No matter where you go in China, you will constantly hear horror stories about schools, mostly private training schools, and the bulk of those stories come from EF. EF has gained such an infamous reputation in China (and other English-hungry sections of the world) that you'll probably have to be outside of China to not know enough to stay away. This post is supported by almost every person that has worked at an EF in China, and by every blog post I have ever seem. EF is a hell that they will force you to remain in, even when you want to leave.

When I first arrived in China, I knew very little about it, working environment or otherwise. Now, after having lived here for a couple years, and having worked at a few very nice schools, particularly the one I work at now, where the job, the environment and the people are wonderful. Let us compare the two.

Before I arrived (at EF):
1) I had been talking to a dos, who apparently hated the school as well, so when I was about a week away from getting on a plane, he disappeared to somewhere else. Of course no one was there to fill me in, and with him being the only I had talked to, and I was left in the dark, to get on a plane with about a weeks worth of unanswered emails. Fortunately or unfortunately, they werent about to let a fresh teacher escape their claws.
2) Next I was dropped off, by a Chinese guy whose English was terrible, at a building where all the teachers lived in dorms, having a little cubby for themselves and their belongings. It seemed strange to me because the former DOS sent me pictures of what would be MY apartment: a spacious kitchen, a big bedroom and living room.

After I arrived:
1) During my first week was left to fend for myself. The new DOS had left a note on the table saying that she would see me in a week. I was left to fend for myself in a new country, at a new job, and I found out later, I was doing so unpaid.
2) When I arrived at the school I received no training, and, on my second week there I was informed that I would be going to a summer camp for two weeks. Ive lived in China for a while now, and Ive never heard of anyone experiencing anything like this camp, outside of EF. I was crammed into a cubby/room with no screens on the window, insanely hot, while mosquitoes feasted on me at night, and while children, who were all on the same floor as me, burst into my room at all hours. The bathrooms were the worst Ive seen in China. I had to fight to be able to shower by myself. The gate was locked so I couldnt go anywhere. And one night, the dorm building, had about 10 busses full of travellers, who poured into the buildings, literally defecated all over the place, whether bathroom or shower, and it was not cleaned up. The Chinese staffs, which were there to really take care of the children, were about 20-23, and fresh out of university. They allowed the children to do absolutely anything, which included buying serious weapons, nun chucks, sling shots, and needless to say, children got hurt and had to be rushed to the hospital. The other foreign teacher and I were appalled, yet helpless: no one would listen to us, and they even seemed surprised at our anger.
3) EF prays on the inexperienced.

Let me compare my job overview now, at a typical Foreign Language School, to EF:
1) Now I teach 18 classes a week, 35 minutes a class. The hours are few, and classes are cancelled frequently. I work 5 days a week, teaching roughly 2 hours a day, between the hours of 8 and 3. When Im not teaching, I go home to my fully paid for, 2 bedroom apartment (and when I say fully paid, I mean internet, electricity, gas, cable, etc.) At EF, I worked nights and weekends. Saturday and Sunday I was forced to teach 4 or 5 two-hour classes, each day. During the spring and fall I taught about 25 to 30 hours per week, and on top of that we were forced to come in each day for office hours, where the teachers sit on the computer and kill time. During the summer teachers work 50 hours + per week, six days a week for 2 months, in the winter it is the same intense schedule, for about a month. At the school Im at now, we get a fully paid winter holiday, with no work. Over a month off, paid. On top of that, for this holiday we get a travel stipend for 1100 RMB. Same goes for the summer. As a bonus, for each completed semester teachers get 500 RMB. This means that while teachers are teaching at EF for 6000 per month working an insane amount of hours, teachers at my school (which is pretty standard) get close to 14000 RMB (including 5000 airfare, EF gives you about 3000 per semester, but you really have to fight for it). During that time teachers travel, experience China, go home, etc. Cant experience much at EF while working overtime and 6 days a week. Sleep, eat, work, eat, sleep, work at EF, and your paid less.
2) I am paid 7,500 RMB per month. At EF I was paid 6000 for about 3 times the work.
3) As stated above, living conditions at most schools are wonderful, at EF you live in a dorm.
4) At EF the schedule is always changing, and when you go into work you often find theres been an additional class added to your schedule, for that day.
5) EF imports teachers and has them work illegally, and, because it is a for-profit school teachers have to be sent back out of the country, usually to Korea, in order to get a legal visa.

When I was there all teachers worked illegally, until their tourist visa was about a day from up. Then the teachers were shipped to Korea for a visa. On our trip a newly-hired 22 year old planned it, and we had to foot the bill for much of it, because he didnt give us enough money for the taxi and visa. This happened to another teacher, who, unfortunately, didnt have enough money on him and he had to spend a night on the streets.

When People realize what theyve gotten themselves into:
During my time at EF I saw many teachers come and go, or try to go. I saw probably 20 to 30 Chinese staff go, and for good reason, they are treated horribly, and when they complained about it, or asked for decency, they were thrown out. Working in China is no picnic for most Chinese, but these people were treated worse, and paid less, and worked harder than migrant workers, and these people had university degrees. It was like working in a sweat shop.

Many foreign staff tried to go, as well; although this proved much more difficult. Basically, EF doesnt fire teachers, and doesnt let them go either. While I worked there one teacher got rough with a student, and the student had bruises up her arm, and the teacher was not reprimanded. Another girl broke her arm in a class with a teacher who was not even qualified to be there in the first place, and was working there illegally. But these were the only two teachers who wanted to stay. The rest of the people who worked there all wanted out.
1) One teacher tried to escape secretly and was told that if he didnt come back the police would be called, and he would be fined heavily, arrested, and deported. And EF offers classes to officers and their children for heavily discounted prices. The Tangshan police are minions of EF, and EF can bully their workers into anything they choose. This teacher, who had been working happily in China for almost 2 years before coming to EF, was forced to return home.

2) Another teacher wanted to leave, and tried, and was continually threatened by the manager, and told that he could leave only if he paid 20000 RMB.

3) They even tried to force him to sign an additional contract. EF forced him to leave the country as well.

4) Another teacher who has left just recently is trying to get her letter of release, and EF is not picking up her calls, which means she will have to leave the country as well.

I have personally seen many teachers threatened, and I have been threatened myself, lied about, and forced to come in and beg for a release letter, which took me months to get from them.

The DOS at EF, during the time I was there, was a South African man with no degree, no qualifications whatsoever, and his spoken and written English was atrocious. In fact, his release letter has become a main source of humour for other teachers at my current school. I would be surprised if he made it through primary school.

These are the only types of people who stay at EF. The people who would be working at Mcdonalds back home. Out of all the teachers that I saw come and go the only two teachers that didnt cancel their contract with the school were 1) A grotesquely fat man from Australia with no education whatsoever, who clearly was there for a wife (which he got) 2) and a guy who literally thought he was a character from Dragonball Z, or one of those anime cartoons (which he was obsessed with) and literally thought he was a superhero.

At EF you will not experience China, and when everyone else has the summer or winter off, paid, you will be working 6 days a week, 50 + hours, morning, noon, and night. You will be loaded with paper work (at regular schools you do none). You will have no weekends, no nights, no time to travel, NO LIFE whatsoever; and on top of the hours you will be forced to do marketing activities where they parade you around like a clown at shopping malls, restaurants, etc. You will be crammed into a dorm with other teachers, and on top of that you will be forced to split electricity, gas, etc., where other schools will give you a spacious apartment and pay for everything. Not to mention Tangshan is an industrial city, and is literally black with coal, and hideously ugly.

I write this because I have travelled extensively around China, and met countless people who have worked all over China. I write this because I love the school I work at now, and my life is easy, relaxed, I have time to travel, study, and my school takes can of me, I make more, work less and my life is enjoyable, easy. EF is a hell that they will not let you escape.

I write this to inform. I spent many cold nights, with most of the other teachers, trapped, trying to figure out a way to get out. Teachers who brooded, desperately, of having their time, and their good-humour stolen from them, due to the working conditions of this school. EF is a nightmare that will colour and seep into every area of your life. EF is a hell where you are overworked, lied to, cheated out of money, cramped into atrocious living conditions, and forced to obey them, unconditionally. They will squeeze you dry, draining the life out of you, and your life in China, which may have once looked hopeful, will be a fog of work, arguing, insecurity, and people taking advantage of you, filling every single day with things they force you to do, paperwork, classes at all hours, overtime, hostility, and a daily-changing schedule.

THIS IS NOT CHINA. THIS IS EF. THIS IS THE HELL THEY WILL CREATE FOR YOU, AND A HELL THAT YOU WONT ESCAPE FROM EASILY. CHINA CAN BE VERY PLEASANT, JUST DONT CHOOSE EF.