

2. You will be part of an outside programme in an established school. You will not be part of the school's staff, and you and your classes will be pushed about here and there, depending on the school's whims. Your schedule can change on an hourly/daily basis.

3. You will get paid what you were promised, but you will most likely not work the days or the hours that you originally agreed to work for that pay.

If you want to work in a primary/middle school in Guangdong, it would be far better to work for the school directly on their regular programme, rather than work for them indirectly on NAEI's "programme".