Job Discussion Forums

chadpearson · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Posts: 9 Location: CHINA

I've removed my initial post because it was posted while I was in a bad mood after reading all the slagging off of the place I work and was filled with too many insults. I still maintain you all are wrong in cursing EF Huizhou, but in the future my posts and replies will be more civil.

dafc · Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 4

You going to stick this job out Chad?

chadpearson · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Posts: 9 Location: CHINA

Yes, I am going to stick it out. Honestly, I'm not being treated poorly here. It's more work than my previous job in Qingdao, but I'm not being abused or cheated like some people on here have claimed. And Huizhou is a nice little city with good food and pretty friendly people. A lot of the bad experiences they've had were caused by their own actions and attitudes. I'm not saying that's the case for everyone, but in my experience it has been. I think some of the people on this forum were already gone by the time I got here in December of last year, because I don't recognize their experiences. EF gets a lot of bad press, but I've honestly not been screwed around by them yet. I had a problem with my visa going back to Canada one year, my school had accidentely let it expire and as I was getting on my flight in Beijing to head back to Canada for a vacation I was stopped and told I owed a lot of money for being in the country with an expired visa. EF in Beijing sent someone to the airport to pick me up, put me up in a hotel, bought me dinner and then paid the penalty the next day and I was on my way. Pretty cool considering I worked for EF Qingdao, not EF Beijing.

Anyway, I'm staying and I like it here. That's the bottom line.

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

mazhenping · Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 9 Location: under a rock

matador · Joined: 07 Mar 2003 Posts: 281

I was with EF CLT in Shanghai and getting 12,500RMB a month as the senior teacher. I left China in March 2005 and now work at Intel in Japan where I teach business English. EF was very good to me for the 7 months that I worked there. I was working with professional people who really wanted to do a good job. My experience was positive. Is it perfect? Nope, but when you find the `perfect school` pls tell me!

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

Matador, after first six months in EF Fuzhou, I thought that the EF English First was a great company to work for and I'd say perfect. It all turned so quickly the other way. I am glad to see a positive teacher providing positive comments about a company (EF English First). I wish, I had left after that first six months and I would have provided the same kinds of comments as you.

chadpearson · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Posts: 9 Location: CHINA

Misunderstanding, Gibson.

It was a different Jennifer, and yes, the one you are referring to was a good teacher and very popular. The one from Ontario was fine, she fulfilled her contract and was a friend of mine. This was a different person hired by Ken Rondeau, your successor, that I was referring to. Her name was Jennifer Albert.

So, I should have been more specific as to which "Jennifer" I was talking about. Fair enough.

Strangely enough, a lot of the information I've received about you came from her (your Jen) and others who worked under you in your time as DOS. Stephanie, Mike, and others have detailed your leadership skills.

Honeymoon period? I've been with EF over three years, hardly a honeymoon.

If you're still in Huizhou I'd be happy to meet with you face to face, though I'd be worried you'd consider such an invitation as a "death threat". Perhaps if I raised my voice towards you it would prompt you to evacuate your bowels and call the PSB.

If our boss here is such a "snake" then why did Mike and his twin brother Kevin, Stephanie, and most recently myself and two other teachers, decide to stay for a second year? Doesn't really make sense does it?

Maybe "Speak English" isn't going so well for you and you're feeling bitter. Or have you already skipped town?

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

I am glad that we at least agree on Jennifer. Besides Jennifer, I hired Stephanie as well and they both were trained by me too. Both had no previous teaching experiences. Mike came before me, and I promoted him to the Senior Teacher’s position later when he signed his second-year contract there. So, he got promotion and 1,500 more. I allowed Kevin (Mike’s twin brother) to move on to the “EF clone-Enjoy English” while under his standard EF Contract with EF Huizhou.

With regards to my former EF Huizhou’s teachers’ and OTHERS’ (as you say) and their “details on my leadership skills”, I’ll give you that benefit of doubt on their comments. Sometimes it sadly happens that people do not tell you face to face what they feel (you are an exception though). Attitudes are contagious too, aren’t they?

EF DOS leadership skills there? Are you kidding? None of the DOSs there is supposed to lead, but follow. Any DOS in EF Huizhou has been and is just a messenger. Your employer microscopically manages the operation. Your TA (teachers’ assistants) members are trained by your employer not the DOS and they are to provide their classes feedback (on the teachers) directly to your employer. Your Chinese staff members are to comment or provide any information about EF Huizhou’s foreign academic staff members directly to your employer. The DOS office has “ears” there. But I guess that you are not there since you are not the DOS. By the way, does your employer have a DOS there?

I would love to meet you in Huizhou, but you sound so sarcastic, and a bit hostile. And no I would not call the local PSB on you (the chief of police there is my acquaintance-I play tennis with him), even if you raised your hand (never mind your “arouse voice”).

Henry_Cowell · Joined: 27 May 2005 Posts: 3352 Location: Berkeley

Chris_Crossley · Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 4:56 am Post subject: Re: EF HUIZHOU....HORROR

Henry_Cowell · Joined: 27 May 2005 Posts: 3352 Location: Berkeley

Not ike y, Chris! Smile

englishgibson · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 4345

Ohhh Henry again! You’ve been reading on and on the EF English First related threads on the forums and sometimes you drop a rather short confrontational line, though you have never (not to my knowledge) put up a wee bit of relevant contribution.

So Henry, have you ever worked for an EF English First center? Are you presently working for an EF English First center? Would you like to work for one? Have you been reading the EF English First threads on the forums, because you are just interested in them? Are you just interested in confronting the users participating in EF threads’ discussions or in confronting me? You wouldn’t be bored from your life, would you?

By the way Henry, you have never seen me English-teaching, have you? You have never seen me training the teachers, have you?
Now, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen you, so I would not comment your “English-teaching capabilities”. However, I would comment on your poor personality and a tremendous lack of respect for others. People like you should be sent to an EF English First center somewhere in China, where they’d (you’d) work for 6 days weekly with 44 academic hours weekly workload. You’d have 45-minute trips to your classes (not counted against your hours) and you’d have to share your accommodation with two other teachers who wouldn’t like you (that’s easy). Further more, you’d have a “nice” teacher’s assistant (who’d barely speak any English) who’d share your “English-teaching capabilities” with your Chinese employer (without your knowledge).

Peace to you Henry!

Cheers and beers