Hi,

I know this reply is probably very late Laura, but hopefully it will serve for future prospective applicants to have more information. I used to work at Echo and personally I wouldn't recommend it. Maybe as a first job, but to be honest, you can probably find a lot better in Hangzhou. Within my year working there, 5 out of 8 teachers terminated their contract early.

The schedule, like in most training schools, will involve you working in the afternoons and weekends. You will have two days off but it's likely they will not be consecutive. Also, since there are only 3 lessons slots a day on your remaining three weekdays, you will work 10 to 12 hour days on the weekend. You will also have to reschedule every single national holiday. If the school is cancelled on a Saturday you will have to be coming in on your days off or working even longer weekends to reschedule every lesson that was missed. If granted leave, you will also have to reschedule the week and pay the school for every day you took off.

Get ready for calculating your hours every month since they are constantly trying to cheat you out of a few hundred rmb which adds up if you are not careful. They will also try and get you to work unpaid hours where possible. There is also little concern for the quality of your lessons. The school will saturate you with hours since it is cheaper for them to pay you extra hours than pay a new teacher's basic salary and tax. What is important is that you are fun and the students/parents like you. I witnessed a teacher have a hard time because her parents didn't like her. She was probably very capable, but after a few months of constant neglect with no support from the staff she left without giving notice.This particular teacher didn't give notice because the previous teacher who left was threatened after he gave, and successfully completed, his two months notice.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend this job because of the constant onslaught of bullshit you have to deal with. It feels like every week or two there is something new you are going to have to fight for or put up with. There is little-to-no support and you will be threatened constantly. You will have to learn to pick your battles and know what threats are empty or real. I stayed because I wanted to have a years experience and I wanted to be able to show my next school that I finished my contract. Hopefully you don't end up in the same position, be it with Echo or any other school.