Job Discussion Forums

[seanwakeley]

Looking for feedback on English First Hangzhou. Anybody know anything good or bad?

[Noelle]

Great School... That is my opinion. Read further on in this forum and find the post submitted in March about that school. EF isn't for everyone but this school is well run and pretty fun to work for. The city is appealing and affluent and residents are seemingly more layed back than in other Chinese cities.

I could probably give you contact details of teachers still working there and some pretty cool students as well.

Good luck with whatever you do!

[englishgibson]

Hi Sean,
Noelle might have had some good experiences with the school, the students and the school's management in Hangzhou. Hangzhou is one of the most beautiful cities in China and it is worthed to visit it. Now, I have met the Hangzhou's management staff in March 2004 at the EF Conference in Shanghai. There are two EF centers in Hangzhou. At that Conference I met a nice looking Chinese female employer of Hangzhou's EF, whose husband is RICH (so I have been told by a fine Senior Teacher/DOS). I also met a self-centered, EF inexperienced, newly appointed Director of Studies of one Hangzhou's EF center. Joining EF English First in China, you should know that the franchised EF centers in China are microscopically run by the inexperienced but rich Chinese franchisees and poorly by the EF Head Office (franchisers) in Shanghai. Are you ready for DOUBLE-STANDARDS? Even though the overseas franchisers are excellent with providing a great academic support (see ef.com, englishtown etc), the EF Head Office in Shanghai China lacks its leadership skills as well as the depth of academic support with its franchised EF centers in China.
Since Noelle's previous EF Hangzhou's positive, but rather unprofessional posting (see Noelle's postings) as well as Noelle's poor followup/approach on other postings, when having troubles understanding the content and language in it, I do question Noelle's purpose of participating in here.
Cheers and beers

[Noelle]

I really don't have anything to gain by saying good things about this school. I worked there for awhile and now I don't. The experience was good enough that I felt inclined to join this forum for the purpose of saying something positive about one particular school.

Someone wanted information on the school and I responded. How is that "unprofessional"?

Englishgibson, I worked for those people whom you referred to with disdain in your last response and while you are entitled to your opinion, I do not share it. The lady with the "rich husband" is a good manager. That director was good as well. Once again, I am sorry that you had a bad experience but do you really think it's professional to launch this smear campaign against EF in China?

[The Barbarian]

I read some comments on the Head Office of EF in Shanghai somwhere in this message string.

I very nearly took a DOS job with EF some time ago but elected to carry on with my MA instead. The reason why I didn't bother was a meeting with the utterly cretinous area operations manager (AOM) of the China region. He really did seem utterly idiotic and actually called me at 3.15am in the morning to conduct an orientation. Anyway, all that is a level up from the teacher and hopefully if the management are good it shouldnt impact at all.

[englishgibson]

Noelle wrote previously:
If you love getting drunk and spending your days hungover, then you too can work in this school!

I recommend this school to anyone who is serious about working in China especially if you are a new teacher.

Noelle, once again your followups are questionable. My reference of your unprofessional postings came for a good reason. Did you not write that statement above in your previous posting about EF Hangzhou? I defended you on that before, but realized later that you are more often not careful about what you say and you do not read some postings thoroughly before you respond. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OUT OF YOUR POST ABOVE? Please do not ask me to quote you again!

Barbarian, I do know that AOM of EF Head Office in Shanghai. From what I know he is unprofessional, he lacks the management skills and the academic depth that he cannot provide the EF English First centers in China, however there are better words to describe working people.

Cheers and beers (but not in EF Hangzhou the Noelle's way)

[Chris_Crossley]

[Noelle]

I would have to agree that it makes little sense to refer to a school as a great place for serious new teachers after such a comment about drinking and hangovers.... etc

[Noelle]

The 2 schools in Hangzhou had a diverse group of teachers and while neither school was not without problems from time to time, the director was more than capable of dealing with them.

My opinion again, of course.

The teaching schedule was often such that teachers could go out "clubbing" all hours of the night and still sleep it off the next day as classes would not usually start until later afternoon. Weekends were an exception. These teachers were serious about teaching too but they were there to have fun.
Does that better explain my previous "unprofessional posting"?

My apologies for any confusion caused. I will use a bit more tact in future remarks.

[Zero Hero]

Maybe we have different ideas as to what constitutes seriousness in education, but those teachers don't sound all that overly serious to me, 'Noelle'. Their afternoon lessons were good, were they?

[Ralf]

Ok, as I live in HZ and contacted EF previously plus spoke with someone who was working there - the bottom line is that the management is stupid and unable to handle things, so stay away!
Regards,
Ralf

[englishgibson]

[Noelle]

To englishgibson:

I do agree. I will agree. I totally agree. I do not disagree. Will that do for you?

[dreaming_saturn]

[englishgibson]