EF Education First Review: Honest Review After 8 Years of Teaching

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What is EF Education First? 

EF Teach Online is a part of a larger company, EF Education First that offers travel tours or excursions called EF Tours to places like Paris, Italy, Rome, London, Greece, and more. It also includes EF English First, which offers language training centers worldwide. Today, EF has offices globally, including a campus in the US.

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Requirements

To join the US center, you need to be a resident of the US and a native English speaker (C2) level. You also need a Bachelor’s degree, but it can be from any academic degree program—it doesn’t need to be related. Finally, you’ll also need a TEFL certificate of at least 40 hours. No previous teaching experience is required.

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Technical Requirements

Here is the equipment you’ll need: > Windows computer with Windows 10 or up > Webcam: 1080P webcam is needed (Logitech C920 recommended) > Green screen > Ring light > Noise-canceling USB headset > A strong internet connection

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What is the Hiring Process Like?

I’ve been teaching with EF since 2015, so things may have changed slightly. The first step was to fill out an online application. After that, EF reached out to schedule an online interview. Before the interview, I filled out a pre-interview questionnaire. Then, within a few days of the interview, I found out that I got the job.

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How Much Money Can You Make? 

You’ll make $12-$16 per hour as an EF teacher. You’ll start at $12 but can easily earn $16 if you can meet a few simple requirements.

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What are the Hours Like?

EF offers classes 24/7, making it highly flexible. To make $16 an hour, you need to teach 25 peak hours per week, which are 6 AM to 10 AM.

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What are the Students Like? 

Most learners are anywhere from 18-75 years old. You might have a few young adults, but most are college graduates or older.

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How Long are the Classes? 

At EF, there are two types of classes: private lessons and group lessons. Typically, you will start off teaching group classes and then move on to private lessons later. Group lessons are 45 minutes long and often have between 2-8 students. Private lessons are either 20 minutes or 40 minutes.

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Do You Need to Create Materials? 

EF has prepared lessons that you can use. When a student books a class, they will choose a topic from EF lesson material or a “Custom Request.” Most Custom Requests are for free talk or free conversation. Once in a while, a student will request something else. In that case, you can either prepare something yourself or sub out the class if needed.

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Cancelling Classes

Each month, you get 10 cancellations. You can use these however you need to. If you have an emergency and need more than 10, just contact EF and let them know.

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What Skills Do You Need?

To have an amazing experience as a teacher, you’ll want to help your students feel at ease. You also need to be flexible and patient.

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Pros

Flexibility is one of the things I love most about EF. You can teach whenever you want to, 24/7, regardless of where you live in the world. Some companies have a minimum number of hours you’re required to teach, but EF doesn’t. Other perks include the company being easy to contact and that they offer growth opportunities like webinars.

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Cons

Hands down, the worst single thing is the pay. It’s really one of the only things I would change. Also, remember that as an independent contractor, you will need to put aside money for taxes since this will not be taken out of your paycheck each month. As with any client-facing job, you will have difficult students from time to time.

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