What a mess! The fact that there is no real training in this company should have been an immediate red flag. I kept hearing online about the 'training' or the 'teacher's manual' or something, but there was none of this. I was only ever referred to YouTube videos of other teachers teaching a class as a substitute for any real training.
Within 48 hours of applying, I was invited to a teaching demo and interview. I passed the demo and was asked to do another, longer demo with a member of the Chinese staff. So I did, and she stopped me five minutes into the demo and said that I did a really great job, and that she would like to schedule a trial class as soon as possible. The next day, I had my trial class with one student. He was fairly advanced for the lesson, and I was worried that I would get through the lesson too quickly, so I tried challenging him a little bit outside of the "on-rails" lesson - you know, REAL teaching. This is NOT what Magic Ears wants. They want you to follow their awkward, level-inappropriate, non-native English lessons to a T, all while being so high energy and over the top, you'd lose your voice in a matter of minutes.
After completing my trial class, I thought I did a good job and that everything would go well. I heard nothing. A week passed. I emailed Magic Ears and was told that my energy was not high enough. They gave me the option to do another trial class (unpaid, mind you), and I accepted. This time around, I had three students, one who showed up 2/3 of the way into the class, another who was a gem, and another one who was a little brat - extremely difficult and would not look at the camera or stay in his chair, and who kept making noise all through the lesson. I followed the instructions and muted his mic, reported the issue, and proceeded with the lesson. Besides this, everything went else was fine. The next day, I got the email saying that I wasn't a good fit.
I have a TEFL/TESOL and 4 years of ESL teaching experience, so I really thought I'd be a good fit. I realized afterward, however, that Magic Ears is not looking for a teacher. They are looking for a clownish personality to perform on camera and make the Chinese parents think their kids actually learned something. The weak curriculum alone should be a red flag to any ESL teacher. Here is an example of some of the language being taught:
A: “I like fall. I feel cool.”
B: “I don’t like it.”
C: “I’m not happy.”
This is an example of ONE conversation! Nobody talks like that! This is NOT real teaching. Big thumbs down. This company will be gone in a couple of years.
