The school provided me with a work permit, medical examination and a chaperoned transfer to the office where I had to submit my paperwork.
These school sometimes even cease operations without prior notice.Īs promised, EF promptly reimbursed me for expenses I incurred during the application process, such as obtaining my online TEFL certification and Chinese “Z” work visa.Įnglish First also facilitated the conversion of my work visa into a residence permit. By contrast, many smaller English school pay teachers late, or not at all. Overall, English First’s strong suit is that it has money, which it uses to make sure teachers’ bare necessities are covered.Įnglish First was always on-time direct depositing my salary into the Bank of China account the school set up on my behalf. I like to start with the positive whenever I can, so I’ll begin by telling you what was good about my experience teaching English in China with EF. Continue scrolling to read one of the most candid EF China reviews you’ll find online, or click here to read more about teaching English in Asia more generally.
Although English First Shanghai is far from the worst place I’ve ever worked, little about the company separates it from any of its multinational competitors. I hope this isn’t too good to be true, I thought as I clicked the “Send” button.Īs you can probably guess, it was indeed too good to be true. I didn’t hear anything for the first several days after submitting my application, but within 48 hours of EF’s response, I had a job offer and placement in Shanghai. It explained in crystal-clear detail what I could expect from the application process, upon my acceptance as a teacher, after my arrival in China and on the job. Unlike the majority of ESL job postings online, language school English First’s website was organized, informative and beautifully-designed. I’d actually been browsing jobs teaching English in Japan when I saw a sidebar ad that read “Teach English in China.” I clicked it and arrived at the EF China home page. I applied to teach with English First China in August 2009.