YBM/Si-sa ELS – Daegu/Dongsungro: Beomeo-dong, Daegu

A school is a composite of its people, and calling a spade a spade leaves no doubt. ELS Daegu and its staff are so far south of professional that any teacher who is trying to have a positive impact on students’ lives will have his or her efforts stymied at every turn. The Canadian director allots teaching schedules that are glaringly preferential, so some teachers will always be there from six a.m. till ten p.m. while others are always done shortly after noon. If overtime is available, and this is one of the big draws YBM advertises, this director most often gives these classes to his friends, people who are not even employees of the school, people who have not jumped through the thousand hoops to legally work in the country. The Korean staff are no help at all, and the ajossi is often drunk and wants to fight with foreign teachers, and this is just a source of amusement for the director. YBM ELS Daegu must be exposed for being the sham that it is. If that is not one of your corporate credos, then they will be exposed in another venue.

I enjoyed working at YBM ELS Daegu. You will have to start at 6:30 most mornings, and some nights you teach till 10… but, there is a break in the middle of the day. You teach 30 hours per week and there is almost no paperwork. The worst part is the ‘two or three weeks of vacation’ they tell you about durring the interview is in the form of long weekends, so, there really isn’t time to go on vacation all year.

Keep in mind that Jack is one of the YBM administrators working in Daegu. As further proof of ELS Daegu’s lack of professionalism, note that many of their classes have 1, 2, or 3 students, and teachers can never be sure that their classes will not be cancelled. There are reasons for this shortage of students. If students complain about anything at all, management gives them whatever they desire, be it another teacher or a different chapter allottment in the textbook. Since mgt never denies them anything, some of their requests are not realistic. For example, business students in the morning have a fingerprint scanner on the sixth floor. Their employers pay for them to be there, but many scan in, leave, then return an hour later to scan out. Teachers still have to pass them and write glowing evaluations, for YBM cannot afford to have any principles or lose any more students.
In reference to longer workdays, yes, nobody works the straight shot from first class in the morning till last class in the evening. However, a one- or two-hour break between classes is insufficient to go home and do anything. When overtime is available, the director gives these well-paid classes to his friends, people who are not ever employed by the school.

In the lobby, students have terminals to fritter away their time. In the teachers’ room, there are insufficient resources. It has long been the policy for ELS Daegu to employ heavy-handed tactics with teachers who complain. This comes in the form of curses, blows, and threats. In addition, twice the Korean manager deducted 800 000 won from my monthly pay for heating oil. Needless to say, I never ordered any, yet the deduction was made. Another teacher went to court, but the judge found for the defendant with the reasoning that he “couldn’t believe that a Korean would lie.” Another departing teacher had his final pay docked, for the Korean manager decided to refund all of his students their tuition fees out of the departing teacher’s final pay packet. Do not consider working for YBM, for they are without morals.

I worked here for several years and both agree and disagree with some of the above. The split shifts aren’t great but sometimes that’s the nature of teaching adult students in Korea. The two reasons i loved this job however, were the students and the mangement. The aforementioned director was helpful on teaching matters, supportive on scheduling, accommodating everyone as much as possible, and created a positive and professional working environment. The first post about preferential treatment and whatnot was nonsense, as were the comments about overtime – it was always available for those who wanted it. The other great thing about working here were the students, who are largely extremely motivated, interesting and intelligent students- essentially a teacher’s dream. Of course some classes have their eccentricities, but I had an absolutely fantastic time working here and would recommend this location, above others, to anyone looking to teach adults in Korea.

I did a tour at YBM ELS Daegu, and it was the worst job I have ever had. Management provides nothing, will not plan, yet teachers are expected to deliver top-notch lessons to every class. Yes, the location is wonderful, but that is the only benefit. You will be forced to teach company textbooks, which are proof that even junkies can get jobs in Korea if they bray loud and long enough about how wonderful their English is. Until YBM cleans house and cycles out the incumbent management and adopts a new corporate policy of respecting their teachers’ contributions, avoid YBM like the plague.