english as a second language teacher

teacher

instructor

english teacher

51Talk

Like many of the teachers here, I enjoyed teaching the children and few adults that popped up on my screen and (probably) because I look like a stereotypical blonde blue-eyed American got plenty of bookings. The pay was okay for not having to leave the house. The hours were really tough for me, 3 am to 7 am generally. I did have two occasions where boy students exposed themselves to me. You can report them and won't get paired up with them again, not sure what happens after that.

I was also selected among the first groups to offer their 4-student classroom trial and took the training for that. I didn't like it -- you have to manage 4 kids and prepare a lot more materials for not much more pay.

The main problem you will encounter is when you do have to miss (for instance, if there's an unexpected power outage, or if a dang rat chewed through your internet cord outside, as actually happened to me one time). They tell you that you can phone an absence hotline or try to Skype someone but no one ever ever answered that phone for me and even Skype can be spotty, though at least you have written proof that you tried (if you can even use Skype at that juncture). What will likely happen is that they charge you for missing class anyhow and you have to fight it afterwards which is really tough. The admins in that process are via chat function and my experience was to wait for hours for them to respond and then their English comprehension and expression was seriously confusing.

So I finally ended my work there when one day I woke up and tried to start teaching, when all of a sudden my reliable Lenovo computer shows me the "blue screen of death." I tried every which way to get it to recover, safe mode, all that -- nothing. The OS was completely inoperable. When I took it into the shop, it turns out that 51Talk's buggy software is what did it in. I was so upset and when I used my friend's laptop to explain what happened in the aforementioned chat function, the admins could not seem to grasp what happened. 

To their credit, they didn't penalize for a few classes that were missed but the general frustration and stress of trying to resolve problems at this company was not worth it in the end. And I'm not letting them kill another one of my computers, haha. It's worth a shot if you have any interest but be prepared for some headaches. They really should allow the crew in the Philippines to handle fee adjustments; they tend to have better comprehension than the crew in China in my experience.

I've never had experience teaching kids. Never. But I always knew I can be very engaging to the little ones. And there's always been that curiosity if I have what it takes to be a teacher... until 1 day, I decided to try ESL teaching at 51Talk.

Everything went well in my first few days. Although on the 2nd day of my application (4-5 days), I felt that this is a lot of pressure knowing I had to shell out PHP 4,000 for my new equipment for ESL teaching.

Anyway, after passing all 4 levels of the application process, I went on with the actual work. Surprisingly, if not all, I would only have 1-2 slots unbooked during my afternoon-evening schedule. And I've read from so many teacher about only getting very few students even after opening slots for the whole day. So I know, I'm very lucky to be in this situation and I was really excited about the whole experienced UNTIL THE PENALTIES CAME INTO THE PICTURE.

I'm just a wee bit close to a month and I've already maxed my absence. 2 absences in one day when I got stuck in traffic otw home and 1 absence in 1 day where THE DSL JUST WENT OFF RIGHT BEFORE I TAKE MY 1ST CLASS OF THE DAY!!! Now I'm sure you guys would understand... it's not my fault right. I tried reconnecting for around 15 minutes and still no luck.

So I had to call support to ask for help and they were just NOT HELPFUL ABOUT THIS AT ALL. They will just tell you that there's a penalty to be paid for this and it is already considered absence. And that I should rush to work at the center already. So I did. I rode a taxi.

Classes continued at the center today but I couldn't help but imagine how big my penalties are compared to my salary. It stresses me out really horribly.

I got charged for about a total of PHP600 because of what happened. At it sucks because that's 1 day full of work already... THAT IS NEVER FAIR, 51Talk. 

If you guys never change those negative aspects in handling your students, your teachers will find a way to TRANSFER TO A BETTER COMPANY. What we all deserve. Where we should be treated with respect. I'm already researching on Japanese ESLs right now.

If there's 1 thing to really change at 51Talk for this 2019. It would be your TERIBBLE PENALTIES.

KINDLY LOWER THE DEDUCTIONS. PLEASE BE FAIR TO TEACHERS.

The only pros are that the children are fun to work with and that the hours are in the middle of the night, which makes for a lot of time for your social life (but that could also be a con because I couldn't ever get more than 20 hours a week).

The cons list is endless. The communication is absolutely awful, the tech you teach with is downright archaic and frequently doesn't work, every time you talk to support (which will be often, I assure you) they are guaranteed to be under-informed, when you have to talk to support again about the same issue (which, again, you will have to do) they will all give different answers from each other about what is and isn't the case.  The lessons themselves are okay but don't have enough material to last long enough without seriously stretching out every word and the children obviously feel patronized by this. In Group Classes you still have to teach for 45 minutes even if only one student shows up, which is pretty much impossible without repeating yourself over and over and OVER which is not productive for the child and very frustrating as a teacher. I mentioned to them that patronizing children is not a good way to teach them and all they said was “well stay in there all 45 minutes anyway” which means they don’t care at all if the student is in a good working environment, just that the teacher stays in there until class ends. Lastly, and probably the worst, is that the link for AC (the teaching application they use) that was given to me by a 51Talk support member gave me some sort of bloatware that opens an empty window with a 51Talk logo every time I start my machine and severely slows down my start up time and this mysterious program is still on my computer even after uninstalling AC. I talked to support about them literally giving me a virus and they told me they don't give out viruses and that I should talk to a local tech about it. They just blew me off after their program put a virus on my computer. Seriously I can't stress enough how much of a headache it is to work with HAWO and 51Talk. Unless you have completely unending patience to spare, don't bother.

I've only been working for 51Talk for about 7 weeks, but I love what I’m doing. I have read a lot of negative comments about the company, but that has not been my experience at all.

For comparison, I worked with a tutoring company here in America for the last 4 years. I received a flat fee of $10/class (45 minute classes) with the possibility of working 10 classes a week, and there were no raises or recognition of good work. I'm not complaining; I enjoyed what I did, but I missed dinner every night as the classes were in the evening, and due to holidays, absenteeism, illness, etc., I averaged about $150 per month because for the last two years there were not enough students to give all the teachers a full schedule. 

At 51Talk I earn $18/group class (45 minutes) or $7.50 for a one-on-one class (25 minutes). I’ve opened a 2-hour block of classes M-F, and I’m already earning 4 times or more per month than what I was getting at my old company. I have the option of opening as many classes as I want so I could make a great deal more, but what I have now works with my schedule the best. I have also received an extra incentive for teaching 50 classes, and there are a lot of ways to earn more. If you complete the training modules there are raises, and there are several different ways to earn incentives.

In my experience, if you are a reliable teacher who enjoys what you do, you’ll have a great career with 51Talk. I’ve read about staff being uninterested in helping teachers or being rude, but I have found the opposite to be true. Whenever I’ve had an issue the tech team is right there to help me, and if I’ve needed help with something in my classes, the trainers make themselves available. You’re also assigned two different staff members to be your personal support staff, and they can (and do!) help in a timely manner. I’ve not been treated rudely by a single person at 51Talk, and even when I totally missed a class because of a power outage turning off my alarm, my support people were kind about it. 

This is a great company for which to work!

I work for 51talk for one year and four months. At first months I feel dedicated and energized to have a class because I want to be promoted even its a part-time job only. I work at 6:00-8:30 and it was good because of flexible schedules even though they want to have 65 slots opened. The trainers are good and friendly also, including our team and captain. I have became friends with my students from young to adult learners but the management is really bad. I am happy with my job until I realized that one of my student said that one of the highest expenses that they pay is the 51talk but I wonder why the teachers has a very low compensation and benefits. When you are absent the penalty is 200 especially if you did not self-tagged for unexpected absences but they have substitute teachers for that. The penalty is really big than your salary and when I was promoted before Junior teacher I have 63 per class, then they changed the system and now I am senior teacher I have 62 pesos per class. Isn't it a shame? you got promoted but your salary became lesser. The best part was they said you have incentives, the incentives for real are +3, +4 or the highest +5 pesos for every mission. If you are a newbie and want experience you can apply here but don't expect to have 70k or 60k because no matter how you work hard you will not reach it, unless you work until your throat is in sore. Enjoy the students but do not expect growth and loyalty from this company. I am an office based and a home based teacher. I feel sorry for the company because of how the way they treat their teachers. Without US teachers, your ESL company is nothing so treat your teachers special.

I understand that it should be quite important for a company to have to satisfy its customers. However, it is also important to take care of their employees. I've taught at 51Talk for a while now, and here's what I think:

1. They do not care about you all that much. Students are always going to be much more prioritized than you. They don't pay as well as other companies do, and pay raises are negligible.

2. They make you pay for cancelling a class. Even when you have a truly valid reason, you will have to pay at least 35 pesos deducted from your salary. It's not like you will get paid for having your class booked. So basically, you would have lost around 90 Php for a class that you cancel. 35 php plus ~55(average pay per class for teachers). That's not fair. It would make sense not to get paid for that class. But I do not understand why the teacher would have to pay fines.

3. You have to open a lot of classes to get paid decently. 

4. There are NO benefits of any sort for home-based teachers. They just pay you for every lesson. Sure, there are incentives (sometimes) but even those incentives are negligible.

5. The effort you put in is not going to be reciprocated. There are no advancements in career here. This is not a company that you can work at for a long time. You will not have good social security.

6. You choose your schedule. However, that doesn't mean you can work whenever you want. You are required to open a number of classes every two weeks or so. I am working while still going to school, so this is a problem for me. Between my school and my work, there is barely time for myself.

7. This is the fast-food chain of ESL companies. You're not an asset. You're replaceable.

The people, such as the recruiter and the trainers that I dealt with face-to-face were helpful, competent and friendly. The teaching was great and I had pages of 'excellent' student evaluations.  

The day to day experience of deailing with the company outside of that was painful.  There were endless tech and admin issues requiring disproportionate time and energy to deal with.  

The real problems were the growing number of issues that, at first appeared to be glitches, or oversights but then were clearly signs of a business operating in bad faith. 

Goal posts changed for promotions, required training - for promotion- became inaccessible (no bookings available for weeks and then when I booked in the trainer was not given my correct details and did not include me); hours trying to sort out payment in a timely fashion - within the standard pay cycle, which I thought was organised but I still have not received a transfer for well over 100 lessons.  Slots automatically filled for Free Classes that I did open (I knew before I started I was away on these days) and then being told I would be billed penalties for these classes.  

The students were great.  The basic administration was hopeless and the policies reflected a complete lack of awareness of the distinction between employee and contractor as well as requirements of doing business in a global context today.   Most of all though: payment.  Work somewhere else if you want to get paid.

REASONS WHY YOU SHOULDN'T WORK HERE:
1. NOT pro-employee
2. Low pay. Starting is just 54/class. (This would've t been okay if #3 didn't exist.)
3. Has a lot of unnecessary ridiculously high deductions. If the student had some connection problems during the lesson, you can't post a lesson memo and your student will tag you absent in which you're going to have a deduction of 200 freaking pesos even if technically, you were not "absent" as you were in the room the entire 25mins. (Notice how it's ridiculously higher than the pay per class? Haha, that doesn't stop there.
4. They don't even have an HR Department. All your concerns are just going to be catered by some incompetent people in their "Support" and "Technical" Department who don't seem to know what they are doing and just follows a script.
5. Their "Support" and "Technical" Department are incompetent and doesn't seem to have knowledge of what they are doing so asking for their help is just a waste of time.
6. I don't even know if they're operating legally as they don't deduct taxes and don't care if you pay them yourselves or not. And again, their HR Department is non-existent. 
7. Surely, some kids are great and they make your day but some of the kids are also lousy and mannerless and will just speak profanities to you the entire lesson. And 51talk doesn't give teachers an option to not be booked by that student again. That's how much of a "NOT pro-employee" of a company they are.

REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD WORK HERE:
1. NONE

I have worked for similar companies, and am most comfortable with 51Talk. The help desk is polite and does their best to answer questions accurately. The company in general is fun and also understanding. They value good effort and do not make me feel like I am at their mercy. I see some complaints about the absence penalty, but I'd rather have that than be fired on the spot like similar companies do. With other companies, you might be fired just for being late, much less absent. This is speaking from experience. 51Talk understands we are human and not just machines to make money off of. They realize that mutual appreciation is in order. I feel nothing but grateful for the opportunity to work from home for only a few hours a day and pay all of my bills.

If I could make improvements, it would be:
- to allow 24/4 availability
- to allow group classes at all hours 
- to have more weekend support 
- to have another immediate support method if you cannot get in the site (such as a phone number to call, etc)
- some processes are complicated, such as if there is a payment issue or edits to your profile

Of course, more students and more pay would be great, but this is not completely in their control and that must be understood.

Their headquarters is ultra-competitive. That, coupled with ill-informed upper-management, makes for a toxic work environment. Rather than making changes to push the company forward, middle managers are encouraged to make change for the sake of change. A couple of examples:

-recruitment was pressured to double (DOUBLE!) the number of teachers within a single month, despite the lack of demand from students

-all private student/teacher information is stored on unsecured and poorly-designed CRM system the IT team persuaded management to build in-house

-a team of 70+ content writers re-wrote the entire curriculum 5 times in under 2 years, with no noticeable improvement or change in methodology

In general, upper-management seems more interested in tracking and mimicking the processes of their competitors, rather than moving forward based on their own staff/customer needs. Most agendas pushed through are half-baked, inefficient, and short-sited. No real long term vision; just patchwork.

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