Program Reviews

EF is a very large and well-established education company. As a result, they are very good at bringing in international teachers: every part of the process, from my visa application to arrival and onboarding, was professionally handled, and I never had to worry about being left adrift in Shanghai.

For similar reasons, I never had to worry about what to do in the classroom. EF's teaching materials are professionally designed, frequently updated to use new technology, and very teacher-friendly.

I was a teacher with EF in Shanghai for more than 2 years, and as of tomorrow I'm leaving my school to work in the company's main China office. I've had a great time overall, with wonderful Chinese colleagues and other international teachers from all over the world. There are plenty of opportunities for travel, socializing, and professional development, depending on what you're interested in. Plenty of international teachers just come to teach for a year and go home, some of my friends wanted to branch out into non-ESL teaching and found it easy to move on to international schools, and I was able to move into product development when I wanted to do something new.

Work at EF

I have been working in EF as a teacher for over three years. If you ask me about my experience in EF, I can tell you it is an learning organisation where you can truly enjoy the privilege of being a teacher. Here you can not only meet teachers from various cultures but also have opportunities to learn, apply and try. The trainings and courses cover a wide range from practical onboard training to different online courses (in both academic and management areas).

On top of that, here in EF, if you are talented, you have numerous opportunities to shine. Take myself for example, last year I was enrolled in a EF Teens school material development team, where I worked with other creative and hardworking teachers, and get the supported autonomy from the senior managers. You can imagine the moment when all the project participants received the book they co-wrote and read the thank you note from the project leader.

If you want to enjoy the privilege of being a teacher in a dynamic learning organisation, EF is definitely your best choice!

Unlike some other schools, EF has it's own courses and books. There is a lot of room within the pre-made lesson plans for the teacher to incorporate their own ideas and games. And since EF is a big company there is room for growth and promotion. You can continue to be a teacher or you can move to marketing, or research or other jobs within the company. The pay isn't bad either for non-Chinese employees, within my first two years of living in China I have visted three other countries and countless towns and cities in China. Shanghai is like every big city in the world as there are H&M's, carrefour, Toys r us, and other foriegn stores here. The Visa process was easy and uncomplicated for me. I greatly enjoy working with EF and I have just finished my second year.

EF is a very good initial company to work for as they will provide you with a lot of assistance when it comes to getting Visas and getting settled in a new country.
They are also good at helping you to develop within the company especially if you are proactive in this area.
The two main negatives about EF is that compared to international schools the holiday and pay isn't great, but there is more support and the requirements are less demanding. The second thing is that EF is a business and so will prioritise customer satisfaction.

I have been with EF for almost two years, and plan on renewing my contract for a third year. Ef always pays you, and always pays on time. You get options for insurance, and the options are great. As a teacher for Kids and Teens, you have excellent resources available, from textbooks, flashcards and games, to an interactive whiteboard. Lessons are very easy to teach, with all materials provided. Your visa is 100% legit, not like some other schools in China that give you an illegal visa. What I enjoy the most about my school, is the team of people I work with. They are the reason I am happy to work for EF.

EF is a great place to work if you want to develop with a well-known company in the ESL field. You can get involved in lots of different things - including completely qualifications like the CertTESOL and the DipTESOL, you can also get involved in writing for some of the courses as well as lead projects in your school. Because it is a big company you are not tied into teaching forever (although you can move up in teaching) but can move into other aspects of the company.
Whether you work for online, kids and teens or adults, EF changes quickly and in the time I have been here nearly all the courses have changed a little bit with more technology being used and extra materials being provided to help teachers.

For those seeking an international teaching experience, EF has locations around the world. Working with kids, teens and adults, the centers allow students to take lessons with local and foreign teachers.

Diversity is EF's middle name as the native English teachers come from a wide-range of backgrounds but their commonality is their love of children and education.

Adding a creative spin to the structured curriculum, teachers add in stories, games and songs to enrich the lessons as well as making learning fun. Seeing students' progress, understand a new idea or have fun learning makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Get ready to start a new chapter of your life and open the book on your EF career.

Working with EF is like any other job, if you put the work in, you will receive just as much back.

I came to China in early 2013, being my first ESL job i was quite daunted by the thought of travelling across the world. EF recruitment made this process much easier by offering great support and answering the many questions that I had.

Once I arrived with my intake group we were put in hotel in the center of the city for 2 weeks whilst we got to grips with the city and introductions. We were given an agent to help us find an apartment who was very helpful and tried her best to get us a discount on the rent.

The first 2 weeks are filled with training's and introductions to the many parts of the company. This often flies and next thing you will be working in your center.

As a new teacher I was given all the support I needed and was assigned a mentor to help me through the first 2 months. The staff at my center were very helpful and guided me throughout.

I really recommend working for EF but thought giving advice would be better than talking about individual instances of blame and praise.

The Recruitment Process.
You have Skype interviews where you find out more about EF and they find out more about you:
- Have your documents scanned and ready for submission.
- Check emails regularly and double check interview times for your local time and China.
- Be honest about what type of city and students you want. Adults, Kids or Online students. Big modern or smaller traditional town. Ask yourself why and then communicate it.
- Wait until the confirmation from EF before you book your flight.
- Take the free online Chinese classes while you wait, it gets you into 'China' mode and you will be surprised how much you remember when you get there.

On-boarding.
You are given two weeks in a hotel with your fellow newbies and have training with them. Most people find a good friend or two from this group:
- Take the interest free salary advance, having that cash as a buffer is very useful.
- You have two ears and one mouth. Your listening to talking ratio should be the same, there will be a lot of new information so give yourself the time to take it in.
- Download apps called 'WeChat' and 'pleco' they are very useful. Try to have unlock your phone from its carrier before you come.

Training.
You will be given an online TEFL certification before you arrive and get a free qualification from the University of Cambridge called the TKT. Every week you have a training sessions ran by your boss:
- Sign up for the free distant learning courses, especially if you are a newer teacher. They help you if you stay but make your more employable if you leave.
- The CertTESOL and DipTESOL are also available but you have to pay for them. If you are staying in ESL then make taking these very high on your list of to dos.
- The free Chinese classes help when you are a beginner but you will want to find a tutor if you want to go beyond that

Salary.

I lived in the most expensive city in China with the highest cost of living and I am from London where I am used to paying over the odds. The salary gives you enough to live comfortably but not extravagantly.

- Rent is your biggest expense, live with other people instead of your own. It saves money and is more fun. Why fly half way around the world to be a recluse?
- Bring an emergency credit card, your home country banking card and a little savings.
- Sign up the medical cover offered by Met life with your package. It makes things so much easier than trying to skimp and get caught out.

The Company Culture.

EF is a business that sells education to paying customers. This is good and bad. Most people think of education as being altruist and usually in the state sector.

- Customers satisfaction is important to the company so keep that in mind. If you have experience in the service industry you will know the customer is usually right even if he is usually wrong.

- Most of your colleagues will be Chinese and that might present challenges because of cultural misunderstandings. As soon as you say 'back home we....’ you have lost the argument and missed the point of why you are not at home.

- You will progress if you’re proactive and competent but some of the promotion structures are a bit opaque. Management varies but highlighting a problem and offering a solution will stand you in good stead.

- Most people work weekends and unusual hours to match when the students can take classes. I miss having a normal schedule.

The Teaching/Classroom experience

None of the centres are more than 10 years old and most are usually placed close to a train station. They are usually in shopping malls so that was different from my idea of a school.

- The best part of the job are the students, they will view you with curiosity and bombard you with questions. Some might seem strange but remember that 98% of people are Han ethnic Chinese, they haven't met someone like you.

- The majority of lesson planning is done for you because the materials are prepared by the company and focus more on speaking and listening communicative tasks. This is very different from traditional lecture style classes and experienced teachers from none ESL backgrounds might find that challenging.

- The work is easy and
Final thought:

EF is a good company that will suit a lot of people but not everyone. Being the largest company in the industry and having schools in 60 cities mean there is variation so some of the very good and bad reviews might be isolated instances.

Going on a website like this is a good start but also educate yourself on China and ask the recruiter for testimonials or a chance to speak to current teacher.

The person who has the most power to affect your experience is you. Be proactive, open to change and honest with yourself.

EF did a horrble job at helping us accommodate to China. They did not even tell us that we needed 100RMB for the security deposit at that low-quality hotel they made us stay at (which, by the way, they changed it to at the very last minute--great planning, huh?). Furthermore, EF poorly advised us on how to choose an apartment. They made it sound like we HAD to use an agent, and find a place RIGHT AWAY, regardless of how ridiculously expensive the rent was. They don't care! HQ is utterly and totally unreliable. Why do they not respond to e-mails? Why do they take forever to get things done? Third, we had awful healthy insurance. Our policy from socialist Sweden takes forever to reimburse the money--I had to e-mail them several times to get my money, and I had to pay a money transfer fee whenever they paid me back--outrageous! Why couldn't those idiots just pay me back in RMB?

EF teaching materials are for the pits. Slides are replete with vague and incomplete grammar explanations, as well as just inappropriate topics for a Chinese audience (one lesson asks students to say what they would change about government--since they didn't want to go to jail, class didn't go so well).

Management COULDNT CARE LESS about employees and what they think. Even though WE are the ones who do the teaching, and know what is best for the students, our opinions do not matter. EF is only concerned with the profits they can get from the naive Chinese consumer, who would be better off taking lessons at Wall Street or WEB International English. I knew a guy who almost got fired for expressing his religious views. It is not wonder the turnover rate is so high, and EF does not even pay for your airfare.