YBM ECC – Nam Daegu: Daebong-dong, Daegu

This was my first school, fresh out of a World (foreign)-Language Education B.S. and a summer TEFL course.
I believe my recent experiences in teacher education prepared me to be very wrong for this school. Someone without as much interest in pedagogical principles and just in it for a great apartment and a mindless job would probably do well here…many teachers have.

It was a well paid, yet shady Hakgwon i cannot recommend to those who have been trained in language education.
My accommodations, however, were amazing and i was right in downtown, which are the saving graces of this place.

Holding my passport for over a month and not helping me internet for as long showed they didn’t really understand what i needed to feel comfortable. They actually came into my apartment on my first day (other teacher’s last day) and turned off internet service! I’d have gladly paid to keep it going until then, especially had i known i’d be going with out for nearly 6 weeks.

Shady practices include: hiding the Korean teachers on inspection days (they got a tax break for being foreign-only?), giving all students purely positive feedback (telling every parent that every student is amazing), significantly raising prices and then blaming teachers for a drop in attendance the next month. Another teacher was subjected to pregnancy tests after it had been discovered that her vacationing boyfriend had stayed in her flat, the implication being they would let her go if she “failed” that test.

however, as i quit, they were very accommodating in helping me get into a public school position (which i loved!). You could do worse, and if you feel you can do better, i’m sure they can help you do that as well. Their “weigook wrangler” as i’d call him , was incredibly kind and caring, I suspect the only real problem is with the business-minded owner, who is running this ECC franchise (instead of YBM)

This hagwon has changed its name to “You and I” because they could not find new teachers.