Job Discussion Forums

[Papa Bear]

Hello to all, i am a newly certified( no puns please) TEFL teacher and have recieve 3 different job offers so far this month. My questions is on which school has the better reputation English First, Bonds Itst, Or sunnys Eglish club ( a recruitrs mill) in Chengdu, my wife (chinese) will be accompanying me to which ever post accepted, any clues hints or worldy advise
Thanks to all

[tedkarma]

Only my opinion here . . .

The chain schools (English First) often pay significantly less than other schools due to their recruiting reach and their schools around the world. However, this also means that you might (read MIGHT) also have a more organized school with more fair employment practices - but this is not always true.

Individually owned private schools can give you and experience all over the board - from WOW! to really s*ucking.

For both types of schools, or any school really, vetting the school is critical to the success of your first overseas TEFL experience.

A good place to start is:

http://tefldaddy.com/TEFL_Employers_and_Contracts.htm

to know what kinds of questions to ask current and past employees of the school you are considering.

[Joeys ESL Room]

I would agree that the chain schools are the safer way to go, but you should also be careful as not all directors run their branches the way that the company wants them to. I worked for a 'reputable institute' once and the director ran it so poorly that it was shut down, which meant that the teachers all lost out on two months' pay.

You might want to take the recruiter route as they will usually only work with schools that will honor contracts. If you have problems in the future with your school, at least you will have someone to help you out.

Joey

[Glenski]

If those job offers are all in China, you may get more replies if you post in the China forum.