USAsishu
USAsishu Review
USAsishu (website is down) or Meiguosishu (now called UUabc Jr.) They teach Chinese primary school children. They ask teachers to have a university degree and teaching certificate. Peak hours are weekdays from 18.00-21.00, but they also teach on the weekends. Classes can be 30 minutes or 55 minutes usually for 1-2 kids. They pay twice per month and pay starts at $15 per hour. You can email: recruiterhr@meiguosishu.com or engteacher@usasishu.com.
Please leave us your comments and reviews of USAsishu.
12 Comments
Tony
Dora is seriously not suited to work with people (much less as a “supervisor”). She is extremely unprofessional, inexperienced, and when she does not know the answer, will flat out make something up. I seriously found her to be horrible, and I have had 100’s of supervisors throughout the years.
Hatter
It all depends on your attitude. No job is always perfect, or always fun. This company has supported me, taught me and allowed me to grow. if you are polite, and positive, all of the Chinese employees are the same to you. I have never had a lack of information, nor have I been let down. I see a lot of comments on the material as well… people don’t seem to get that the material should be treated as a general guideline. You have to supplement the material with your own extra materials to expand on the concepts, and tailor it to the kids. I get the sense the negative comments come from teachers who do not want to work. Its still a teaching job… you can’t just show up in a traditional class and expect to “just teach” out of the text books. You need to prepare, that’s on you. If you have a positive attitude, if you are willing to work with the Chinese employees, and if you are willing to work; this job is for you. If not… Teaching isn’t for you. Try affiliate marketing instead. Or an MLM.
Vran
Just wanted to tell anyone thinking about applying for this company… DONT.
Do yourself a favor and dont waste one moth of your life, as I did, going through interviews and waiting for late replies from the ” Dora Explorer” , their “Teacher manager” .
NO professionalism whatsoever.
After ONE MONTH of passing their “interviews”, of which the first one was “conducted” by a Chinese woman, who albeit polite, has absolutely no English skills. Her English is non existent, and she was supposed to evaluate my performance.
“Dora Explorer” is an absolute lobotomite, in every sense of that word, besides the litteral one (?).
She takes days to reply to simple but CRUCIAL inquiries, that she left out while giving me “info” about the job. Things like “Why is the salary on my contract different from the one you advertised”, or “This part of the contract is a bit confusing could you please clarify” etc.
She understood about 50% of what I was saying, 30% of the time.
The salary was not as advertised, it was lower, although not by much.
The materials are catastrophically bad. You will get around 5-10 pdf slides, if you are lucky, to entertain a child for 60 minutes. This wouldnt be that bad if the slides had more than a 2 cm pic on it and a few words.
If you want to use this material to actualy conduct the class, you will have to play a clown as well. Its horribly uninteresting, short, and dull, even by a 5yos standards.
In short :
“Dora Explorer”, who will most likely be your main source of information, will not give you information. She will waste your time, make you wait for days and then give you 50% of the info (if you are lucky) that you actualy NEED to START doing your job. EVEN after passing all their dumb “tests” and interviews, they still give about 0 flying fecal matters if you are gonna start working or not.
Absolutely 0 respect and 0 professionalism and to top it all off, they will waste your time.
There are so many problems with this company, their policy and their choice of staff, that I lose all willpower thinking about how long it would take me write it all down.
I saw all the negative reviews here and on other sites and thought maybe they were exaggerating.
Turns out, they were not.
I hope this saves someone the time that these people made me waste.
Give this one a wide berth.
Sarah
Hi, could someone tell me about the leave policy at USA Sishu? I’m thinking about signing up, but would need to take 2 days of leave at the end of the first month. Not ideal- I know.
Also, is there a standby pay rate if not all my sessions are booked?
Teacher with heart and soul
Nothing is really perfect in life, however, if one tries to make the best of it, it works. Only speaking people can be helped and maybe the wrong person was addressed. I have been working with USA-Sishu also for 3 years now. If I have a problem, I go straight to the top, since some CT’s do not speak the proper English needed to cater to those needs.
A culture course should have been done and then the actions of CT’s would be easier understood instead of misunderstood and judged. Like with any other company, of course proof of illness needs to be provided as there are many flakes in this business. I can only say, when payday rolls around, the pay is punctual and proper and as far as the bonuses go, I have received them when they were due. USA-Sishu is a growing company and offers room for any hard working teacher to grow with them.
Like with anything, nothing comes free and easy and you have to work hard for it, but then again being a teacher is not a profession, but a calling and requires that extra mile, that many are not willing to give.
I have been a real classroom teacher for many years all over the world and sometimes had to get up in the middle of the night to be in school on time in the morning and was fighting traffic. This is the perfect job for many in the comfort of their own home and I can only recommend the company, as I never had a major problem with them.
It is all a matter of approach. I have been fined in the past (twice to be exact) and was upset, but understood also, that it was the policy, even in a case of an emergency as stated clearly in the contract.
Many things have changed for the positive in the last 3 years and keep changing.
The material has been upgraded and mistakes are fixed immediately. I have not seen perfect learning material anywhere in Asia and it is also a matter of approach. Instead of criticism, maybe a helping hand is in order to iron out grammar mistakes and other mistakes.
The first concern should be the children and since we all share that interest, why not try to have a closer relationship with the CT’s? After all we may be from different countries, but still bleed red and the same. We are all humans here and stress can run high, but a good relationship between all teachers, regardless where we all are from, should help to make things run smooth and help all of us to grow in out teachings. I know, I have and will continue to do so.
I can only strongly suggest to do a Culture Course on Chinese or Asian Culture, (or at least some research) if you plan on working for any Asian company.
There are things, many “Westerners” do not know or take into consideration, especially if you don’t live in Asia. It is quite different, but I can ensure you, that you will have a different level of understanding, once you have made yourself familiar.
Summary: USA-Sishu is a great company for someone who enjoys teaching in Asia, as it is a very rewarding experience to teach Asian children. Problems can be solved easily if the right person is approached and as far as payday goes, it is a punctual and never late. And that is good enough for me. Good luck to you all out there and don’t be discouraged by misunderstandings between Cultures. God gave us all a mouth to talk things out, but again – only the speaking ones can be helped.
Anonymous
I have been working for Usasishu for over a year now. I have had nothing but good experiences. Dora, is a great leader who is always willing to help. I don’t want to sound kissassy (excuse my language). It is just my honest opinion. The salary is enough, and if you work responsibly, you can expect a raise…..
And about the CTs (Chinese Teachers) and SAs (Student advisers), I think they are very hardworking and have tried their best to help me. Sometimes they do not reply because they are very busy, some of them have 100 students to assist. So, we just have to be patient, and of course try to solve our problems sometimes.
The bottom line is… It is a company that was founded in 2015, we must expect a couple of flaws and cooperate to help the company grow so that we can grow. Moreover, there are hundreds of online teaching companies that pay half of what you make in Usasishu or even a third.
G
Are you kidding us? I actually quit working there because of Dora .. she is extremely unprofessional and is a terrible communicator (terrible at English). She is not helpful, and has horrible people skills. I would stay far away from this company.
Doesn't matter
How do you work on and off if you are so incredibly happy? “To respond to the comment above about quitting…yes, one month notice is required which is clearly stated in the contract (yes, obviously Chris, but you are missing the point) that was agreed upon by both parties and is also a standard notice when leaving a job here in China (Yes,leaving a job IN China is very different to leaving a online job). The payment schedule is also clearly stated in the contact. (actually not the bonus structure, its different to payment structure and not clear at all and since it has been 3 years maybe it’s changed and you are not aware)
All in all, this company has been very very good to me and given me opportunities to grow in ways I had never considered.”
You say was your first online job, then clearly you have no idea what is out there. You completely missed the point of the review, its recommended to do your own research and see the negative reviews out there. I am happy though that you had a positive experience.
Chris Bell
I’ve been working with USAsishu off and on for almost the past 3 years. I was a high school teacher(B.FA, B.Ed) for 8 years in Canada. USAsishu was the first online teaching experience I’d ever had. I can say that I’ve had nothing but great experiences with this company. While there have been many changes over the past few years, one must expect this with a new company.
In my experience, the family here at USAsishu does everything they can to help. The owners and managers (Kim and Dora) are very approachable, very professional, and always open to suggestions. I have always felt valued and respected here and I look forward coming to work. I have found the school to be as accommodating as they can. The content we teach provides just enough inspiration so that you can design the lesson the way you like. There is so much freedom to instruct learners the way you feel suits their needs the best. The wonderful thing about this school is that they are not expecting cookie cutter lessons that are the exact same as everyone else. The beauty of this is that it has taught me more about my own teaching style…as long as the student is happy and is learning the content, you can approach it anyway you feel matches the learners needs. Your teaching responsibilities are simple: be professional, be on time for class, make sure the student is learning, make sure the learner and their parents are happy, and provide feedback for your learner to help their progress….this is standard for any teaching job anywhere.
The company has grown quite a bit recently and is ever evolving. I feel that the company has also given this to me as a teacher. I am constantly experimenting with different ways to teach the same content allowing me to grow as a teacher. The opportunity is here to make the lesson as boring as you like, or as exciting, personal and entertaining as you can.
To respond to the comment above about quiting…yes, one month notice is required which is clearly stated in the contract that was agreed upon by both parties and is also a standard notice when leaving a job here in China. The payment schedule is also clearly stated in the contact.
All in all, this company has been very very good to me and given me opportunities to grow in ways I had never considered. You get as much out of this job as much as you put in. Here you can be creative with your lessons and evolve as an educator. I highly recommend working at USAsishu.
Annonymous
Then explain why on every platform there are only negative reviews? Stop kissing arse.
Virus
Such a crock! Dora was EXTREMELY unapproachable (she seemed to take offense whenever anything negative was said, and I ALWAYS got blamed … even when CLEARLY their fault.
Annonymous
USAsishu – DO NOT GO NEAR THEM
If you are an experienced teacher, know your worth! STAY AWAY
The Cons:
The trainer and manager calls herself Dora the Explorer…… extremely professional.
No bonuses, even if it is stated in your contract… you won’t be getting them even if you query about them a million times. So forget about it
No support, only for the first few weeks maybe, mostly just attitude and no tact.
Unorganised, your CT/SA’s are overloaded resulting in a complete mess and lack of responsibility, be prepared to be blamed for everything that goes wrong.
When asking for help from a manager or CT be prepared for either “no response” or “I am busy!!”
The materials are… horrible and not up to standard. You must teach a 60min class with only about 5-7 slides Prek material if you are lucky, the rest of the time you must come up with your own stuff.
When you are ill, you need a doctor’s letter. No excuses
Also, if a family member is ill and there is an emergency, the school also does not understand and will fine you time and a half per class when you have to cancel. So essentially if someone dies… they don’t care. If your child is critically ill, oops sorry we don’t care.
The school will work against you and you feel like it’s always a fight for your respect, money and time.
They will put a Prek Level student of 5 years old with an older student of 10years and want you to teach them together in a group, how???
Even if you can’t work weekends they WILL schedule you whenever they want.
They still use Excel sheets as a schedule and this is never updated properly so you never know which classes are actually happening and which not.
They don’t value their teachers and ignore complaints, God forbid you say something negative about them be prepared to be called into a meeting! Oops, guess I already done that!
They underpay you and when queried they advise they will pay you the rest on the next payment only for that not to happen.
You must keep proof of everything in case they find something to use against you so if you keep your own proof you at least have a leg to stand on, good luck!
You must complete excel feedback reports and then submit the feedback report online, so double work! Yay!
Oh want to quit?? Haha you won’t get out that easily. You have to give a months’ notice! Yes, a month! AND they pay you across 5 days so should you suddenly leave you won’t get paid. They pay between the 1st and 5th. Or the 15-20th. So you can get paid anywhere between those 5 days so if you pick up and leave you will be sacrificing either 2 weeks of pay or 5 days of pay, it’s your choice.
This place has given me more headaches, stress and anger than what it’s worth.
Pro’s – $15 an hour, but before you get excited, that’s if you even get to work 2 hours a day. $15 is not worth the amount of work you need to do as a teacher.
Do yourself a favour and spare yourself the misery and STAY AWAY. Please value yourself more!
It is such a pity because eventually the teachers start hating their time there, not the students but the organisation themselves.