EF is a scam! - ESL Teacher English 1 Employee Review

1.0
Dec 20, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The school I worked for provided me with housing and picked me up from the airport. They paid me on time.

Cons

This is a terrible company! They are the Walmart equivalent of ESL teaching. They are a very large international company that makes most of its money in China because it is able to take advantage of the lack of workers' rights and the Chinese population's fascination with white faces. They also have ties with the government because it is illegal for a foreigner to teach in China without a Bachelor's degree, but I knew quite a few teachers with EF that did not hold a degree. It is quite sad because the parents pay $1,000s for these courses because they want their children to have an edge, as their children are their only retirement plan. These classes are taught completely unprofessionally from many unexperienced teachers (most of the good teachers leave) who are tired from 50 – 60 hours of work each week. The students are not receiving quality teaching. The material taught to the students (books and online components) allows the students to progress very slowly, so that the school can make as much money as possible from the parents, and there is a lack of support for the teachers. When I started I was thrown into many classes without even knowing what I was doing. Throughout the year I taught there, I was never trained on many facets of the job, even though I frequently asked for help. The courses are a joke and would never work in many countries, but because China is obsessed with white faces, the school is able to scam the parents, the foreign teachers, and the students.

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Pros

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Cons

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2.0
Sep 25, 2025
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Pros

The freedom to work at home and the students.

Cons

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