english teacher

english as a second language teacher

tutor

teacher

EF English First

Probably the best ESL school in Boston and surrounding environs--- the academic dean/M.H.was as supportive as she could afford to be with teachers, while still having to maintain the profit-motive blueprint which all language schools suffer by; i.e. entertainment at the expense of education, as well as having to suffer the owner of the school.

I personally took exception to the fact that I left a good paying, steady job at the behest of the dean (albeit at a gym, and not as a teacher, though the pay was the same), to be hired by NESE on an hourly basis (10$). This was with the understanding that I would be salaried after a 'performance review', which determined that I was not what the "students wanted"(!!). A teacher is regarded as a commodity, e.g. the students can leave your classroom from day 1 and go to any other that they like. the acceptance of what is 'good teaching' is determined by the students----not necessarily a good thing with teenagers---and is a 'bottom-up' review/model. I don't agree with this model, but it certainly makes for a good profit margin, and likely explains the high profile the school can afford to maintain with its 'board of advisers' from Harvard. My performance as a teacher, however, was certainly good enough for the owner/administration to invite me back to rescue a class of older students (read: professionals) from leaving the school entirely--just a month after I had been 'let-go'. I did so with good humour, and was glad to turn disappointed foreign professionals into content and quite satisfied improved English speakers in a couple of weeks. My reward? the joy of knowing those students have a good memory of Boston and of me. My appreciation from NESE? thanks---here is your wage, and the door. They--the owner and anyone else who directly profits from this company--may not think that they are guilty of usury, yet I can assure you from my own experience--and likely those of others---that they most certainly are.

I used to do part time teaching at the Cambridge East Foreign Language Institute in Shanghai from 2004 to 2009 and at EF for summer camp class. The students I taught are aged from 3 to 15 years old. The multicultural working environment provides me many opportunities to learn from as well as cooperate with teachers from different countries. In my classes, I tried my best to create an interesting as well interactive environment so that students could interact not only with teachers but also with other students through games and competitions. I find competitions quite rewarding for both teachers and students since students are usually highly motivated when they are aware that they are competing with other students or teams. Sometimes it is not easy to design a game that can interest all students at the same time, but this also encourage me to make more improvements and adjustments. In such cases, they are more willing to cooperate with their team members and participate in class activities. At the same time, I also set clear rules and expectations on my students. Regular homework and assessments were assigned and full participation was expected in order to let students realize their potential as well as to let me get to know better and better the level of each student, which helped me adjust my way of teaching accordingly.  Also, in order to track the performance of each student, teachers were required to record their comments in the database after each class.

EF used to be a thriving teaching company that supported their teachers and was hands on with support if needed. Since the buyout, teachers are treated just like the automated email replies they send when there's a question. The new platform (TJ) is very buggy. There are numerous and constant errors to log in, enter the classroom, curriculum misprint and spellings, and being able to successfully submit the ACR.  If there's any problems pertaining to software issues, you will get an email stating that it's on the teacher's side, how to fix it (clear cache, incognito mode) and penalize you in accordance to your contract. Even though they send a mass email stating they're having tech issues, and have received numerous support tickets, EF states *If it's their problem, they will make the appropriate corrections". EF is now implementing a new teacher/student mandatory after class report that forces teachers to push the parents to sign up for more classes. They do not disclose what the classes are to us, and the parents will most certainly sign their child up because the teacher suggested it. That's rude. Their platform is not mobile friendly and does not intergrate with any calendar you may have.

I have been working for EF to bring in a little extra money for years and the flexibility is the main reason I stayed.   The pay is way to low. But it was ok because it was easy and work from home. Recent changes in how classes are scheduled equate to teacher all rushing to book a very limited amount of classes . I went from 20 hours a week to less than ten. Now they changed it again (back to auto booking with no assurance of any classes) and it got even worse if it were not for my established regular students I would have almost no classes. They only gave me one class on the open board this week.  And since you need open classes to establish new regulars I have been forced to start looking for a new job.   It looks like they hired a lot of people during the pandemic and now they are trying to get teachers who have been around a while and make more money to quit, so they can hire in more newbies at 12$  an hour.  The fact is I am no longer making enough money to justifying paying for the Gig speed internet that you really need to ensure you do not have connection drop outs in my area.   



English First was a good company to work for.  They were very willing to help me with any problems I may have had.  They set up the jobs available and what needed to be done with each student.  There was great feedback about how I was doing and any improvements they felt were needed.  They would help with unacceptable behavior from the student.  I would get my schedule and then get to the classroom 10 minutes before class to get things ready.  I worked with each student for 25-28 minutes.  At the end of each session I evaluated the student and any improvement needed was put on the evaluation.  I tried to be very positive and give parents some ideas to help their child.  The hardest part of the job was the hours.  I taught from about 4:00 am to 8:00 am my time and the evenings on the weekends.  I am not usually an early morning person but learned to adapt.  I really enjoyed working with the children.  It was very interesting to hear about their everyday lives and special days in their culture.  I felt I was helping these children become more familiar with the English language.  Most of the children were so eager to learn.  That made each lesson enjoyable and fun.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Complete support from the other staff departments, managers are friendly and encouraging towards all teachers. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Winter/ summer courses in addition to regular course load can feel a bit much. You'll need excellent time management during the busy seasons to keep up, especially if you're known to cover classes as well.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
There were a lot of team building events, we often visited nearby attractions over night (hot springs, ancient villages, etc).

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I'd get into work, check in. Log into the system and pull up my schedule. Take my printed lesson plan and material (I'd have prepared the day before) and go to class. During work hours when I had no classes I'd plan for the next day making time to eat before completing my teaching schedule. Sometimes I'd be asked to conduct a oral placement test if I had already finished prep work and was waiting on my next class.

This company is absolutely horrible to work for. I loved it at first. I loved my students and thought the flexibility was great. I noticed a lot of tech issues but didn't feel it was bad. When I tried to contact management it almost seemed impossible to get emotion out of them. I then got terminated for something out of my control. It was insane how after long hours, early mornings, relationships with students.. management just kicks you out with out a care in the world. They claim they care about the students but that is so not true. If they cared they wouldn't act like ignorant robots or have system tech issues constantly. They are unfair to their teachers. They don't care about you and see you as another number shifting through. Extremely unprofessional. I tried calling the 1-800 number many times to communicate and was hung up on 3/5 times and still didn't get help. I suggest not working here and would never let my child learn from this company!

The pay is extremely low, less than fast food minimum wage. The teaching platform is buggy. The slides become monotonous after you've taught the same lesson dozens of times. The management is clueless; if you try to contact them, you'll get an automated reply saying they're on vacation. Every teacher is 100% disposable, you never know when they'll fire you. From personal experience, one of their managers has a full-time job firing workers. He'll call your home and threaten you endlessly about termination, although the final decision is actually with his boss. If you have any dignity at all,I strongly suggest you consider some other online ESL gig, which pays significantly more and comes baggage free.

The work relies heavily on ESL experience, but there are tools offered by other teachers, as well as sessions, to help neophytes learn the ropes.  Getting used to technical problems can be trying, but the students are usually worth it, as many of them will grow to be fast friends of yours and regulars.  It's a job that requires dedication as well as getting up early, since most of the best hours to work are between 6-11am.  The benefits are lacking, as this is a consulting position, but the pay is higher than average, so there's that.

Worked in China (Zhengzhou) for a year and although the coworkers were great, the company did not care about the kids. Education was a joke, we weren't provided enough materials to do the job and often had to go buy extra supplies for life clubs. There was no organization in the company.

Everything was about sales in the organization. As long as the parents were happy, it didn't matter what was taught. I worked with foreigners who didn't have degrees nor high school diplomas. It's was a depressing job that did not focus on education. If you're looking to find a teaching job because you care about children, this isn't the right company for you.

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