Micro Language Reviews

This list is long but it is factual: From the moment I was hired, it was a nightmare. First, all teachers are required to download and use WeChat. You can not teach at Micro if you do not at least have it on a phone. Unfortunately if you are a USA based teacher, there may be issue with your phone and the Chinese application WeChat. It freezes. The verification process has a flaw that allows users to get stuck. Customer service is non-existent. I believe they use the application because it is cheap. 2nd flaw with that system is there are literally 475+ teachers ALL communicating class issues on the same WeChat forum. I don't need to know 115 teachers had computer issues/class issues/student issues/internet issues/etc. It is inefficient. It bogs down the phone. Teachers are actually not even supposed to communicate with each other on the "Class Problem" group but people do it anyways. Third issue with WeChat- Most of the ITC officers are really nice. However, it is a company practice [TAKE NOTE OF THIS] that if there is a problem or the company perceives there is a problem, they WILL N O T communicate the issue with you. Let's say ask another teacher to not complain so frequently on the class problem forum. Rather than say "Please PM someone this kind of request or request ITC to handle it." this ITC person as well as the company itself will block the person with a perceived or actual problem without any communication whatsoever. Basically if somehow a teacher says too much or the wrong thing or commits some error, there is literally ZERO teacher development AND ZERO notification there was an error. Meanwhile, the company expects us [as we teachers should] to correct students. Well, if we are not aware we commit an error, big or small, we as employees have the right to know this and not be shunned as if we are to be aware of every implication a request or feedback may have in another culture. This company severely needs ethics and cultural training. They can not even attempt to correct teachers; they just shun them- for small or big issues alike. It is a completely unprofessional environment and hands down the worst online training, too! The next con comes with their language platform, Baijia. It overheats other teacher's computers and crashes near daily for many teachers. With over 400 teachers giving over 1000 classes daily, their system can not keep up. And because it is the company culture to not communicate when there are problems, if a teacher had a temporary internet issue which has been fixed, they will not communicate decisions they make regarding teachers with computer issues-- whether they be caused by Baijia or not. The Micro Language website frequently locks up, too. Daily almost. How do I know this? The teachers are all on the same group chat. So when one teacher communicates an issue, we ALL know it. This is largely bad because, again, I don't need my cell phone bogged down with hundreds of irrelevant messages and neither do the other 479 teachers in the group! Near daily teachers have to input login credentials directly to the Baijia chat software because it will not load. Again, all these login details are shared over one chat forum. I and other teachers do not need to see everyone's login details for their malfunctioning classes. The only "good" thing about sharing this chat forum is if there is an issue that is common, we know that it is not our equipment. Finally, the lessons. These are absolutely the worst created lessons I have taught online. I have worked for 3 other online English learning platforms and this is absolutely the worst. 75% of my classes don't have enough material. The lessons are not only too short and non engaging, they are riddled with grammar errors. It is clear someone who did not speak English as a first language created the bulk of the presentations for Micro Language. The forum group "ppt and LP issue" has nearly 100 comments daily. Again, this is not efficient for teachers at all. I literally spend 20 minutes a day deleting WeChat messages because literally 99% are irrelevant to me and teaching with Micro Language. 99% !!!! There is no conflict resolution. No matter how trivial an issue may be, if there is a flustered ego in China, the foreign teacher will pay the price and there is literally no process [an no communication] to rectify issues. This is pathetic by a company who employs over foreign teachers. New teachers watch two training videos and you're onboarded and allegedly "ready" to teach. If you are a teaching professional, you'll probably be okay. However, if this is your FIRST online teaching or any teaching position, the absolute lack of training and developmental resources for teachers makes Micro Language one of the worst executing language instruction online.