J. M
- 2016-02-06
Franchised school, if you land a job easily because they will take whatever knocks on the door as no one wknocks on their door, anyone that knows better will not work for this "school" once you've signed. Your falsely promised contract you will become tied to a KITAS where you will be only able to leave the country with an exit visa issued by the school - which they will not issue - it's not profitable for THEM for you to leave - and this is all they care for. false promises, a tacky business hiding behing the facade of a school management will not help you in anything that doesn't profit them.
Raoul Duke
- 2008-03-23
Two bullets dodged, then!
You DON'T want to go to work for EF in China, perhaps outside the corporate-run systems in Beijing and Shanghai.
You may not want to work in Shijiazhuang, either. Ugh...
shirley
- 2008-03-22
I am so glad I read your posts,
I just got a job with EF shijiazhang in China and I had mixed feelings after the interview during which they asked me if they could tell the students I am American ( I am French and lived a total of less than 2 years in the US) and then told me I would be entering china with a tourist Visa then flown to hong Kong to apply for a work Visa.
I am definitely turning down that job offer!!
Ellean Lai
- 2008-03-20
I will try to keep my comment short here. As far as I know, EF has nearly 70 schools across Indonesia. Some owners have more than one school, especially in major cities. Although all schools apply the same academic standards and teaching methods, the practice in terms of recruitment and contract negotiation is completely different between one franchise to another actually, it is more exact if I say between OWNER TO OWNER.
EF headquarter of the region quickly realized the value of keeping their foreign staff happy. Word has it that EF has now taken complaints from teachers seriously. EF head office has just closed 3 schools in Jakarta and terminated the franchise contract due to the bad practice conducted in these schools. What is interesting is that these schools are all run by the same owner as a matter of fact, this owner is one of EFs biggest franchisees in Indonesia. I see this as a huge and brave step taken by EF.
Fred Savage
- 2007-04-18
It is a blessing to have another "SATIFIED" EF English First recruit FINALLY speak up. THANK YOU.
For all you teachers who can't read between lines and call all these COMPLAINTS about EF rants and raves, WISE UP!!!
This English First outfit is marketing genius and no substance. I believe they would be prosecuted for STUPIDITY in most civilized countries and, instead, operate low-class and low-rate schools amongst the mass of unwitting and uninformed for their self-acclaimed, prestigous titles.
AGAIN....BE FORMALLY WARNED TO USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN ENTERTAINING EMPLOYMENT WITH ANY EF English First school. Also....DOn't be fooled by English Town offers. They are also EF.
Keith Cross
- 2007-03-10
Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. It's 2am. Forgive my broken late night English. :) I do think my letter has some importance. Please read and learn some of your rights.
I worked for EF Kelapa Gading(2002-2003)and EF Sunter in Jakarta Indonesia. I was swapped back and forth between those two schools for 5 long months before I was ever offered a KITAS. When I asked for a KITAS, they told me I was considered a part-timer and not eligible for a paid KITAS. Part-timer? I worked more hours between those schools than any teacher at each of those schools but because the hours were not in one location, I was a part-timer. The money was better than those other teachers because part-timers do get paid for travel. I had my own motorcycle.
After 5 months I finally signed a contract to work in Kelapa Gading. Once I signed the contract, I had to wait 60 days again for a KITAS. This was a "probation period." I tried to fight my way out of that but to no avail. In the end my KITAS was for 6 months.
Return Air Ticket - Every teacher is offered a return air ticket. Well that is what EF says. But because I was already living in Indonesia prior to being employed by EF, that was not offered in my contract. That is a loss of about $800 to my contract value. They also offered me a lower monthly salary than the other teachers. The new hires were getting Rp. 6.300,000. I was offered Rp. 5,700,000. (Translation: About $630 and $570) I did end up with the Rp 6,300,000. In my contract they would increase the salary by Rp. 300,000 after the probation period. When my probation was almost over, this American DOS asked me to come to her room. She explained they did not have time to evaluate me, so my probation was going to be extended another 60 days. So guess what? No raise as promised. The DOS is married to a local. She has everything going for her there. A house, kids, husband, and the owners loyalty to her. She really did not stand up for those workers from her own country.
Teachers - Sorry to sound mean here. In Ef Kelapa Gading we had teachers from Spain, Philippines, USA, China, Sweden, and England. The teacher from Spain, teaching English? I could not understand half of her words. Lovely lady though. The teacher from Sweden had an awesome accent. I would be horrified however if my children learned/studied English with that kind of accent. The teacher from China spoke far better English that any western teacher in EF. But again, it was not a native tongue.
Housing - After I obtained my KITAS I was offered EF housing. After one month I refused the housing that was offered to me for two reasons. #1 The house was dirty and had mold on the walls. It was the dirtiest house on the street. #2 The EF teacher I was sharing the home with had "pot" parties almost every night. Not long after I moved out of that house, the other EF teacher was busted on live TV (Busar) for having pot in the house. This person was jailed/imprisoned for a long time. During that time that he was jailed, the D.O.S. was very mean to me. She was looking for blood. She was friends with this jailed drug abuser and assumed I was the person who turned this young man in. I did not turn him in. I was interviewed by the police three time and I told them the complete truth. I was not going to risk being jailed for a drug abuser. The first police interview was at EF Kelapa Gading. I had no idea I was going to be interviewed. The EF teacher that was in jail said I was doing drugs with him. So the police came to talk to me about that. The DOS came and took me from the classroom, and told me in the hallway what to say to the police. This woman is nuts for asking me to lie to the police. Plain and simple, I told the truth and I took a drug test to prove I didn't do drugs. The DOS sat in on my interview. Needless to say, after that first interview, I was no longer a welcomed employee. I was marked. I was threatened. I had called in sick one day. That same day I was visited at home and told I was fired. They asked for my KITAS and passport. They also asked for $1200 for the costs associated with my VISA/KITAS. I was told if I did not give that they would bring the police over to talk to me and get me kicked out of Indonesia.
I stood up for myself and did not fall for their threats. I wrote an article about the teacher doing drugs. I printed 200 copies/flyer's. I took one flyer into EF and explained what I was there for. Nothing in my flyer was a lie. It was all truths and I named names. I stood outside the school and began distributing the flyer to the parents and students. It took five minutes for the DOS to wise up and settle fairly with me. I got to keep my KITAS for 60 more days. I got one more salary. I didn't get my plane ticket. They can not threaten to make us destitute. That is what they try to do to keep you in line. Always argue back. The U.S. Embassy wont help either. Lawyers are a joke.
EF is a great brand. It is marketed superbly to the masses. The brochures are cute and show how exciting learning English can be with happy, western and white teachers. Teachers are the biggest assets in EF. EF fails to accept that type of thinking. Money is always first...and last when it comes to salaries.
The good news is that even if you lose your job to a school like EF, don't get caught up in your sorrows. There are many other schools to go to in Jakarta. Get a phone book and make some fast calls to the other schools.
I love Indonesia. I am sure there are some schools that take really good care of their teachers there. Don't give up on Indonesia.
Fred
- 2007-02-13
Certainly there are other ESL schools who are culprits but......who is going to listen if you make an example of Joe Blow ESL school in Humbledink, Timbaktu?
This is more than an axe.
EF INDONESIA spends ton's of money marketing themselves as the INTERNATIONAL choice for ESL. They are a self-elected example of themselves being the model ESL school for students and future employees to believe and follow. So...they should be the leader of excellence in the world. Not the leaders of lies and deceiving.
THERE IS NOONE MONITORING OR ASSESSING ESL SCHOOLS ANYWHERE AND EMBASSIES TAKE A "HANDS OFF" APPROACH IN INSURING THAT TEACHERS ARE NOT MISLED OR MISTREATED.
SOOOOOOOOO................
WHAT DO WE DO?
Here is a start for ALL potential employees:
Bad English Language Schools Can Happen to Good Teachers
By Diana Campbell
If you want to teach English abroad but you want to avoid those bad English language teaching schools, how can you find out which ones to avoid? Unfortunately, options for gathering information on particular schools is limited. There are a few blacklists (see below) but those largely cover the major Asian countries. There is virtually nothing comprehensive available for teachers working anywhere else.
Alarmingly, many prospective teachers appear to believe that ELT jobs sites exist to help language teachersposting only reputable job offersbecause they also offer links to cheaper health insurance, provide extensive country information or cost of living tips, or give away free lesson plans. Dont be deluded. These sites are businesses first and foremost. Nothing they do can reasonably be considered to be in the teachers best interest.
These sites forward hundreds and possibly thousands of applications on to schools every week, and some of the applicants do find jobs, sign contracts or make a verbal agreement and then fly off to a TEFL adventure. Yet, how many have done the critical work of researching the schools before putting themselves at the mercy of the people hiring them? Probably not many and certainly not enough.
In an unacceptable number of cases, the teachers dont get the job they bargained for. Upon arrival they may be told that the contract provisions or verbal agreements have been changed and theyre now required to teach double the amount of hours, or do office tasks in their spare timeall for the same money. And the promised teaching support doesnt materialize. Or maybe the teacher is placed into accommodations that are unsafe or unhealthy. Perhaps theyve even worked a month or two but havent been paid.
Attempts to get the school to abide by the original contract or to find more suitable accommodations may elicit threats of being turned over to the authorities, having pay withheld, or possibly other means of intimidation will be used. If the teacher continues to complain, demands pay, or refuses to abide by an amended contract, then he or she may be fired from the job without warning or even a notice period. This can mean being immediately turned out of ones lodging and not getting paid for completed work.
Teachers have found themselves homeless in foreign countries, unable to speak the language, penniless after having spent all their money for plane fare and other preparatory expenses, having no place to go and no idea of how to get anywhere safe. Getting out of a mess like that can be financially and emotionally costly. Doing careful and thorough research before leaving home is crucial and might save you from a similar fate.
Avoid Being Victimized
Here are a few things that prospective English language teachers can do to avoid becoming victims of bad or unscrupulous schools.
Find ELT discussion boards by using a search engine. Once youve found a few, post your questions about a particular school on each one and ask for private e-mailed responses. In my experience simply asking for information about a particular school and requesting private responses wont get posts deleted from even those discussion boards on sites that depend on schools for advertising revenue.
Include an e-mail address, which you have created on a free, Web-based service like Yahoo! or Hotmail specifically for this purpose and dont use your real name anywhere. Maintaining your privacy is essential because you dont know who will be answering your queries. Read any repliespro or conwith a critical eye.
Carefully read all of the job advertisements for several months before you even apply for any openings. The reason for this is that you will want to see patterns established by certain schools. Do they advertise frequently? Why might they need to? Why do they need that many new teachers that often? If you see job openings on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, you should have alarm bells going off in your head.
Read the job advertisements several times with a critical eye. Ask yourself if the listed job requirements or benefits could be read in two different ways. Read job advertisements defensively!
If a DoS (Director of Studies), school owner or recruiter requires any deposits of money, documents like passportsoriginals or copiesoriginals of certificates or diplomas, pass those schools by and dont look back. Never send money or original documents to someone advertising for teachers! You will likely never see your money or your documents again and there will surely be no job waiting for you. You might even become a victim of identity theft.
If the owner or DoS requires that, along with your application, you send lesson plans or other things for which you would normally be paid after you are hired, or requires more than a bachelors degree, walk away. The pay offered by language schools never warrants anything above a bachelors degree and this is only because some countries require a university degree to obtain a work permit. Sending in lesson plans or other teaching-related material is simply a way for a school to steal your work.
Asking for a TEFL qualification if the teacher has no teaching experience is certainly reasonable; specifying that this must be a CELTAand only a CELTAis highly questionable. Having a TEFL or TESOL qualification from a reputable school, which is externally moderated and has an observed teaching component is equal to having a CELTA.
Lastly, remember that no promises made about any jobs are really enforceable, not even if they are in writing. You might pursue those bad schools through their countrys courts but the likelihood of receiving anything but a huge bill for the lawyer and translator youve had to hire is slim. If you accept a job at a bad language school you will have to absorb any financial losses yourself. Plan for the worst and hope for the best!
Plan for the Worst
What this means in practice is that you should have a return airline ticket usable for up to 90 days in your possession when you leave your home country for that new TEFL job. If you plan to buy a 1-way ticket you should have enough readily available money to buy a return ticket.
You should also have enough money to rent a hotel room, eat, and get local transport in an emergency. In the event that you are fired or the lodging never materializes or is so awful a rat wouldnt consider living there youll need money. You should have enough to handle all potential emergency expenses until you can get out of the country or find another job. How much youll need to cover emergency expenses in a particular country is something you should research before leaving home.
Take good care of yourself. Even if the school is a good one, you should plan for what youll need to be on your own in a foreign land. In the sad event the school turns out to be one of those language schools from hell, you will be able to bounce back more easily if youve looked after yourself properly from the start.
For More Info
Related Articles
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Dont Be a Victim
Selecting Reputable TEFL Schools Abroad
ELT Bulletin Boards
Daves ESL Cafe Forums: www.eslcafe.com/forums/job
TESall: www.tesall.com/international/index.php
Ajarn: www.ajarn.com
China School Review: www.chinaschoolreview.net
ESL Junction (with greylist): tefltesljobs.com/index.php
Blacklists and School Ratings
ESL Teachers Board: www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/review/index.pl
ESL Job Find: www.esljobfind.com/main_bw.php?action=7
Nates China School Review: www.chinaschoolreview.net
Job Information Journal: www.tesall.com/international/viewforum.php?f=40
English School Watch: englishschoolwatch.org
Marks ESL Blacklist: marksesl.com/forum_center.htm
Hagwon Blacklist: www.geocities.com/hagwonblacklist
Buxiban: www.buxiban.com
FROM: www.transitionsabroad.com
_____________________________________________________
There is no magic key to fixing this problem at this point because teachers are not in a collective union that has political power. We are at the mercy of local laws and enforcment of those laws.
IF 100 future teachers see these postings and refuse to sign contracts with EF Indonesia than I have achieved my goal. If future teachers read about EF INDONESIA and are more selective in their overall job searches, than I have achieved my goal.
Being an ESL teacher is a respectable and honorable job. If ESL schools cannot see that than they can suffer the loss on their own. They have shown no willingness to change and could care less which "WHITE" person stands in their classrooms.
If a potential ESL teacher wants to travel 1,000's of miles from home based on tropical dreams and foreign adventure than they should clearly understand that a large majority of schools will sell OUR culture with no moral or ethical delivery while requesting that the potential teacher respects their culture everyday.
YOU DECIDE. What is your culture worth to you? Worth being manipulated and low balled in pay and time? Worth being treated like a moron because you disagree with the way your school is delivering your culture and language to students? Worth living in an area that you will always be the oddity or minority and never accepted as a person who gives to that community?
Teachers who choose not to protect themselves before traveling should not be teachers in the first place. But.....schools that sell english don't need to manipulate us to bring us to work.
Honesty in hiring will create a much better working atmosphere, relationship and will quell the nasty taste most ESL teachers have in their mouths because they have to LEARN LESSONS, SWITCH JOBS DUE TO LIES, ETC.
ONE SHOULD NEVER FORGET.......ESL SCHOOLS HAVE NO ENROLLMENT OR RETENTION RATES WITHOUT TEACHERS.
If they are so nieve and stupid to think they do than God be rid of them.
If they do understand that than ESL Teachers will have an enjoyable experience and will be treated with the respect they deserve.
DB
- 2007-02-13
I realize Fred that you have an axe to grind regarding EF in Indonesia; however, you've yet to answer my question. Warning others is all well and good - I've done a little of that myself - there are plenty of institutions in China that deserve some negative publicity, but I'm curious as to what you personally have discovered about how and why schools such as EF can continually ignore contract obligations and can continue to operate when it is glarngly obvious that they choose to operate outside the law.
In China, many teachers have come to the conclusion that contracts, especially those signed with private schools, don't really protect us. Moreover, accountability seems to be only slowly coming into existence; it will be a long time before the "rule of law" as we know it enters the national consciousness enmasse. Sometimes the realization of this is hard to accept. But many experienced teachers in China, having learned the hard way, still find pretty decent jobs; furthermore, they find ways to make their jobs and their stay in China as enjoyable as possible while recognizing that there are pitfalls to be avoided and accepting that China is a "work in progress."
However, your posts regarding EF in Indonesia still beg the question: What, if anything, can EFL teachers there do to protect themselves against those who ignore the legalities, and what system of accountability is in place to help them do so? I believe that your posts are well intentioned Fred, but they would carry more weight if you included this information. In addition, I'm sure that EF schools are not the only culprits. There are no doubt many teachers there that would benefit by knowing what steps to take when they find themselves in situations such as you have outlined.
Fred Savage
- 2007-02-12
Just an update.
The previously mentioned employee was officially fired.
This is not a huge issue except for a couple of stinging points.
A) Why did EF Indonesia knowingly hire someone with NO teaching experience and then fire that teacher because the teacher did not do the job effectively?
**Seems they should have hired a QUALIFIED and EXPERIENCED teacher with verifiable QUALIFICATIONS in the first place. This would have spared causing this poor teacher's anxiety and hatred for EF.***** Perhaps it's time to stop the EF in INDONESIA paradise ads.
B) Why did they not IMMEDIATELY honor the contract the teacher signed and immediately reimburse 50% of the airline tickets after the teachers 3 months probation period was up?
****NOTE: The teacher was under the impression that airline was up to $1000usd. Not $500, which was on the teacher's contract. This is the typical amount for a teacher recruited within Indonesia's borders.*****
C) Why did they LOWER the teacher's monthly salary by 1,000,000Rp per month without any representation for the teacher? AND....not pay the money back!!!!
D) Why did they not provide any training for the teacher? They advertise it.
E) Why was the teacher harassed by local authorities (Though there is duobts to the authenticity of these AUTHORITIES positions)?
F) Why did EF NOT clearly and transparently provide the teacher with an EPO (Necessary to depart Indo and return on a new visa) and gave false and misleading information when the teacher wanted it?
***Appears EF Indonesia has to be sneaky in firing too!!!****
We warn you again. Use the utmost caution before traveling 1,000's of mile from home to sign a contract with these people.
Fred Savage
- 2007-02-06
Any thoughts that we are not in the process of laying EF English First out for ALL public view would be false and unwarranted critiques.
ALL prominent ESL sites have been and are daily informed of continued EF Indonesia employee abuses.
EF may be only a PART of a bigger issue within' the ESL industry but they are a BIG part and are the beginning example for ALL ESL schools to pay heed to.
Teachers disappearing, being abused, servitude employment, absurd contract abuses, academic incompetence, false job advertising, Etc are occuring throughout the ESL industry.
EF has chosen to make themselves the Face of ESL excellence. And they will suffer the consequences of their over zealous abuses of government systems that don't have the legal tolerance to defend their employees like the cultures EF choses to sell and employ.
ESl teachers cannot and will not gain momentum in this fight due to the fact that:
1) They are drifters. They drift from job to job. Thus, they trade one false reality for another and cannot make themselves viable witnesses to the abuses they have suffered.
2) Financially they are not willing to fight for their employment rights because it is too costly, time consuming and stressful to maintain ones presence in Southeast Asia countries and fight the forces that may be.
3)CORRUPTION!!! English Schools with large and deep pocket books are EXTREMELY familiar with "WHO they need to know" to circumvent ALL government agencies in SouthEast Asia. They use this to their advantage and against the same employees they deemed necesssary to hire by advertising jobs on ESL websites.
4) ESL Teacher forums don't take a stand against what are OBVIOUS reckless abuses against employed ESL teachers and allow their forums to lose the original content of TOPICS posted for the newest topic available. ESL Teacher forums would be better served if they listed topics accorded to verifiable content versus dated listings.
5) Career ESL teachers do not spend a lot of time on ESL teacher forums. Their contracted teaching times don't allow them to be available to forums as much as the regular day-to-day ESL teachers thus losing a lot of verifiable employment information that would be deemed valuable to a prospective "Newbie" teacher.
6) There is no International standard for ESL schools to operate by thus there is no way to defend an ESL teachers position without causing that teacher immense stress and pain as well as emboldening the school that initially caused these employment issues in the first place.
EF Indonesia is in a odd position, though they currently may not recognize it. They have become the cherry on-top-of-a cherry on-top-of-a cake. ESL teachers are fed up with being fed up. And EF Indonesia has created situations through their franchise system that warrant them to become the international example for ALL ESL schools, whether they like it or not.
They have been violating every employment law that exists for over 8 years. Need we say more?
We can choose to have a "minor" discussion on this site and see this issue disappear like a puff of smoke.
Or we can start the example of strong and unbreakable ESL teacher unity now.
This is up to all of you ESL teachers.
Fred Savage
- 2007-02-06
Please accept this as my resignation from the position of Director of Studies, effectively
immediately. You may keep any monies due to me that have not yet been paid by way of
compensation in lieu of notice.
Why am I resigning?
I have been offered a position which involves under half the hours I work at EF and for the
same money I get at EF for a full 40 hr week.
1.
2. The new position involves no dangerous travelling.
3. The benefits, for example, holiday days paid are considerably more than EF
4. There are other reasons, largely related to the centres operation:
a. I was told I would be given some sort of Parking Entitlement voucher- I wasnt
Despite my complaints on 3 occassions about defective lighting in the mens WC,
nothing has been done
b.
I dislike teaching children as commercial viability is more important than Academic
outcome-this is understandable as this is a business, and my views on this are entirely
personal.
c.
Improvements in operation I was asked to recommend have not been maintained-for
example, keeping of class follow on books,
d.
Of 2 photocopiers in the centre neither works correctly and one doesnt work at all. I
have mentioned this numerous times.
e.
f. The printer in my office does not print correctly
The method of paying part-time teachers is rather dubious, but I understand this may be
standard EF practice to calculate pay on ACH not real hours.
g.
The status of the branch as a member of English First is unclear and although I have
been referred on several occassions to the Intranet, I have been told we can not access
it-surely a sign that English First is NOT interested in having this branch in its network.
h.
i. Photocopied text books are being used in contravention of EF policy.
Originally I was asked to be a contributor to the promotion of the branch, but despite
sales meetings being held, I was excluded from them
j.
I was asked to secure a full-time teacher but was not given parameters under which I
could make an offer- I made an appointment to interview a likely teacher and was only
given the details 5 minutes before the interview, and that only because I telephoned and
demanded the details, despite repeated requests for this information.
k.
The offer I was to make to a full-time teacher was well below industry standards and I
am certain the teacher was being polite when he said he would think about it.
DB
- 2007-02-06
Fred - It would be interesting to know what actions you have taken to expose them other than posting the information you have provided here. That is, have you notified the authorities in Indonesia?
Of course the easy answer to most of your questions is that they know which palms to grease and whose pockets to pad. EF has a pretty bad reputation here in PR China as well. If you check the archives, you'll be surprised at what they can get away with it.
EF like many other chain schools throughout Asia are deeply embedded in a business that has become increasingly dishonest. The head offices are acutely aware of the problems (how could they not be) and yet they continue to recruit unsuspecting teachers. And, as you've pointed out, their affiliates continue hiring unqualified teachers and/or teachers, such as those from the Phillipines to whom they can give lower salaries.
Sadly, in China, there seems to be little one can do about such practices. But I'm curious to know what, if anything, can be done in Indonesia. Keep us posted please.
English First is the biggest and most well known chain of franchised English language schools in Indonesia.They are well known, by name, by Indonesian students and are trusted by Indonesians to be an establishment that sells the highest academic excellence in the ESL industry.Most teachers previously employed by them would challenge any claims of academic excellence and are upset at the recruiting techniques, contract negotiating, academic standards and treatment of their academic staff.They would also challenge English First to their competence in providing solid methodologies or techniques in teaching the spoken English language.We are all confused as to how this school can continually circumvent Indonesian employment laws, circumvent the immigration laws and visa regulations as well as circumvent Indonesian laws in regards to contractual employment agreements.Teachers coming to Indonesia are under the impression that Indonesian law required expat teachers to have qualifications to teach spoken English in Indonesia. They are also under the impression that to acquire a KITAS, foreign English teachers were required to be NATIVE speakers of English and MUST be from Australia, Canada, USA, New Zealand or England. So why does English First have many teachers throughout their franchised system who are from countries other than the countries not on the list?And how do these teachers from OTHER countries have KITAS visas when they are full time ESL teachers at a language school? Currently, the largest numbers of employed teachers from OTHER countries are from the Philippines and their contract salaries are considerably less than that of those from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or England. Teachers are also under the impression that teachers were required to have verifiable qualifications to TEACH spoken English. How and why does English First continually hire what are supposed to be Professional teachers when the majority of their teachers have NO experience teaching spoken English, no qualifications to TEACH spoken English or are not even native speakers from the 5 stipulated countries clearly written in Indonesian Employment codes? Why are English First teachers required to meet an Agent in Singapore, wait 3 months for a legal work permit and during the waiting period must be hidden from view when immigration agents show up at the school? Why can English First consistently sign teachers to 1 year contracts yet not provide LEGAL KITAS work permits for 4 or 5 or 6 months, sometimes longer, for teachers even though the contract has been already signed. Is it not the legal responsibility of English First to provide legal work papers at the time of contract signing? And why is it that English First is allowed to change the terms of the contract of the teacher AFTER the contract is signed by both parties? And how is this done with no legal representation for the party whose contract is being changed? And why are Native teachers required to sign a contract that stipulates that if they leave prior to the final date of contract they must pay $1000-1500usd, prorated for time of service, for the KITAS work permits when they are provided no receipts or proof of cost for the work permits? Where are these work permits coming from? Why are there Native teachers honoring their contracts and teaching yet they receive no legal working paperwork for up to 6 months after arrival? Why can a school like English First consistently market themselves as academic professionals when it is obvious to professional English teachers that they have no competence in the industry which they represent? Indonesian students of English should be demanding educational competence from these privatized schools and demanding qualifications from the teachers who are teaching them or your children before they enroll. More over, companies that choose to be in the education industry should be required to meet basic academic and employment standards that are equivalent to the countries they represent. Meaning, privatized English schools should not be allowed to operate within Indonesian borders unless they can meet the minimum academic and employment standards of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or England.