Most people who join YBM are experienced and qualified career EFL Instructors, however, it is necessary for people joining the company, to attend a brief training session with Curriculum Supervisor, Rupert Oldham one or two days before the beginning of the session. Keep in mind also that your Academic Supervisor will also expect new Instructors to observe classes with current teachers, and be briefed on administrative procedures, dress code, and other day-to-day matters.

Before you begin teaching at YBM/ELS Korea it is necessary for you to take our three-day training course that will run the week before you start work at the school. During this course you will look at the basic teaching methodology preferred at ELS, the resources available to you, and have an opportunity practice by teaching some volunteer students. We recommend that you look at the following books to help you with the basic methodology before you come.

Teachers' meetings covering administrative and program-related matters are scheduled by the Academic Supervisor, Institute Manager, or Senior Teachers whenever necessary. These meetings may be anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes long and are mandatory for all teachers not in the classroom during the prescribed time. Payment for attendance at these meetings is considered part of your base salary; no overtime payment is made.

There are Teachers' Seminar Days written into the yearly calendar. These are days for professional development or for the execution of special projects and are days off for the students. Seminar days are half days, from 9: 00 AM - 12:00 PM and attendance is mandatory. As with meetings, payment for Seminar days is considered part of your base salary and no overtime payment is made.

Class Outings and Extracurricular Classes

Students often wish to spend time with their teacher outside of the classroom, both during and outside of class time. This means that some students will request to have social with their teacher during class hours. The request to go out must be made by the students and must be unanimous
End Of Session Procedures

<< Re-registration Surveys >>
The number of students who are returning from one session to the next at ELS is very important to the school. This number is a good gauge of the quality of the service that we are providing. Equally important is that if we have a rough idea of how many students will be returning for the next session, so scheduling can be done more quickly and accurately as we will know sooner how many classes to open. The front desk will decide when the survey will be conducted and will oversee its administration. The re-registration survey will be conducted over a two-day period covering days 15 and 16 of the session. In conducting the survey over a two-day period it is hoped that the maximum number of students will be surveyed.

<< Student Surveys >>
ELS Korea has a standard survey form to be handed out to students at the end of a session. At some ELS schools, we ask the teachers to conduct these surveys periodically, as their main function is to assist the teacher in honing their skills. If you conduct a survey on one of your classes, please have the students complete individual forms and turn them into the front desk. The Academic Supervisor will review them and then meet with you to discuss them.

<< Observations >>
The Academic Supervisor, senior teacher, or the Institute Manager observes each teacher during his or her second month at ELS. Student surveys will also be conducted in the same month however; a different class from that observed will be surveyed. A meeting is conducted following the observation to discuss any suggestions that the observer may have and the results of the student survey. Follow-up observations are done if serious problems were observed and should be done in the session following the original observation. Teachers may request an observation at any point following the initial one. Observations are a natural part of the teaching process and instructors should view them constructively; as an opportunity to improve and get another perspective on their approach to teaching.

<< First Day of the Session >>
Before the first day of session, you should determine what classes you are teaching, what textbooks you will be using, and what portion of each textbook you are responsible for covering. The section being taught in that particular month of each program is written on the whiteboard and on the master schedule.

Please remember that it is very important to make a good impression in the first few days of a session. Students who feel that they have connected with the teacher early will be able to learn more throughout the session and benefit from the class substantially. It is also very important that they are fully introduced to each other and there is a warm class atmosphere conducive to comfortable language learning. Students who do not feel that the ice has been broken are more likely to complain. Students look for sincerity in their teachers along with preparedness; make sure that your tapes are cued and that you have enough copies of exercises or articles before you go into class. In addition, it is very important that you be punctual. The ELS policy is that the teacher should be in the classroom at least five minutes before the class is scheduled to begin. Finally, it is perfectly acceptable to ask the students what activities or conversational topics they enjoy at the outset but it is not acceptable after the first two days. This, along with running out of class to make photocopies that you forgot about and fumbling with a tape that has not been cued correctly, projects to the students the impression that the teacher is not prepared for the class and is not sincere about teaching.

<< Typical first day lesson >>
Introduce yourself and ask students to introduce each other (working in pairs).

Ask students to discuss what their expectations for the class are, make notes of these and do your best to comply with their requests (again, you can do this in pairs)

Introduce some of the language functions to be covered that month.

Organize an activity where students have the chance to mingle and meet all their classmates. (It's best to have them stand up and move around the room). This activity should be quite simple and based around some of the language functions to be covered over the session.)

Close, and encourage the students to come on time for the next lesson.