I heard one manger tell another “teachers are resources” in defence that they would transfer us to another city or sack us. More work, no pay raise, less teachers, more students, less and less respect and consideration. On top of it all things change almost every week as the compsny in China seems to be struggling. You are given classes with little warning, all the time it’s like they don’t respect we need to plan things and it’s very stressful. They provide materials which is the excuse for low pay and forgetting teachers need to plan classes but the material is minimal, the classes as given are not very engaging and you need time to rework them. Six classes every day, sometimes six + activities and demo classes. However as you become more experienced naturally they expect more, which is understandable but, it fast becomes too much. In my first year in EF it was lovely, a fair work load, support and good people, I had an amazing boss then that really respected us and protected us from the higher-ups. VERY corporate: not the kind of place you should start if you are looking to begin a legitimate teaching career or already have teaching experience.
You have to give a relatively large notice when taking personal leave. Holidays: Plenty of personal leave days, but they don’t make up for the amount of holiday days you would have elsewhere. Because you don’t have a traditional weekend, it can be difficult to meet people you don’t work with. VERY low pay compared to what’s offered in China (could have changed since I’ve left, but I was earning roughly ¥5000 less per month than my next job) Insane work hours during peak periods (Summer 2020 we worked 6-day weeks for 6 weeks with extra classes on top of our regular classes)
Good continuous training (Free Cambridge certifications such as TKT and CELTA) Plenty of materials for in-class activities Resources are easy to understand and navigate Great support logistically (finding housing, bank transfers, etc) For sure not a bad place to start if you have no teaching experience, but not the kind of place you’ll benefit from long term if you’re serious about a teaching career. Overall not a bad experience for myself, but I think this was simply because they liked me (I read prior to accepting my contract that it can be more of a popularity contest, and that wasn’t entirely false). I started at EF Hangzhou in 2019 just before the pandemic and left in 2021 when my contract finished.