Job Discussion Forums

[yingguolaoshi]

When I say that I have worked for entice for the last six months I say so in the broadest of terms, since entice have had little to do with my work in China in spite of the cut they take from my salary. Entice is a very oppertunistic company, it knows that many of us who have just graduated would like an easy transition to life abroad and the company seeks to capitalise on this fact. My placement is at an American school - the students are great, my fellow teachers are all wonderful people and having been here for 6 months I do feel settled. However very little of this is due to Entice. I currently earn only 60% of my salary, which is not a great deal to start with, the remaining 40% shared between Larry and Sarwar, the two directors in Beijing. Entice do nothing to justify these costs - no ongoing training, no special aid to see how we settled in. I had some questions regarding the holiday in our entice contract and the contract with my school and this was ignored. For the first month we never heard from them until pay day arrived.

However, it is not just the money issues that make the company so repugnant to work for, their sheer unprofessional attitude is shocking. If you are willing to be placed in a classroom on your first day in China, be told not to bother spend too much time planning your first lesson, receive no help planning your first lesson, then have to do two 45 minute classes at a college then perhaps you will feel comfortable, if not then beware. Thankfully the school I work for offers their own training programme which is infinitely superior to that which I received under entice.

Entice also are apt to pay unannounced visits to the school,watch your classes on the spot, take many notes, then never offer feedback from what they observed. To be honest the visits they made to my school never felt like more than casual validations of their 'role' in your teaching career. It is simply a farce to keep up appearences.

When i first arrived in China mine and two other teacher's passports were kept for over a month for no reason. We were promised they would be sent in the post asap so we could go away during the national holiday but they were rather given to some other teachers to give back to us somewhere along the line. I do not like paying huge percentages of my wages for my important documents to be passed around so freely.

Me and many other teachers have left entice this year before our contracts ended. I recommend you do not accept a placement with them. I heard of this company through my students' union, I have mailed them asking them not to advertise the company based on my experience and other teachers are doing the same.

Jobs in China aren't hard to come by and a good school will make all visa arrangements for you. Try Aston School, Joy Children's School or applying to a college directly, you will earn a full salary and receive good training without lining the pockets of people who are entirely undeserving of your hard-earned yuan. My school are not renewing their contract with entice either, so it is not just the individual teachers who aren't pleased with this company.