A Bad experience with Palfish

The Classes

I started working for Palfish over a year ago- 
The classes are unpredictable to start with and the students can cancel at the last minute or even not show up at all!  It can be very disheartening. I have yet to hear many people doing well on it. It can give great confidence to new teachers however to get infront of the camera, it’s easy to use as you can use your smart phone so its handy for travel and can work from anywhere.

The Pay

The pay is very low however and almost impossible to reach level 5 where you get slightly better pay. Once you reach that level you need to go back to level 1 next month start all over again so it feels your never making progress and you can  barely  make a decent liveable wage in the western world. I think most I ever made was 500 pound a month! This wouldn’t even cover rent in the UK!

They most certainly need to review the payments and living in the western world as these are where most of their native English speaking teachers live…they should take that into account.

 

The bright side

On a brighter note the students are fantastic. There’s the odd disruptive child like any school and we deal with this by speaking to the parent or admin. I loved teaching the students. 

The admin is another story- there’s no official person in charge so you’re going through a computer system constantly so its impersonal and there’s no advisor on the other end it seems. You never meet who’s in charge! Its hard to get any info…  for example when I started I had no help or support which was tough. You don’t feel supported or can’t ask anyone for help especially when you start and have lots of questions. Your just thrown into it really sink or swim.

Know your worth

I have stayed up late nights got up at 3am starts to make hours for this company and nothing seems to pay off…this is why its so disheartening because there is little or no progress but so much effort to put in. For example we are expected to do free live classes, update your profile with moments and pictures, go on a reading app daily recording your book not getting paid you feel used for this big multimillion company. No loyalty your just a number.

Niamh Palfish teaching review

 

Reaching levels

When you reach a level you must start all over again at level 1 next month. It often feels you are making no progress. I personally would not recommend this company but perhaps only for beginner teachers .

It is very hard to get support and help from them because its all behind the scenes. You don’t actually ever get to speak to the people in charge. You do feel unsupported, you are given a mentor like another teacher but real support so you feel lost constantly. You are asked to do free live classes, add moments and sell yourself but you put in so much effort and work that it never seems to pay off.

Overall Impression

I changed my times to start at 3am once which would been day time in China hoping I would get more work. Not much luck either….so I felt at my ‘wits end’ at that stage. I put in all the effort I could at that stage and have no more ideas. I knew it was time to look elsewhere so I appreciate the experience with Palfish and it taught me that everything serves its purpose and happens for a reason. 

Interested in working in China and want to find out more? Our UK agency ensures that schools are up to top standard and provides an additional layer of protection and reassurance when negotiating issues with your Chinese school. To find out the latest vetted and quality assessed top providers in China check out nooneliterecruitment.com/teach-english-in-china.  

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