My experience is that your time here will reflect based on which school you are placed in, as China is essentially the wild west.
You will need a strong disposition and some life skills before attempting this move but the schedule and opportunties to take off national holidays are not to be sniffed at.
Your time at work will be dictated by how your captain runs their ship. Some understand that you are there to see the world and teaching gives you the opportunity to do that, other schools will want to pile on responsibilty, fill your schedule and make mandatory extra unpaid events consistently to maximise what they see as your productivity. this however, can be seen as somewhat fair depending on your attitude.
Your schedule will also be random and you may find that it is filled regardless of your wishes or not filled at all, depending on factors such as race - honestly (There were several examples of racism both perpetuated from management positions [a chinese email from the franchise owner leaked to us] and from the customers themselves.)
Your scheduling will only at first take into consideration time for planning, but i found myself in high demand at weekends and due to the business essentially offering out all of my time, I had a weekend every two weeks where i did not have time to effectively plan my lessons or any free time for lunch on the saturday, I also regularly found myself working later than other staff who finished earlier on weeknights due to not
I worked for this company for 3 years, as a new graduate looking for valuable work experience. I was hired as an ESL Teacher, and later became a Senior Teacher which gave me some added responsiblity within the academic team. On the whole I found it to be beneficial, but there are a number of serious flaws in the operational side of the job.
In terms of the positives, the onboarding process is one of the major strengths in the contract. The HR are responsible for ensuring you have the correct documentation for entering the country and this was fulfilled, so that new employees can focus on other issues associated with starting a new job in a foreign country. They also help with integrating employees into a new lifestyle and culture; which is only beneficial.
In terms of the work itself, training is offered (however unpaid) and covers basic ESL concepts which are helpful in planning an executing lessons. Management training is offered to more senior staff which covers the basics of workplace communication; team work; specific operational procedures and management strategies.
With that being said, a problem that I encountered is much of this training cannot be implemented into actual situations which occur in the workplace. The company seems to have an issue with trying to balance educational advancement with an aggressive production model. As this is a training centre, there is a constant battle between academic and business operations. This makes working with service and sales
优点Training, resources, good onboarding procedures.
缺点Lack of sensible management, low Pay, lack of holidays.
I was with EF HQ in Shanghai for about 7 years, during which time there were two large culture shifts - the first when I was arriving (so I know what its like to be a part of the new wave of folks forging a new direction for the department and company) and the second about 3-4 years after that (so I know what its like to see the company counter shifting and re-politicizing itself against the grain).
I'd say the first few years were the best - lots to learn and lots of room to define one's role - this was both gratifying and energizing. At the time I and others bemoaned the politics of the company and the inner circles of decision making that plagued forward progress. Little did I know that was merely the beginning! The last few years have seen a major culture pivot for the company, from the President on down, and this has unfortunately led to deeper consolidation of inner circle power brokerage, tighter control of decision trees by upper management, a much stronger emphasis on hierarchies and bureaucracy, and extensive siloing between departments in what was once a much more collaborative work environment.
If you can find your way into the inner circles, by working hard to align your own workflow closely with the highest tier/department you can manage, by structuring your lunches and personal time around cultivating relationships with directors and VPs, and by dealing in information trade, you'll do well. If you'd rather focus on doing innovative work, networki
EF did a horrible job at helping us accommodate to China. They did not even tell us that we needed 100RMB for a security deposit at that low-quality hotel they made us stay at (which, by the way, they changed it to at the very last minute--great planning, huh?). Furthermore, EF poorly advised us on how to choose an apartment. They made it sound like we HAD to use an agent, and find a place RIGHT AWAY, regardless of how ridiculously expensive the rent was. They don't care! HQ is utterly and totally unreliable. Why do they not respond to e-mails? Why do they take forever to get things done? Third, we had awful healthy insurance. Our policy from socialist Sweden takes forever to reimburse the money--I had to e-mail them several times to get my money, and I had to pay a money transfer fee whenever they paid me back--outrageous! Why couldn't those idiots just pay me back in RMB?
EF teaching materials are for the pits. Slides are replete with vague and incomplete grammar explanation, as well as just inappropriate topics for a Chinese audience (one lesson asks students to say what they would change about government--since they didn't want to go to jail, class didn't go so well).
Management COULDN'T CARE LESS about employees and what they think. Even though WE are the ones who do the teaching, and know what is best for the students, our opinions do not matter. EF is only concerned with the profits they can get from the naive Chinese consumer, who would be better off taking les
优点There are opportunities for work in different countries, They also gave us a very nice welcome package.
Looking to have a life outside work? Perhaps this isn't your best choice.
Work-life balance is by far the most challenging aspect of this job. You work evenings and weekends, limiting your community to those whom you work with. As a kids and teens teacher, you are expected to be responsible for curriculum with students as young as 2.5 and as old as 18 years. As an experienced classroom teacher, I found it to be entirely unrealistic and overwhelming. While the lessons are planned for you, they are rather unnavigable until you've had a few months under your belt. On top of that, summers and winters ramp up and become much more intense, teaching mornings and evenings. You might have phonics classes during the summer and winter sessions (where the curriculum is rather outdated) and be expected to teach a class of five year olds for two to three hours! It's entirely unstable for kids so young, and seems to only play into the parents' anxieties to get their child ahead of others in English.
Overtime is unheard of... they will ask you to work on your off hours for special events and pay you in watches or pizza. Management is hit or miss, depending on your school. Professional development is initially extensive, and does give you the chance to get your TEFL certificate (as of 2015). However, the skills learned are often very particular to EF, and may not be easily transferrable to the public or private school setting. This environment took all of my energy and left me with very little as a teacher. I would not recommend this company at all.
Education First gave me an opportunity to learn more about teaching and develop my managerial skills. I co-manage a team of 13 teachers together with my Director of Studies at Shanghai Lixin University of Commerce, which is a client of English First Academic Partnerships, a subdivision of Education First (EF) here in Shanghai (China). My current schedule includes 12 hours of teaching and 28 hours of management and office work a week. I teach IELTS, Business English and General English to undergraduate students in their early 20s. I supervise all seven courses in our department (for a total of five thousand students in two different campuses) and I train our teachers. I observe their lessons twice a semester and I write a report based on ten areas (such as: Basics, Materials, Error Correction, Classroom Management, Adaptations, Rapport, Teacher Language, Staging and Links, Feedback, Reflection). This is followed by a post-observation feedback session where I praise the teachers for their achievements or strengths and I suggest some target areas for future development. This is the most enjoyable part of my job. I also really enjoy planning lessons, managing course and spending time with my students. The hardest part of the job, at the moment, is the commute. Shanghai is world's largest city and I currently travel two hours a day for work.
优点Professional Development
缺点University Campuses are spread over a really vaste urban area
The hardest part is creating a healthy work life balance. The work keeps you very busy and it is easy to waste your off days lazing about resting. Typical weekdays were spent lesson planning with a couple classes in the afternoon. Weekends consisted of teaching all day. Winter and summer courses are very stressful times. The age range of the students runs the spectrum from three all the way to rare sixteen. They will ask you what age you like teaching best and they will try to give you that, but don't expect much. The pay was quite good compared to the cost of living in my opinion.
Management and culture seemed to vary greatly between centers and cities. I tried to get along with everyone regardless, and I believe that went a long way to creating a positive experience. The most rewarding experiences for me were making friends to travel with, and thereby gaining the confidence to travel solo in a foreign country. The kids will make you laugh and rage, some might even say they will miss you when you leave. It would be a good crash course in teaching if you had no experience like me. Overall it was experience I am glad I had.
Best Advice: Learn the language, travel, stay positive, and complete that contract.
优点Travel opportunities, make friends from around the word, live abroad, profesional experience.
缺点Work life balance, winter/summer courses, stressful weekends, lesson planning is boring.
Perhaps the Most Well-Organized Language Operation in China
This company was highly responsive throughout the onboarding process and left me with no doubts as to their legitimacy, which is sometimes a concern with language centers in China, generally. They have an ecellent training program once you arrive in China, with plenty of opportunities for advancement in both the professional and academic arenas. The Director of Studies at my center was a dream, one of the best I've ever worked for. I loved all of the co-workers I had at my center, and the students were good, for the most part. I always had one or two naughty ones, of course. The hardest part of the job for me was adapting to the changing schedule. Hours were different for weekdays and weekends (yes, you will be working weekends), and there are two language camps during summer and winter months that change the schedule entirely for a few weeks. Also, your experience may vary, as there have been times when foreigners are less willing to come to China and teacher shortages have happened. The bigger the city you go to, the less likely this is to be a major issue, in my experience. The best part of the job for me was seeing my kids' improvement over the course of a year or more and getting to know all the other teachers in my city. It becomes something of a close community for many teachers. I wouldn't trade my experience working for this company in China for anything.
Decent place to get your feet wet teaching abroad.
EF provided a very immersive experience living in China.
The job was full time and kept me busy with planning and teaching lessons. There was a lot to learn about other cultures and expectations. I had to take a crash course in teaching different age groups and learning about all the more technical aspects of the job such as using the applications the company required.
Management may vary depending on your manager. The higher ups are always busy and there's always so much going on that your manager may not find time to meet everyone's' concerns.
Management and team coordination between departments was the worst part of the job due to the huge size of the company. Some departments were inflexible and had different goals. Teachers and PAs often clashed due to miscommunication or last minute changes. Management often was too busy to provide insight on teachers' development. Feedback could be limited depending on your manager. Management often took time off to attend to company wide events and problems tended to stack up while they were gone.
Being able to teach in China was a very rewarding experience and I had the most fun interacting with the kids, going to group events EF provided, and exploring China on my down time.
优点Free food at events, very big seasonal gatherings and trips
缺点Lack of feedback, lots of miscommunication between departments
5 years of experience and increasing responsibilities at world leader language training company. I was involved as a sales consultant in an activity and competitive team in Beijing. Have been deeply involved in a consultant, communication, and negotiation environment, with three years excellent performances to promoted be a Senior Sales Supervisor.
Have rich experience in sales consultant, sales strategical planning, distribution management, customer relationship building, sales optimization, cross-function and cross-cultural management, market communications, as well as building a successful sales team. 3 years in sales management and dually 5 years in corporate affairs, also gave me rich experience in building organizational culture, performance management processes, and corporate social responsibility in the whole company.
As a student, I read the MBA Program in HULT IBS in Boston, ranked by the Financial Times as the world's most international business school, with classmates and alumni from 120 countries. Traveled and conducted business around the world, enabling me to gain business insights from a truly global perspective. I’m dedicated to contributing my knowledge and experience to an organization that is seeking continuous growth, global expansion, and winning in the dynamic market.
Kariyer yapabilmek ,mutlu bir iş yaşamı oluşturmak için uygun olmayan bir ortam.
EF Türkiye operasyonu yönetim açısından Türkiye ile ciddi benzerlikler gösteriyor.
Son 5 yili ele alirsak şirkette tek adam yönetiminin olduğunu söylemek yanlış olmaz.
Turkiye Genel Müdürü Ozgu hanım her seviyedeki karara müdahil olmak ister.
Is yaşaminda bir Genel Müdürün orta ve düşük seviyedeki konulara girmemesinin,o kararları yöneticilere birakmasinin daha dogru bir yaklasim olacağını düşünüyorum.
Genel müdür,is yapma biçimi olarak yöneticilerin karar ve insiyatiflerine kapalı bir anlayışa sahip.
Yeni başlayan çalışanların işe alım süreçlerini yürüten bir İnsan Kaynakları departmanı ve sorumlusu yok.
Bölge yöneticisi ve Genel müdür birer gorusme yapıp ise alımı gerçekleştiriyor,süreç malesef profesyonel yürümüyor.
Calisanlarin eğitimleri için yeterli kaynak ve süre ayrılmıyor 1 haftalık bir eğitim süreci bile oldukça doğaçlama ve plansız yürütülüyor.Çalisanlarinin tamami çok ciddi yoğun bir tempoda çalışır,bu yoğunluktan kaynaklı olarak da malesef öğrencilerin eğitim süreçlerinin planlanması ve eğitim sürecinde yaşanan aksaklıkların yönetilmesi anlamında sürekli sorunlar yaşanır.
Proaktif bir anlayışa sahip olunmadığı için genellikle işler haftalık ve gunluk planlar çerçevesinde yürür.Yarini planladığınız ajandanizda günün sonunda 1 işinizi bile bitiremediginiz zamanlar olur çünkü gün içerisinde beklenmedik bir çok sorun hızlı çözüm gerektirdiği için önünüze gelir ve buda çok stresli ve düzensiz bir iş yaşamı içerisinde kendinizi bulmanıza sebep olur.
Bu yüzden turn ov
优点Şirketin isminin sektördeki büyüklüğü, tekrar sektor içinde çalışma hayatına devam etmek isteyenler için güzel bir backround oluşturuyor.
If you care about teaching, do NOT accept a job here
This place is the worst of for-profit education models. They've got a beautiful piece of real estate in Fisherman's Wharf, with floor-to-ceiling windows, hi-tech computer labs, and foosball tables. Their students pay thousands of dollars to attend classes at this beautiful school and live in San Francisco. (Their housing, by the way, is usually in remote or run down parts of the city. Students complain all the time, both to teachers and to management. As far as I know nothing changes). They pay their teachers poorly, barely above minimum wage for teaching time, and prep time is at minimum wage and actual countable prep hours are very limited. No benefits or job security. The CEO, meanwhile, is a billionaire. Management is disorganized, frequently juggling multiple student or teacher complaints/issues at once, and generally unclear about expectations. No support or structure here. At best, I felt overlooked. At worst, I felt exploited.
I saw the bad reviews for this position and thought, how bad could it really be? There are always bad reviews for jobs online from that one person who disagreed with their manager, had a bad experience one time, etc. I don't usually write reviews for my past employers, good or bad, because I believe everyone's experience is unique and job descriptions/interviews give the best sense of whether you think a position is right for you.
But I feel compelled to write this one: if you care abousteer clear of this unscrupulous company. They won't
A typical day at work consists of sitting at a computer for 7 to 8 hours a day. I deal with specific flight requests, flight changes, name changes, and searching for a quality product at a low cost. I deal with all travel arrangements for high school students coming to the US for a year abroad. In my role there is very little creativity and when the organization is presented with a new innovative idea, it typically is shut down with the remarks that we must keep doing things how we have always done them.
I have learned much patience in this role as the daily routine can become very frustrating and sometimes you don't always hear what you would like to hear from your manager. It has been difficult learning this tough skill, but I feel that it will carry me a long way in the future and I am glad to have experience this as a young professional. I have also learned to pay a lot more attention to detail. In my position it can be very easy to make a minor mistake which costs the company money. I have learned to double check work, while still meeting deadlines in an effective manner.
One of the best aspects of my job at EF is my co-workers. EF has a tendency to hire professionals who are recently out of college, so it is very easy to relate and spend time with your co-workers as many are in the same position as you. However, this also leads to a drawback, as there is little opportunity for advancement many of these co-workers tend to leave after 2 - 3 years to pursue other career
优点young professional work culture, free language classes, celebrations for hitting goals, luxury box at td garden
缺点low pay, sit at a desk all day, not able to use much creativity, high turnover rate, little opportunity for career development
The team is young and international & the work is varied, but it doesn't compensate for the stress symptoms and the exploitation.
I received no training whatsoever and was directly thrown into a stressful environment with lots of responsibility. Management is inexperienced and generally disorganized and discouraging, they guilt trip you for any beginners mistake. You are expected to work many hours of overtime and occasional weekends, with no pay whatsoever. You are also expected to join formal dinners after work, with the explanation that it's "for fun" but it's discussed as if mandatory, and you are excluded from the team if you don't participate every time (these events are most evenings) In addition, there is an emergency phone that you have to take every fourth week and carry 24/7. You receive no training or information beforehand, I got it after working less than one and a half months - in the middle of a pandemic, may I add. You don't get paid for this, yet it's never mentioned in your contract. Management don't have to take it, it's always pushed on junior staff member. Cultish working culture where you are shamed if you don't eat, breathe and sleep EF. This causes an extremely high staff turnover. The official working hours are 9-6 if you don't take a lunch break, 9-7 if you do (most people eat in front of their computer, and we don't get a discount in the canteen) In addition, you are expected to stay overtime. The pay is minimum wage and there are no bonuses, no vacation days and no health insurance. I was out with bad covid for two weeks and proved this, I didn't receive a cent and was shame
优点Literally none.
缺点As mentioned in the review, and many more.
1.0
English As A Second Language Teacher | Oxford | 2023年1月3日
You will be overworked and underpaid.
worked with some amazing people at EF. The teaching team is the most diverse I've ever come across - with a mix of ages, cultures, interests, etc. I met some real friends for life and I cannot recommend the team enough.
But unfortunately, that's the only real positive. Oh, tell a lie. Sometimes they buy you donuts.
The teaching team will consist of hourly teachers (90%) with the rest being made of up contracted staff. Hourly teachers are paid around £15 an hour whilst the contracted staff are paid roughly £20,000 a year. In a city that is one of the most expensive to live in, it is farcical that the company can happily pay so little. What's more, the teaching staff have not had a pay rise since 2016. The management will do everything they can to give hours to contracted staff (despite making promises to them that they won't be given all day shifts). This means that contracted staff end up earning about £10 an hour. Planning is not paid. Extra admin stuff (like filling in grades and schemes of work) is not paid. As you will most likely be working from 8:45am-5pm, most of your free time will be spent planning.
You will be overworked and underpaid and if you even dare to question it you will be blacklisted and lose your hours. They have an incredibly high turnover of staff. I worked at EF Oxford for 15 months and must have worked with upwards of 60 different teachers. There are only 15 classrooms.
Management are rude and obnoxious. Communication is extremely poor and there
优点Sometimes there would be donuts in the staff canteen, I think they paid for lunch a few times, The teaching team is amazing.
缺点Not paid enough and the company do not want to do anything about it.
Before working with EF online I researched all the online companies I was able to locate. Then I rated the companies from the first to the tenth. EF fulfilled all the areas of I was looking for. I applied and got the position. I worked here for about 2 months. I had hoped to work longer ,but my internet became an issue. Although I had not had issue with my internet in the past I did find out several months later that the signal was low in the back portion of my home. If I come across another opportunity I will be working from the front of my home. After leaving EF Online I have not applied with another service. I felt that I was already at the best one available. I appreciate the fact they were organized, they did not baby me, they were operated by mature adults, they respected those of us who did not teach as if we were part clown. While I was upset that I had to depart the company I respect their decision. I saw that they are involved in online teaching outside of China and I plan to investigate that.
I hope that those teachers that worked in China did not lose the positions and were hopefully able to secure a position in the centres. I am hopeful that I am able to one come to China and visit the learning Centres. Coming from a music background I would like to visit public schools in China, as well.
All the people employed with EF were helpful and very nice. I really hope that I am able to to reconnect with them in the future. While I would not have been able to suppo
优点Plenty of assistance. questions answered on a timely basis, friendly staff both in states, and abroad
缺点With the company none. With my internet server- weak signal in back part of house
2.0
English As A Second Language Teacher | Remote | 2022年10月20日
Great students, poor treatment of remote teachers
The orientation program and the platform are very intuitive, easy to use and during your trial period, you get assigned a mentor that guides you through how the EF platform works. I had two different mentors who were amazing, experienced people at the beginning and made the transition smooth.
You open up availability every week. On Thursdays, classes are assigned to you according to the availability you set the week before. Getting classes was not ever a problem until Autumn 2021 when the company decided to overhire a lot of new, inexperienced tutors from not-so-developed countries to cut down labour costs that more qualified, veteran native-speaking teachers like myself were causing the company.
Apart from that, the management changed during the pandemic. It was previously managed by a former ESL teacher with a business background but in late 2019, the new management was comprised of people with a business background that had little to no regard/respect for teachers and applied a series of policies that made it extremely difficult to get students.
Last but not least, their cancellation policy is outrageous. You get paid 40% of the hourly rate ONLY if the student cancels the class within 2 hours of the class starting time. Otherwise, if the student cancels within 48 hours, your class slot is left blank and you can only replace the time you've lost if you're lucky enough to be able to get a sub from the board (which seldom happens). To add insult to injury, if the student
优点Amazing adult students, flexible scheduling, no lesson preparation
缺点Extremely low hourly rate, no room for growth, dismissive management, unstable income
My time with EF as firstly the Senior Residence Coordinator and later the Assistant Accommodation Manager has been a fantastic experience.
From the day-to-day running of the students staying in Host Families - where I get to interact with all our families first hand and deal with any issues - to dealing with all the excitement that goes on on a daily basis at our student halls of residence, I have gained so much experience in terms of management, problem solving and being in charge of a large budget.
I have been handed the opportunity to forge my skills in a management position, with up to 14 staff at any one time under my control. Having to deal with the extra little things such as rotas, staff pay and team morale have definitely been an eye opener for myself, as it makes any job 10 times more complicated. However, I feel confident in my ability to fit everything in and make sure I have absolute team harmony with everyone pulling in the same direction.
The hardest part of my job is certainly the summer, where I am almost on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 2 months. However, this is all made worth it in the end when I can see all out students have had a great time and they are safe in doing so.
Although the long hours and little rest are very hard in the summer, seeing the happy students in school every day and reading their evaluations with great reports from their accommodation and my staff makes it all worth it and this is definitely the best bit about my job.
优点Great colleagues, top experience, lots of responsibility, meet people from all kinds of cultural backgrounds
缺点Poor pay, long hours during peak times with not much pay back
