Job Discussion Forums

[Nexus11]

Forgive me if this has been addressed repeatedly, but it is really hard to do a search on EF as it is only a two letter word.

I'm a 100% big city guy. I love having international amenities and solid public transportation. Noise and pollution don't bother me. Because of this, I am limiting my job search to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

All four of these cities currently have openings at EF. I have heard that conditions can be quite different from location to location. I was hoping someone would be able to give me some insight into which of these locations are good to work at and which should be avoided.

Also, I am presently looking at the smart schools because I have a professional background. Is this a good decision? What are the pros and cons between the smart schools and the mini-centers?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[time to teach]

No need to apologize for asking questions, looking for answers is one of the purposes of this forum. It doesn�t matter what the question is or how many times it�s been discussed, you should feel free to ask away.

My advice is to ignore the whipping posts about questions that have supposedly been asked and answered ad nauseam, as this is just a smug way for regular or longtime posters to feel superior.

EF is a big chain, and the schools vary from city to city. Since I've lived in Shenzhen 4+ years and have traveled to Guangzhou a few times, I'd recommend Guangdong Province as your first choice. Based on my experience both cities are home to many happy foreign teachers.

One good way to find out for sure what the conditions are at specific chain school locations is to ask foreign managers and directors for the emails of their teachers, so you can contact them directly for the real scoop on the place. Although this takes a bit of extra time and effort it often pays off big in the end.

[Non Sequitur]

So prev poster you always think it OK for your students to never do their homework because you will always be there to answer their banal questions?
There have been issues with the search function and that's a legit excuse.
My posting total is neither low nor high, but I always contribute if I have anything to offer, nothing to do with numbers of posts. I invite PMs from people on sensitive subjects and offer free use of my teaching resources.
I do not need to have my motivations questioned by anyone.

[Nexus11]

I completely agree with the idea of asking for contact information for prior teachers. I have done that for all of my positions in Korea. The only downside is that schools obviously pick and choose which ones they give out. If they employed 10 teachers, 8 of which had major problems, you are likely to receive info to contact the only two who have nice things to say. Other than that, it does provide value.

I was hoping that some posters here have direct or indirect experience with these specific branches and can provide some slightly more objective insight. I will ask the schools for email addresses, but answers here will be quite helpful as well.

Thanks

[krayola]

I just did a year with EF in Guangzhou and had a good time. Mind you, there are six Smartschools (adult schools) in GZ, and the atmosphere in each was for the most part, quite different. Depends on who you worked under and with really. Don't know too much about the Kid's schools.

As a city though, I really like GZ. It's not a beautiful city, but it's vast, has a great rail network, and for a big city with so many Western conveniences, is comparatively much cheaper to live in than Shanghai or Beijing. Being in Guangdong, the food is AMAZING too. Great place.