Interesting experience... - Native Speaking English Tutor Chatteris Educational Foundation Employee Review

I began working here as a tutor, and it was an eventful experience to say the least. Even before I arrived, there were problems with my visa, and while this wasn't Chatteris' fault, I was told 2 weeks before I was meant to fly out that I would have to miss the first orientation period and start a month later than most people. This was a really stressful time, as I wanted to maximise making friends and meeting people, especially finding people to live with. I eventually managed to come at the start, as my visa just about came in time. They had a 3 week training programme/orientation period, which on one hand was a good way to meet other tutors, but it was definitely longer than it needed to be, and it meant there was a crossover between training and finding/moving into an apartment. The training by some of the tutors was helpful, and to an extent, they couldn't have done more, given that most of them had only been a tutor for a year or so. However, there was a lot of sitting around and waiting, especially whilst sorting out the logistics of moving there at the same time e.g. setting up a bank account, getting the ID card etc. It was also made more elongated by the fact that we had to share a hotel room with another tutor for 3 weeks. There were no problems with the person I shared with, and we got on well, but 3 weeks felt too long considering I'd never met this person before and sharing a room meant little to no privacy. I guess it just felt a lot, after moving to a different country and trying to settle in, and trying to recharge and adjust. I would say I’m a pretty outgoing and confident person, but I too need some alone time. I did also know of a few people who didn't have the best experience with their flat mate as well, so it’s one of those situations where you have to be lucky. Luck is not a guaranteed sense of security when you’re moving halfway across the world. The process of finding an apartment was extremely stressful. Finding someone to live with in itself was essentially freshers at uni but an intense version, where you had basically 1-2 weeks to decide who to live with. Whilst Chatteris did tell us that most of the apartments come unfurnished (not even a bed), it wasn't made clear on how difficult the process actually was. Most estate agents would not accept 9 month contracts (our employment period), and only a fixed 12 month tenancy. So, it meant having to try and negotiate a lot, which was heightened by the fact most spoke very little English, so important questions were exchanged via Google Translate (obviously not the most reliable and accurate source). A few of the senior tutors from Chatteris did offer to help with flat viewings, although as there were so many of us, it was difficult to get someone to come along. Chatteris did also have one or two native speakers in the office for translation problems, but again, with over 30 tutors, this was impractical to rely on, as they understandably weren't always available to help. I eventually managed to get an apartment to share with another girl, but we did have to buy everything for it - they are quite literally unfurnished. It is made out that it's really easy to find second hand items for cheap/free, and whilst we did manage to get a few good deals, most essential items were located on Hong Kong Island. The Island from Kowloon (area where most tutors live) is about 45 mins away by MTR and for items such as tables, chairs, desks etc. there was no way to carry these on the MTR, so we had to get vans to pick us up with the items and drop us back. This might not seem that much of a hassle on the face of it, but it was difficult to try and make the most of the van with items, given that journeys were often £40-60. Since second hand items are sold by individuals living in different areas, it was almost impossible to sync, which meant having to order several vans for several trips. The easiest option would have been to actually buy items online from Ikea, for example, but it would have been too expensive to buy every item, especially with the rent prices being rather expensive for the size of the apartment. I was also quite naive with how small I thought the apartments would be... they were quite literally box rooms. My flatmate's bedroom could barely fit a bed in. There wasn't much help or information about this given by Chatteris, apart from 1 session on flat hunting and being told that that the apartments would be small. After eventually moving in, we were set to start at our schools a few days after. I do think a week to settle in first would have been nice before properly starting work. When I started at my school, I felt naturally quite nervous because I'd never taught before and had only had the 3 weeks of training to go off. In terms of the schools themselves, I got lucky with the location of mine, as it was only a 20 minutes walk from my apartment. But, they allocate around 8-10 tutors to a school over an hour commute away, which meant they had to get up at 5am to get there in time before school started. The primary school tutors usually had an earlier start and were normally further away than the secondary school tutors, but more primary tutors seemed to find the work less exhausting than the secondary tutors. The first 1-2 weeks were a shadowing period, where we were meant to shadow the teachers in lessons and merely introduce ourselves to the students. However, on the second day, I and another tutor with myself at the school were told to just lead a class. It was a bit of a shock to be honest, but we improvised and got through. But then after that, I was also expected to lead several speaking lessons in the first week for some of the senior students' exams to get into university. The content for this and how to essentially teach it was scarcely covered in the training period, so I felt extremely out of depth and felt a lot of pressure on me knowing that these were important exams to prepare for. I was also expected to teach phonics, which also was hardly covered/taught in the training period. It was quite an overwhelming time of trying to settle into my new apartment; sourcing various furniture; navigating the electricity and water bills in Cantonese; adjusting to the place; adjusting to the school; meeting new people/students and being thrown into lessons straight away. Among all this the climate was suffocatingly humid - although ideal for the beach. What I found really difficult though were all the extra bits separate to the lessons themselves. We had to do ELEEP sessions and extracurricular games/activities, which were essentially extended English learning activities in the break/lunch times and after school. Combined with teaching the lessons themselves, planning the lessons in between and planning and doing the extra curricular activities, it was really exhausting. I found the lesson planning initially really difficult, as it was something I'd never done before and it was hard to tailor a lesson to a class of such varying levels of English proficiency. There wasn’t much incentive from a financial perspective either, given the fairly low salary compared to the high cost of living. The low levels of proficiency was really hard to navigate, because if people can't understand you, then they obviously won't listen and be engaged. Although Chatteris did have some resources and lesson plans from previous years, they weren't always that detailed or engaging, and mostly always had to be changed. You could literally have a student with near-fluent speaking levels, compared to someone who could barely ask a question in the same class. I was often met with silence and/or students talking and not engaging, because they didn't know what I was saying. The native English teachers either sat back and watched, or spoke to the students in Cantonese (a language I unfortunately don’t know). Some of the teachers there were under the impression that I was a qualified teacher, not a tutor, and there is obviously a big difference. So, I think there was an assumption that I knew what I was doing. Whereas, I needed more support and guidance, and often the English teachers were too busy with their own classes to help, so I was left to my own devices a lot of the time. Another thing I raised as a concern was the amount of activities/lessons jam packed in my timetable - there were a few days where I didn't really have a lunch break. Even though this was changed as soon as I raised this, it should have been factored in as soon as I started. The amount of holiday I was given was less than I was expecting as well. For example, for Christmas, I had off from the 24th December - 2nd January, and yes I still had time off, but most people I knew had at least 10 days. There were often the odd day here and there which I got off, not a period of time in one go. One of the reasons I joined Chatteris was due to wanting to travel as well, and also being told that it would be so easy to and that so many tutors do, so being a tutor, I thought there would be more time off. I spoke to my supervisor a few times about feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work and little guidance from staff, and I was often met with apathetic comments such as 'teaching can be stressful sometimes', rather than fully trying to understand and remedy the issue. May I also add as well that I did do a law degree at uni, so I'd say I was used to managing a high workload. It was more so the lack of guidance and support that came with it which was the problem. Again, I would say I was a fairly extroverted person, but going into school each day made me feel extremely anxious. After complaining to my supervisor another time, they said they would visit the school to assess the situation a week after I complained about the amount expected of me. A week later didn’t feel soon enough and it felt as though my concerns and health weren’t getting taken seriously enough. I got to the weekend after raising this complaint and it all just crept on me, so I decided to leave Chatteris and Hong Kong. This was a really hard decision to make, but I do think it speaks for itself. Maybe my experience was just really unfortunate, but I wanted to share my experience with others. In short, respect to the tutors out there, especially the ones without prior teaching experience - it’s not easy.