English 1 reviews

3.9

79% would recommend to a friend

(1,198 total reviews)
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Adele Bai

82% approve of CEO

76% positive business outlook

English 1 has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 1,198 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The English 1 employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Educación industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
1.0
Apr 15, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Hmm- they get us to china. Free tickets, TEFL, and umm- that’s it! Oh- and they pay salary on time/ but shouldn’t they all?

Cons

When I started talking to other teachers outside EL(Education Last) I found out my salary is very low. EF English First(Education Last) will only pay 13,667 RMB per month. I found that other jobs pay anywhere between 18,000-30,000 RMB! Stay away from here. The school is so sales and money oriented. They should change the company name to Money First, Education Last! They don’t care about the wellbeing of the teachers. During the summer time and winter time, we have to work 6 days a week and teach about 35 hours a week! That’s very exhausting!!!! When you want to quit EF, they will force you to give them back your passport so they can cancel your resident permit. Remember! This is illegal- check with your labor board to see what is your rights. The company is very political- they promote people who can really toss salad rather than people who are capable or managing. No wonder EF sucks! Look elsewhere for jobs.

1.0
Apr 13, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They get you to China- I suppose. There are lots of freebies- but they come at a price. Free TEFL, prepaid flights, and 2 weeks free hotel.

Cons

The salary is the industry low! Only 13,677 RMB a month. Many other entry level jobs pay between 16,000-20,000 RMB a month. For the TEFL, they do offer for free, but you will spend 120 hours on it. If you change your mind to go to another company, they won’t even give you option to pay for your certificate. It’s a very shady way of entrapping you. Just go to Groupon and get an inexpensive TEFL yourself. EF violates a law- when you quit, or finish your contract, they will ask you to turn in your passport to convert your resident permit to a exit visa. This is actually illegal and by law, they are supposed to cancel your FEC and give you the release letter, so that you can go to your next employment and transfer your resident status over. However, many naive people don’t know that and let Education Last screw them over. The Chinese management sucks. They don’t care about the livelyhood of teachers. During summer and winter intensive, although the max work hour is 40, they will bully you to working 45 even 50! If not, they will threaten to fire you. That’s what happened to me, and I was depressed for like 3 days... why only 3 days? I got 3 job offers paying double of what EF paid me. EF firing me was the best thing that happened to me! However, why go through this hassle, just don’t work for EF(EDUCATION LAST) from the beginning. I guarantee you will be happier.

3.0
Apr 10, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You get to work with some great kids and there is a lot of opportunity to move up within EF.

Cons

If you don't have an interest in moving up with EF, the pressure from higher ups can be brutal.

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English 1 Response
8y
Thank you for your review. We're constantly trying to improve our teacher experience. If you have further suggestions, we'd like to hear from you. Please email teacher.feedback@ef.com.
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