English 1 reviews

From worst to least worst: * EF Management will not keep their word. I worked there for 9 months then put in my two months notice and even have screenshots of my DoS saying my work visa would be transferred to my new school. EF waited until my last week to tell me they, and the investors, were refusing to transfer my work visa and I’d have to return to the USA in a few days or I’d be in the country illegally and face jail time. I am now in the US. * EF will go behind your back and cancel your permits without your consent or knowledge but inform you last minute. * You aren’t actually trained but are instructed to observe a fellow teacher and after a week begin co- teaching then receive the classes from the teacher who left before you. I went without a Senior Teacher observing me ever for 8 months and received no feedback. * The curriculum is very slow moving and poorly planned. Students in Small Stars (whether in Blue, A,B, or C) will learn to parrot questions and answers but aren’t actually learning how to have a conversation. It’s almost as if the authors of the curriculum spread out a course book over several courses and levels. Students in Small Stars, version 2.0 or 3.0, will learn the “what is it? It’s a ___” structure and really only two other structures which are “do you like____? Yes I do / no I don’t” and “how many___? 3 ___”. They can’t actually ask a native English speaker about themselves but they can ask “what time do you go home in the evening?” Even after going from Small Stars Blue through Small Stars C. It’s not conducive to interacting with native English speakers or foreigners. * The schedule for the following week will be made Sunday evening or even Monday of that week. * Newest teachers will be assigned Marketing Events due to their free schedule. Marketing at EF Jiaxing was a nightmare where I would speak to someone a week prior about an event I was assigned to only to be told nothing was needed of me except my attendance and participation. Come the day of the marketing team member would frantically ask me to prepare something like a report to read students or flash cards for a recent holiday then tell me the event isn’t 30 minutes as on my schedule but two hours. Also it isn’t in the center anymore it’s at a library on a stage. * The weekly workshops at EF Jiaxing contain no development or educational value. They are workshops for 3 hours that contain menial tasks corporate didn’t want to bother with and handed them down the ladder.

TLDR; -disorganized management - poor communication skills -terrible hours As a disclaimer, I am willing to admit that the company as a whole must have some good aspects about it given that it has grown so much within the past 5 decades. It is one of the world's leading ESL education providers and that does not happen overnight. That being said, the management at my particular school in Russia was disorganized and demonstrated poor communication skills time and time again. Several months before arriving, the HR department provided me with a labor contract. As soon as I got there, I was told I had to sign a different contract. The key differences between the two contracts were that I would have to work weekends and that the school was not obligated to pay for my housing. I was also told before arriving that the school would find me a place to stay. Two days before arriving, my manager told me that they couldn't find me a spot "because it was hard to find a landlord who would rent to a foreigner", but "it will be okay, you can stay in a hotel for a couple days and then surely, you'll find someone". WHAT!? Thank goodness my girlfriend was able to find a mutual contact who lived in the city where I would work, so that was taken care of. We arrived and suddenly, magically, I was told that they had found an apartment for me, of course it was significantly more expensive than the one we had found. When I told them we had found a spot on our own, their eyes lit up like a deer in headlights, "REALLY!? HOW!? THEY SAID THEY WOULD RENT TO YOU, AND DO THE REGISTRATION!?" I was met with skepticism from the get-go. This attitude carried over into the work environment. The management and other coworkers were very much the type to let problems linger and build up until the damage had already been done. Ultimately, I knew I could teach, but being there made me feel like I couldn't. At the same time, my planning and organization skills did improve. They had to, imagine 4, 2-hour classes back to back with less than 10 minutes in between.