Former Teachers' Stories

I found this post some time back and was happy to find it again. It's one of the most important that I've seen. As I recall, I found it the first time at www.eslspectrum.com but that site has since been redone and it's not there anymore. What follows is first the former teacher's post explaining the situation, then his letter to Dave at Dave's ESL Cafe and finally Dave's response.

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Hi all, I'm new to this board. I used DavesESL all the time as if it was the bible of ESL sites. Last year I worked for a hogwan called Yes Youngdo English School. I won't go into all the details of the problems at this place, but suffice to say, there were MANY. I, and other teachers, have attempted over the months to convey our frustrations on Dave's site, but to no avail. It seems that the forum is not as open there as it may seem.I did manage to get a response from Dave himself, which confirmed our suspicions. So, apart from this email being a warning about the said school, it's also a hope that this forum can overtake where Dave's has halted.Please email me if you need specific details.(Email contact with Dave Sperling below)


admin, there have been several occasions recently where I and other colleagues have attempted to write about our experiences at Yes Youngdo schools. sometimes these messages appear then disappear a couple of days later, other times they just don't show up. these messages are not libel or an attempt to destroy a reputation (if that is what they already have) but a legitimate attempt to inform other potential teachers of what they may be getting into. other schools have many messages written about them far worse than what we have attempted to convey. is there a specific reason for this? quite a few people are becoming suspicious of the school's motives, especially as they have instructed teachers not to post messages about the school on your forum. a reply would be appreciated. a non-reply will obviously raise these suspicions further.


Hi Stephen,

Yes Youngdo had sent e-mail to us requesting the threads to be removed, which we have to comply on the advice of our attorney (I know it's a hassle, but I'm the one trying to keep Dave's ESL Cafe in business). Please feel free, however, to post again, including in the Job Information Journal at:

http://www.eslcafe.com/jobinfo

All the best,
Dave Sperling
Founder
Dave's ESL Cafe
http://www.eslcafe.com/

Here is the link. There are also some comments from other teachers: http://koreanesl.com/forumdsp.asp?ser=4319

Another quick story: It is true that Yes Youngdo has told us that we are to have monthly blood tests for drugs. We have a clause in the contract which basically says we have to comply with every new rule the school dishes out during meetings. If we choose not to comply, then it's a cost effective (for YES) fireing.Also, if we say we are out at lunch, or make excuses. Again, non compliance = no job and most probably 4 hours to vacate your apartment or ----, the General Manager with get the police to kick you out.This school really thinks it owns you.

Update Nov. 13th:: Unfortunately, at the moment http://koreanesl.com/ is being updated and these posts are no longer there. I never copied the name/email addresses of the person who wrote the above comments. I'm very sorry you can no longer read the entire posts. There was an interesting story about a couple being fired and treated unfairly. I wish I had copied it here.

Nov. 14th:: I did more google searches for information about Yes Youngdo and found links to posts at http://koreanesl.com and even though it's impossible to see the full posts now, one can read abbreviated versions which I'm going to go ahead and copy here.

Two full versions of posts can be read above. Just six weeks ago I posted the links and there was no trouble finding the full posts. I deleted any Korean writing and the size of each post (i.e. 16k). To find these posts go to http://www.google.com/ and type in key words such as Yes Youngdo, Korea and the site http://www.koreanesl.com/ Doing several searches using different key words, one can find several posts. I copied the posts which seem to be telling a story of mistreatment. And I put ---- in place of two managers' names which were in the posts.

Korean ESL Forum
It is true that Yes Youngdo has told us that we are to have monthly blood tests for drugs. ... Again, non compliance = no job and most probably 4 hours to vacate your apartment or ----, the General Manager with get the police to ...www.koreanesl.com/forumdsp.asp?ser=4429 (read full post above)

Korean ESL Forum
The general manager (I think he calls himself a director these days) is American -Korean, called ----. .... Yes Youngdo may not be the worst school in Korea, but it certainly is nowhere near the best. Good luck. Back to the List ...www.koreanesl.com/forumdsp.asp?ser=4356

Korean ESL Forum
First I want to say this ---- sounds like he has no business running a hogwan, if what you say is true. .... YES YOUNGDO MANAGER'S LIES EXPOSED Steve-o (Hits:731). Re:Hmm? One question (Eng/Kor) jade (Hits:779) <-- you are here ...www.koreanesl.com/forumdsp.asp?ser=4721

Korean ESL Forum
Although Yes Youngdo English school offers an attractive holiday of 6 weeks, it is only a little comfort for all the unpaid report writing hours and camera spying you are succumbed to. The managers ---- and ---- treat the teachers ...www.koreanesl.com/forumdsp.asp?ser=4421

Korean ESL Forum -
I'll refer to the post given by the manager of Yes Youngdo, and proven liar, -----(http://www.koreanesl.com/forumdsp.asp?ser=4506). He claims in his post that I was "one of those individual that take no pride in teaching and ...www.koreanesl.com/forummod.asp?ser=4538

Korean ESL Forum -
Last year I worked for a hogwan called Yes Youngdo English School. I won't go into all the details of the problems ... #####And to ----, manager of Yes Schools - why ask your head teacher at Pyongchon to instruct teachers not to ...www.koreanesl.com/forummod.asp?ser=4514

Korean ESL Forum -
... and maybe you come from a background whereby Yes Youngdo seems wonderful. but when i, or anyone else i'm close to, ... ----. ...www.koreanesl.com/forumdsp.asp?ser=4526

Korean ESL Forum
DON'T work for Yes Youngdo. You won't get paid. Back to the List. ... BEWARE YES YOUNGDO youngdosurprise (Hits:201) <-- you are here ...www.koreanesl.com/forumdsp.asp?ser=20189