AVOID AT ALL COSTS - International English Teacher English 1 Employee Review

- Upper management is either a complete mess or sees teachers as disposable: I was hired in June; the location I was assigned to was set to close at the end of September. I can think of two reasons for this: either a lack of communication between schools and HQ leading to a bad assignment, or they needed another teacher to cover the summer workload and would get rid of the teacher soon after. - Incoming teachers have inconsistent and sometimes unrealistic workloads: Other international teachers, assigned to more successful schools, had more time to acclimate and learn the ropes of teaching. My boss (DOS) just threw me into an almost full workload of teaching (approx 25 hours, out of 30) without giving me adequate training. - Lack of support: My DOS constantly gave me negative feedback. When I improved, she almost never acknowledged it and instead found more flaws. The sudden workload and constant negative feedback stressed me out and I expressed that. She simply said that this is a stressful job and that I would have to suck it up. - Shadiness: Two weeks before the end of my probation period, my DOS stopped giving me feedback. Her last observation was done three weeks before the end of the probationary period. She told me to upload lesson plans and that she'd observe another if she had time. When it came time for my performance review, I learned she never looked at the lesson plans and didn't even know they existed. Instead of saying that I had failed probation and giving me my bad scores, they had me resign, and they had me stay until the end of September. Coincidentally, that was when the center would close and combine with another center. Later, I overheard that when they combined, they only wanted four international teachers. Coincidentally, that center had four international teachers. Maybe they wanted me to save face by having me resign "voluntarily", but something tells me that this company doesn't work on a selfless basis. At least by staying I could pay off the flight and hotel the company had booked. The contract had some shady things written into it as well. For instance, if an employee decides to work for a competitor, they have to pay EF 3 months of their wages. Pointlessness: It's not like the other teachers were much more successful at getting the kids to learn English. The company tricks parents into thinking that kids are learning English, since most Chinese parents can't speak English well.