EF English First Reviews 7

TrustScore 3 out of 5

3.1

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Company details

  1. English Language School
  2. Educational Institution
  3. English Language Instructor
  4. Language Course Provider
  5. Language School

Information provided by various external sources

EF English First has ESL jobs abroad available now. We have openings teaching English to children, teenagers and adults in China, Indonesia and Russia.


Contact info

3.1

Average

TrustScore 3 out of 5

7 reviews

5-star
4-star
3-star
2-star
1-star

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Bullied and targeted by two managers

Positives:
The technology to run online classes and manage my bookings was outstanding. The platform happens in real time and you can see cancelations drop off your calendar or bookings appear on your calendar as soon as they were made.
They have a new laptop reimbursement bonus which I achieved and resulted in a new laptop.
The curriculum is well-rounded and developed with CEFR guidelines and with scaffolded instruction.
The IT Support women are extremely nice and for the most part helpful. Some IT Support men are unabashedly cold and rude.
The students get real feedback about areas to improve on.
You can open/close your schedule as needed.

Negatives:
No professional respect- treated and spoken to as incompetent, that I didn't know how to teach.
Upper-management cover up for lower management through lies and manipulation.
No teacher referral bonus.
Bullying from managers.
Managers watch recordings of classes and claim your pedagogically expressed ideas as their own without giving you credit.
Most slides do not include any instruction on the grammatical concept and the student is left at guessing.
The images in the slides often to do not correlate with the vocab or content.
Managers control algorithms which affect your bookings.
Managers deliberately block regular students from booking you again, and when confronted deny it.
The slides are replete with grammar mistakes.
The company doesn't uphold corporate culture.
The hourly rate doesn't match the experience, credentials and equipment needed to do the job.
Lack of professionalism, lack of communication, lack of clear communication, lack of support from line managers.
No clearly outlined chain of command if ever there was a problem.
Freelancers are treated as an employee, but are given no employee rights.
No salary increase for being in the top 10 best teachers.
If you don't keep a log of lessons taught and don't compare it with the invoice, they will slide not paying you under the radar.
They often pay late.
No more monetary incentives like if you work 100 hours you get $75.00 bonus.
They do not have teacher training or CPDs, only modules on how to use the software.
There is no room for advancement.

February 16, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

EF Language School is located 10 minutes from London's top attractions such as Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Tate Modern Gallery and Big Ben...

EF Language School is located in London's beautiful Waterloo district, 10 minutes from London's top attractions such as Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Tate Modern Gallery and Big Ben. The school building has beautiful Victorian features from the 19th century, while the interior of the building is modern and equipped with the latest multimedia equipment. The building is closed to the public to provide a safe environment for students. The school was opened in 1965 and is very popular among students from France, Spain, Japan, Russia and even South America. It offers a very interesting educational program, summer schools combined with sightseeing, as well as an intensive educational program preparing for Cambridge exams. There is a café on campus serving French-Italian breakfasts, snacks as well as lunches cooked on site. The café offers British, Italian and Asian cuisine. I highly recommend the school to everyone who values high quality and children's safety. The teaching staff is young, friendly and open-minded. The school is very popular with the children of my French and Spanish cousins who spend their holidays in London.

September 4, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

English First is a well organised

English First is a well organised, efficient company. The trouble is they don't pay very much. When I worked for them I was left to pay for electricity, premises, broadband and they only paid a measly £10.00 per hour. They always did impromptu, no warning lesson observations. The target criteria was unbelievably stringent given that I was teaching students aged 5-13, ie students without a very high level of English. I have over 20 years of teaching experience but I was spoken to as if I was a novice. They made simple things exceptionally complicated by deploying jargon when it wasn't needed. If I took a short convenience break I was monitored and reprimanded. Its better if you bring a bottle to class so that you can relieve yourself on the job. EF are a bunch of freaks. In short, I wouldn't recommend EF unless you happen to be absolutely stuck.

June 20, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

I give 4 stars to this company

I give 4 stars to this company. The main reason is because I didn't use their program for learning English. Instead, I went to a public school here in Texas. Nevertheless, I have done research on the company EF. All reviews have been very positive. It's learning method has helped many people. All I have to say is Bravo!!!

May 24, 2019
Unprompted review

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