A truly awful school to work for, and not one I would recommend anyone working for.

First off, the good points:

The pay was ok, and always came on time, but as a previous poster has already pointed out, this is expected, and not something exceptionally good on YBM’s part.

OK, on to the numerous bad points:

Working hours: Expect to start at between 7-9 am and finish at 10pm EVERY day!!! No joke, though you will only (LOL) be expected to teach 6 – 8 hours daily (but you’ll need to find extra time in the day for marking and planning, non of which is considered as overtime).

Holidays/ vacations: All but none, in reality. I was mislead by the advertisement, thinking I’d have 10-14 days’ holiday time to use when I wanted. In reality, these 10-14 days are chosen by YBM, and often midway through a week, making it impossible to travel within Korea itself, nevermind taking an extended break home (and believe me, 12 months is a long time to go without a proper break!).

Saturday teaching: Again, I was lead to think that this would be only done in around 2 of the 12 months I was teaching there. In reality, I was teaching Saturdays most Saturdays and didn’t have a choice. To make things worse, I sometimes did not get the extra pay I deserved for these Saturdays, if I hadn’t been given the minimum number to teach Monday to Friday. Very unfair, and not what was laid out in the contract!

Lack of respect: Yes, it’s true. YBM has no repsect for its teachers and doesn’t listen to their opinions. Teachers are not allowed to use their own style, or even select their own materials for teaching. Everything is super prescribed by the company and a syllabus (which is fair enough) and even a detailed lesson plan for each class is given to all teachers. Any deviation from the plan is punished, meaning no teacher autonmy is allowed. YBM might as well employs androids to teach!
A number of teachers I worked with were actually fired (with very little notice or warning given) because of this.

Classroom materials: Rubbish, in a word. Stilted and not very helpful for the students. Teachers are not allowed to use their own ideas or materials in class, and if they do, they are punished or even fired!

Housing: Not provided by YBM, but a small contribution towards the rent is given. No useful help or advice given in finding accommodation, however.

I did manage to save quite a lot of money, and Korea is a great place to live (good food and interesting places to see), but don’t teach at YBM as you’ll find with precious little time to actually be able to experience life in Korea (in fact, you won’t have the time or energy to HAVE a life working for YBM, and you’ll feel run down and undervalued as a teacher). In conclusion, YBM is not a good school to work for.