Job Discussion Forums

[AwesomeOne]

when I google, I keep hearing terrible things about EF, which is weird to me because they've been very good to me thus far and seem pretty old and well established.

Anyway so for 40 hours per week (on average, sometimes less sometimes more) EF will pay me 13.9k per month (including airfaire) + insurance + Chinese lessons.

I'm tempted to just do a CELTA in a Chinese city, and use the CELTA connections to find a job, preferably a university job. and or just tutor 100 percent.

I'm also thinking of just waiting 1 year and getting my American teaching license and working at an international school.

So what does this forum think I should do?

Also, is it possible to work my way into an international school without a teaching license? I graduated from a top 100 school (according to the shanghai ranking) if that helps at all.

I should say I'm an English language and literature major and a new grad.

[Foo_Fighters_Dave]

What city are you interested in? Do you have any teaching experience?

[Non Sequitur]

A science/maths grad may squeak a International School job without a teaching registration or classroom exp. Not so sure with your major.
You need an employer offer to get a Z visa, so independent fulltime tutoring not an option.

[AwesomeOne]

the EF first offer is in Bejing. I have no teaching experience, unless of course I wait a year, then I'll 1 year of teaching experience.

[cdchristy]

I will give you my advice based on my 3 years of experience here.

1) Every EF is managed differently, so you will never know for sure what you will find until you get there unless you have a trusted contact.
2) Your value to any school goes up with your qualifications, experience, local relationships with the right people, and your location. By location, I mean to say that areas with few foreigners may value your services more. You may be able to get better treatment because you are harder to replace.
3) Bigger companies like EF can more easily replace you. Because they are well-established, they do a better job at marketing for foreign teachers and sometimes provide that extra sense of comfort to a new teacher (new to China) about to take the first step.
4) If you do want to come sooner rather than waiting, I would at least consider the University option. You will find much less pressure and more free time. You will have more time to make contacts with the various schools in your area and perhaps find a school that you like. A lot of the smaller schools offer better pay and treatment if you take the time to sort through them.

[thechangling]

A University/College gig is the softest landing for a first timer virtually anywhere in China. There are too many hellish experiences to be had at training centres including EF all around China. This is because training centre owners/managers are insanely focused on making as much money as fast as possible and can't see that managing their businesses in a fair, stable and rational manner will actually result in more profit in the medium to long term, a trait which Chinese seem unable to fathom.

[snarf]

[cdchristy]