Job Discussion Forums

[wralst]

I know that this company is quite actively looking for people as online teachers because I see multiple ads here and elsewhere from them. My advice is to be sure that you find a reputable company to work for and avoid those that will do nothing but cause you problems.

I started working for IUS English a few months ago. I was initially impressed with how professional they seemed to be compared to other such companies. The first contact was with a recruiter in the UK who was very professional.

Then their procedure is to go through the usual demo lessons and that was followed by some training with an American national. All very proper and seemingly.

Next their requirement is to be present and conduct some "group demo classes." These are supposed to be with multiple students whereas that will morph to one on one with students that sign up for you.

After all that you post your available times on their calendar and students choose to take a session or multiples of sessions. One qualifies for specific lesson materials which seems to be entirely at the whim of the admin.

Then maybe you get paid and maybe not. In my case I am still waiting for money to be paid for classes from 2 months ago while having been partially paid for some more recent classes.

Complaining appears to make one a target, as in when I had a power outage, lost internet connection and had to cancel a session, I was billed for that session and was penalized for an additional session.

We had a heart to heart in several emails that took them a week to acknowledge with the result that a parting of the ways was arranged. The biggest problem with them is one that may be all too familiar with others here; many administrators and others think that they understand English but the reality is that what they understand is very limited. If you tax the boundaries of that knowledge don't expect any understanding.

Good luck in your search,

[LarssonCrew]

The FAQ says they pay $4 for 30 minutes.

No thank you

[wralst]

What they said they would pay was $16 an hour or $8 per 25 minute session. But if the student does not give the teacher 5 *'s the rate does not improve, if the student gives a bad review they take money away.

[spiral78]

Regardless of whether it's face-to-face or online teaching, the key concept here is to never take any job where your pay or continuing employment is solely reliant upon student evaluations.

Student evals are a legitimate component of a valid evaluation of a teacher's performance, but they can be biased very easily in numerous ways beyond the teacher's control.

[AGoodStory]

[wralst]

I couldn't agree more, it wasn't until after getting through the vetting process and doing several demo lessons followed by "open" classes that the rating issue came to light. In reality, there was only one student that gave poor ratings and the admin said that with this particular student, its something he does with every teacher.

[nimadecaomei]

[Lord T]