Job Discussion Forums

[sukatrash]

Heya,

Anyone out there who's taught in China through English First? I've looked through all of the contract info they've sent me and it looks ok (compared with all the ads I've seen online over the past few months). But we all know that sometimes looks can be deceiving and contacts can be little more then ink on paper So please, anyone who's been through EF in China please let me know how it went.

Cheers,

Mike.

[lily]

Do a search on this site and China (off-topic) for EF, I seem to remember a thread a while ago - maybe a few months.

[PandaBear]

RE English first,

the people who rec you are agents who feed applicants to francise schools. each school is run be a different owner. you have to take all the normal precautions as you wold normally take in applying for a position in china. the working hours and conditions, in some cases not all, leave something to be desired.

[J9]

Hey,

As the previous post said there is loads of stuff on this site about EF, so have a good look. Some of it is really negative and some positive.

I worked at the EF in Wuhan for 6 months this year and unfortunatly I tend to agree with most of the negative posts. I will however try and give a balanced view of the place.

First the good points, and yes despite what many think EF does have some good points. For new teachers it's a good place to begin, there's lots of resources for the teacher, computer labs, stuff like toys to keep the kids happy, decent text books, a western DOS, and more importantly a good support system to help you be it practical stuff or academic stuff.
Another thing which many over look is the fact that there will be other foreign staff members to help you and to hang out with. I was lucky the EF Wuhan lot were a great bunch. Also you will get a nice pad near to the school, which considering some of the shoe boxes I've lived in here was a definite plus.


Now for the bad stuff, well what I considered to be the bad stuff, many I'm sure will disagree with me.

The major problem was the number of hours we had to work, it was far too many. I was teaching on average around 25-30 ACH a week then on top of that I was given endless amounts of demo lessons, placement interviews and some conversation corners. And that was during the normal teaching period, during the winter and summer tours expect to teach between 40 and 50m ACH a week with only one day off.

All that for 5000 a month was a total rip-off. Don't get me wrong 5000 is a good wage here, just not for that many hours a week.

Also EF classes are mostly kids classes, so be sure you are going to be happy teaching 20 kids, some as young as 5, for 2 hours. It is not easy, believe me. Also even the 'adult' classes consisted mostly of teenagers as students 14 or over are classed as adults.

What pissed me off the most I think was that it was just one big money making machine. They didn't care about the students or the quality of the teaching, it was simply get as many students into the classes and as many classes going as was possible to teach, despite all the efforts of the DOS to focus on the standard of teaching and not the amount of money being made.

I do have to say though EF Wuhan is the highest EF earner (so I ws told by the other teachers) in China and it basically made the staff work like dogs teaching all the hours god sends to gain that prestigous title.

Luckily I hadn't signed a contract, so despite my initially saying I would stay for a year I stayed for 6 months, just long enough to pay back my flight there, then I packed my stuff up and got my exhusted little arse outta there before the Summer Fun (fun for bloody who,the teachers despised it so did the spoilt kids who wanted to be at home playing) began.

Well that's about all the negative stuff I think. I hope I haven't scared you too much. Despite all the bad stuff there were good times I made a some really good mates and not all of the kids were evil brats some of them were adorable. Also every EF in China is different I've met some people who work for EF in Qingdao and here in Guangzhou were I'm living now and they seem to have it a lot easier and are happy. Get the e-mail addresses of some of the staff who are working there now or have done in the past and see what they have to say about the place before you make a decision.

Good Luck,

J9