The situation now is that you are lucky if you get paid the correct amount or even at all.
OE should not be called Optimum English, but Obscenely Evil since they care nothing about English education anymore, they only care about money now and if you work for them they will try hard to screw you out of money or maybe worse, they might try to destroy your life. Don't sign a contract with them, they have no respect for contracts and there is nothing you can do about it.

Hahah oh man they were using that 'showed up late for class' BS thing again eh?

Yes, they LOVE it. They all do this. They know teachers are jet-lagged or obviously have great difficulty getting to a school via Chinese transportation or don't know the route but LOVE when you are late so that can become the single biggest deadly sin on the planet.

They LOVE pretending this was terrible and parents were really upset and pulling the kids out of school and why the 10 minutes you were late for a 2-hour lesson was a big big issue. Its why you are now disqualified from a raise, its now justifies the missing money, the extra hours, the submission you must make and OH how they love the 'Late' thing.

In fact, this is people who routinely arrive late, start classes late, managers who are constantly late, people who constantly forget to tell you a class is canceled or there is no classes today (after you arrive). hahah

Wow, this is a typical shitty Chinese school with the typical staff who actually believe they are treating you well. In fact, in any other civilized country they would be considered assholes and abusive. But in China they don't know any better. they think they are doing you a favor by just being disrespectful and rude.

I did find this post after accepting my position at OE.

It's worse then anything anyone put here and they've hit up 2 different teachers for cleanup bills for removing teachers from over 5 years ago belongings from one apartment.

I've heard a story that a teacher moved out of one apartment into his own once he got married and they would not renew his contract

....

Well, knowing you I doubt this is sincere, but I suppose it's the best imitation of any real sincerity you could ever show towards me. It would have been more appropriate to have said this with regards to other issues, too late for that.

I wholeheartedly apologize dragonized. If I had known it would get you so upset I wouldn't have posted what i considered to be those lighted hearted comments. I'm sorry.

A recent visit to Fuzhou Road in Shanghai basically netted a Who's Who of crap pretend "schools" taking up prime real estate. I do have to say though I didn't see many expats there like I used to, what goes around does come around sometimes

That could also be a result of certain big names like EF moving their administrative operations to a different part of town. Did you though notice that the EF there (which used to be the HO for China) is located at number 666? Coincidence?

If they want to change the situation, then they should change the way they treat their foreign teachers

Never a more true statement. These training centers are useless things in society and have no place. A recent visit to Fuzhou Road in Shanghai basically netted a Who's Who of crap pretend "schools" taking up prime real estate. I do have to say though I didn't see many expats there like I used to, what goes around does come around sometimes. They should think about changing the view for this street.

That's why I never studied TEFL before coming to China. You don't need formal qualifications in teaching English to teach English in China.

Since when was a tefl that can be obtained in Thailand a "qualification"?! A degree is more than enough for China, if you don't have a tefl, a doctored one will suffice.

They sound very realistic people to me, they realise that FT's, or not many of us, degrees or no degrees, cannot teach English grammar, and this is why we are called Oral English Teachers. The only qualification you should need to teach English in China, is that you are a native-born English speaker. Just open your mouth and turn up and chat to the students is more than adequate.

Exactly, my friend. That's why I never studied TEFL before coming to China. You don't need formal qualifications in teaching English to teach English in China.

And if the school FAO gives you some problems, treat him and his immediate family to a free restaurant meal each month. The problems will stop, and you'll get a great teaching reference after the school refuses to renew your contract! Then you can move on and repeat this cunning ploy elsewhere in China!

they forge university diplomas for you if you need a way into the industry.

Problems continue at OE.

ESL Teachers United has a listing for Optimum English in our School Review section but are missing some information on this school. Feel free to visit the link below and edit the information as a guest or a user. It would greatly help other ESL teachers if you could do this as well as rating, reviewing, adding any pics of the school and adding your comments.

1) https://www.eslteachersunited.org/SchoolReview/listings/view/Optimum-English-School

Thank You for supporting ESL teachers and Students,

ESL Teachers United

Everything you complain about is in the contract you were warned before hand.

[edited]

If you disliked it so much you should have quit. (like others have)

Things have changed.

Name me one school that does not have an issue in this country.

The office environment has improved greatly since you have left.

You had three opportunities to move out of that apartment.

[edited]

[Edited by Administrator (admin) Wed, 06 Jul 2011, 07:26 AM]

I readily admit that I wasn't prepared to be teaching 4 and 5 year olds. My 2+ years of experience with with adults. But, OE knew that before they offered me the job.

But, besides that, in my own defense, I find it incredible that my showing up late once (it was still within a few weeks of my arrival from a time zone 12 hours different--EST--and I still had not fully recovered from jet lag) was sufficient grounds for the off-site primary school to end the seven year contract they had with EF/OE.

More likely, they were displeased with the school's shift from a "brand name" school to their own brand. And, they were openly upset with the "fishing" for students from the public school (EF/OE used 'gameboards' that elicited contact information from the public school children so that they could cold-call their parents to sell them on OE's rather expensive--comparativley speaking--courses).

On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 11:05 PM, <anonymous@localhost.localdomain> wrote:

I also worked at OE for a year, and I saw the transition from EF to OE. I
worked with Todd for a couple months, and while it may be true that he was not
the best teacher for OE, it doesn't justify OE's horrible treatment of their
teachers. The chinese staff always looked for excuses why they were losing
money, usually it came down to the foreign teachers, even though the school
was falling apart.

- From your post Todd, you didn't mention the fact that the school lost a lot
of costumers because of your inexperienced in teaching.

I didn't realize that the school had "costumers". Nonetheless, the school was fully aware of my experience (or inexperience) before they hired me. If they only want teachers who have experience using EF materials (which, btw, I understand they still use, even though they no longer have a franchise arrangement with EF since becoming OE), then they should only hire former EF teachers. Given how they treat their employees, however, I can imagine how difficult a prospect that might be.

- You didn't also mention the fact that the school lost a contract with a
primary school because you went to school drunk and you were stinky with
alcohol.

Facts, and second-hand facts at that, are not always what they appear. If circumstances were actually as you suggest, the school should have terminated me on the spot. They didn't, however, do that. On the contrary, they courted me to renew my contract for another one year term . On top of that, they provided a very positive recommendation letter (though, truth be told, it was probably pro forma). A very curious way for a school to deal with someone who you say "went to school drunk".

let me ask you this question:Had it been you weren't happy with the
school,why didn't you terminate your contract?on the contrary you extended
your contract for another two weeks.

Because, I honor my agreements. If the school had done the same, I would have nothing to complain about. Had OE not mishandled my departure so badly (as you say, I stayed on for two weeks beyond my contract to see four different class levels to the end of their courses, a fact for which they should have been grateful), I would likely not have bothered to post my misgivings about how EF/OE treats its teachers. But, seeing how they treated one teacher after another as they did, and recognizing a pattern of spiteful behaviour towards those who choose not to renew their contract (and even the ones who DO renew their contracts, whether for just two weeks or for eight months!), I felt I had no choice but to let other TEFL instructors know what to expect.

EF/OE has no one to blame but itself for the negative comments left by former teachers. If they want to change the situation, then they should change the way they treat their foreign teachers

So far, I have nothing but positive regard for my current posting (save for the fact that I had to go to Hong Kong twice because of missing paperwork). The difference is like night and day. I understand that it can be the luck of the draw when it comes to finding suitable employment with a franchise training center. Each is only as good as its management and staff. I hope OE works on changing its business practices as hard as it has worked on changing its name.

However,you didn't mention your inexperienced in your former school.how they lost some contracts and students.you made mentioned of native speakers vis a vis non-native speakers.who told you that being a native speaker is any guarantee that you can be an excellent English teacher? those you call non-native speakers are well read and not coming from any barracks to become English teachers.

If I had had experience with EF, I would most likely not have applied for, or accepted a work offer from them. The years I worked as an Eglish instructor at the two universities I attended and the several other years I managed foreign workers in the United States did little to prepare me for the sorts of business practices in place at EF/OE-Jinan.

They lost quite a few contracts and students when they shut down for over a month for their "remodeling" (a nearly three -week overrun). They also "lost" students who completed the course of their programs and the school had no materials remaining to offer. Yet, they attributed that azttrition to the teachers, nonetheless.

And I made no claim that native speakers are guaranteed to be excellent teachers, nor that non-native English speakers are any less well read than native English speakers. But, if the product you are selling is native English speakers teaching English, then you can imagine why someone who bought that product would decide to look elsewhere if they are then presented with a non-native English instructor.

It always amazed me how little they cared about their foreign teachers even though without us they would have no school or students. It took them almost three years to increase the rental budget 300 RMB even though rent here has gone crazy.
They hooked me up with a back doctor that i saw everyday almost for 5 months. Including the medecine and vists i paid thousands while my back didnt get better. i have started seeing a new doctor now who sees me once or twice a week, the guy is great. He suggested that the doc and someone else had a scam running on me because there was no reason for me to go everyday. I am not saying the school had any involvement but they really made little effort to look after me.
What amazes me is that there are still people that go there to work.

Paying for stuff is amazing here and the school Future English does not help either. One of the teachers moved into an apartment and a month later the washing machine broke down. the school negotiated that the teacher would pay for half of the repairs even though they had been there less than a month. It is truly crazy and obvious that the school does not give a darn about their foreign teachers. currently they only have one person at the school who can speak English and she often turns off her cell phone. A teacher got into a bike accident and when he tried calling her she was nowhere to be found. One of the teachers who spoke Chinese had to come help. Just crazy

T, can you post a current address of that school please? Also, can you please tell us who signed your contract as the school owner and do you happen to have their mobile and/or home telephone numbers please? If so, please post them here. Can you please tell us if you ever saw the owner driving a car and if so, do you know the make, model, year, and color? We would like to look at this school for some future internship programs we offer for incoming associates.

Please contact us on Skype and leave a message. Beijing.Blacklist

Thank you.