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Canik Basari University, Samsun --> Avoid
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:25 pm    Post subject: Canik Basari University, Samsun --> Avoid Reply with quote

I see these guys are advertising for teachers, so it's time to get the word out and really tighten the screws on an outfit that believes teachers are expendable and are to be exploited. Avoid this one, guys. It's tied to the Gülen group, is controlled by a group of trustees who aren't educators (yet make big decisions that affect teachers), and has a small group of (wealthy) students and (enforcer) teachers who will have power over you, teachers and students connected to the god-like trustees, teachers and students who can jeopardize your job, possibly affecting your career. Know that the trustees are rich folk from the surrounding environs who call the shots, cut the checks. This means you can be fired if it suits a mere store owner or shopkeeper who just happens to be a trustee, someone who never sets foot in a classroom and doesn't know the first thing about responsibly educating people. You don't need it, folks. What is more, if only a fraction of your students claim they don't like you and/or give you negative evaluations, this employer will use that as a pretext to deny you airfare out if (more like "when") they sack you. 100 of your students can love you and it won't make a difference. These students are powerless. Here you have to make sure you kiss the butts of the powerful few, those related to the trustees. Fail this group or keep them from cheating and you'll be out. Also know that if you offend the few teachers whose relatives just happen to be trustees, a phone call will be made, with you packing up and heading home (on your own dime, more than likely). And when they terminate you they may then cancel your work visa behind your back without notifying you, meaning you'll have about ten days to get a plane ticket (again, using your own coin) and leave. Plus they'll make other administrative bungles that will affect you negatively, bungles that shouldn't be happening in a professional environment but do happen, nevertheless.

If I'm working under the thumbs of colleagues and students who are related to the trustees or owners anywhere I go, colleagues and students who have an unfair amount of power over me (they can get me fired easily but I can't get them fired), putting my job at additional risk I shouldn't be exposed to, I want to be compensated for that risk. Here you won't. Exploitation and servitude are what you will be expected to accept...and even like. The low salary here doesn't justify it, my friends.

This testimony is just the tip of the iceberg. PM me for specific details about the myriad other reasons to avoid CBU.

I can also direct you to a webpage devoted to providing truthful info to help convince you to steer clear of this place.
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cfaulkner



Joined: 01 Jun 2012
Posts: 42

PostPosted: Thu May 22, 2014 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the heads up warning. Another one to scratch off my list. Dang-it.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Thu May 29, 2014 2:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry to put the damper on your prospect, but it is what it is. What I saw in Oman that p***ed me off was just starting to sprout here at CBU. Small groups of students wielding family power over teachers, power they can use to extort passing grades from those teachers, exams designed to be cheating-friendly, students knowing very little or even nothing in classes they are not ready for (implying they were passed in the past automatically), large majorities of students having no power to exact any kind of change at all (because they aren't connected to those who really call the shots), entrenched teachers acting as spies for those whose approval they need to win in order to keep their jobs, adherence to an automatic-passing practice, et al.

Here 100 students can request something they want, such as placement in proper classes, adequate textbooks, decent canteen food, a designated smoking area, or the removal of teachers they don't like, only to see nothing change. These 100 students are not connected, so they are stuck. They are treated as if they are nothing. However, if only a few of the connected students whine about something, then the moves are made, including the termination of teachers. Same goes for the corp of teachers. Some are powerless. They are ignored, unless they are boat rockers. Some, however, are connected to the group of god-like creatures who sign the checks, so those teachers will get what they want, including your sacking if that suits them. And if your termination doesn't suit those 100 students mentioned above, that's just too damn bad. Again, those students don't matter. 1 or 2 or 3 is greater than 100 in this case. So instead of one boss or two, you may have up to 20 more bosses you don't know about, students and teachers who are watching your moves and are ready to report you (and knowing they have that power over you), possibly getting you put on a plane to make an example of you. Just keep looking. There is a plethora of jobs out there. Too many to settle for what you'll see here. If you are going to endure what you'll have to endure here, make sure you get paid for it. Make sure you have something to show for it when it's all over with.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2014 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PS--Know also these guys do love to dream up fibs about former teachers. One great one involved a teacher who worked there in 2013. She was let go because she supposedly asked a student for sex. It was a tall tale, but they wanted her gone. Also, know they may accuse you of going drinking with your students after hours, asking your students out on dates, and going shooting with your students using illegal firearms. They can fabricate some colossal nonsense about you if that suits them and they want you out of there.

If you do go to work here, and I hope I've convinced you not to, make sure you get a copy of the contract before going. Look it over and make sure 'the clause' isn't in it....The clause that allows them to sack you and withhold your plane ticket if only a few of your students complain about you. That way you won't get stranded in Turkey, forced to get home on your own dime, within only a week or so after they cancel your visa behind your back without telling you. Yes, definitely demand this clause be removed if it's there or tell them 'no thanks'. And watch your back after arriving. Who knows what you'll become known as after you penalize your students for not bringing pens/pencils, paper, or books to writing classes. But you can bet it won't be positive.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 4:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now that a new year has arrived, let us wonder:

1. Will the far majority of the student body here continue to have grievances unheard? Will entire classes be placed in improper levels, given improper textbooks, and be forced to endure an inadequate pacing schedule? Will the DOS continue to claim the students in this group are 'nothing'?

2. Will at least two of the teachers continue to be substandard, with their students being forced to endure them, although those students are greatly unhappy (but powerless)? Will these teachers continue to drone on directly out of their books, not allowing the students any participation? Will these teachers again be mistaken for automatons as they go through the motions, doing as little as possible, yet are allowed to keep their jobs?

3. Will teachers still be walking on eggshells here, being forced to please the princes and princesses who are closely related to the trustees? Will the these teachers be forced to pass their apathetic tykes who will report their teachers instantly if they don't get what they want (a passing grade, mainly)? Will these tykes continue to come to writing classes without pencils/pens, paper, and textbooks, yet still expect, and demand, passing grades?

4. Will the tightwad trustees continue to rule the serfs with an iron hand, paying them birdfeed as the serfs slave away?

5. Will the teacher(s) who complained about the place almost daily finally walk the walk and actually....walk? Or will he/they be finally fired for coming late to class and doing the bare minimum necessary?

6. Will the higher-ups and their minions invent even MORE wild accusations and lies about former teachers they didn't happen to like? Teachers who have dared tell the world what working for this outfit is really like, teachers who have taken stands in support of the powerless majority of students here.

The questions are legion at CBU. Let's see what happens.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Studentspeak: "I stopped going to classes because I can't understand my teacher. But I have been assured behind his back that I will pass no matter what, so it'll be fine. My daddy has told me if my teacher dares fail me, he'll be fired, as he is a bad teacher and my problems in his class are obviously his fault."

Translation: "I wasted my opportunities in the past, wasted those opportunities and never studied squat, so I now I don't understand anything. I made bad choices down through the years, and now I don't know anywhere nearly enough to be in my university classes. My current teacher is failing me, but I don't want to admit this is all my fault. I prefer to bitch and moan and blame him, as this has worked well for me in the past. My past bad choices and laziness have put me in this position, but I don't want to take responsibility for my actions when I can make this look like my teacher's fault. The school will buy into my whining excuses and fire the teacher for daring to fail me."
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cartago



Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Posts: 283
Location: Iraq

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

These Gülen schools are one of the main employers of foreign teachers. One of the worst problems is that they have no disciplinary procedures and the students run wild. From what I experienced, the foreign English teachers are given a number of classes a week and normally see one class only once a week. This gives you no chance to really learn the students names or make a rapport with them. They also make teachers wear those ridiculous lab coats which has never made any sense to me.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 6:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The biggest problem for me at this outfit was I had already worked there before. Well, sort of. I've worked in the middle east and, like the far majority of teachers who have worked there, hated it. The conditions that are full grown in the ME, conditions we ex-ME teachers flee over, were just starting to sprout in the CBU garden: incompetent management placing students either in classes they were overqualfied for or underqualfied for, students being allowed to enroll who have very little ability or even no ability to succeed, students having that lazy, apathetic attitude towards the subject, students being allowed to enroll only because they have the cash, students having the power to extort the passing grades they have gotten down through the years (and expect to continue). And, of course, students who 'run wild' as you say, distracting the students who actually have ambition and want to be there. It's the ME condtions for a fraction of the pay, indeed. The jokers at CBU think they can force westerners to put up with this nonsense, but westerners won't even put up with it in the ME, a region that pays up to 3.5x as much as this place pays but sees atrocious teacher turnover.

Labcoats? Never had to wear them there. Never would wear them. Unless, that is, the tightwads upped my salary to 5000 TL a month. But that's what teachers should be paid at CBU anyway.
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wander&teach



Joined: 15 Nov 2009
Posts: 126

PostPosted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now, now, we all know that Turkey is in Europe and not in the Middle East because of that tiny spit of land that happens to fall on the European Continent. And as recently announced by the newly elected AK Party they are on the fast track to joining the E.U. after applying 27 years ago. But they really mean it this time! Not kidding! No, really! Rolling Eyes
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billy orr



Joined: 15 Jul 2009
Posts: 229

PostPosted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I read what some teachers write, I am not surprised that a number of their students find it difficult to relate to their attitudes.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Which students? I have no trouble with serious students, and they have no trouble with me. If they are willing to do the work and have good attitudes, they succeed. Those who are lazy and apathetic are not successful, as I make sure they are not.
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billy orr



Joined: 15 Jul 2009
Posts: 229

PostPosted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I'm relieved to hear that you differentiate between students, from your other posts it seemed to me that you believed there was only one type of student in Turkey, and you did not approve of them.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 6:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm very, very glad we got that cleared up. There are two types of students in the lands of the minarets, ultimately. Those who are serious, yet get held down by their programs, not able to realize their full potential, and those who are not serious, yet are rewarded for their apathy and laziness in the form of advancement and, ulimately, degrees given (not earned).
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billy orr



Joined: 15 Jul 2009
Posts: 229

PostPosted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 5:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I'm not greatly relieved to hear that you perceive only two types of student in Turkey. But my cıoncerns were not just about your posts, there is a strong whiff of identity-doing and orientalism floating around this thread. I think teachers do themselves no favours by setting up these kinds of views.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What we could do in this case is turn to the TESOL old-faithful solution that is tried on a daily basis in other places. We could simply lob ad-hominem attacks at teachers. That will clear up all classroom problems, I will bet. Got students who believe they are entitled to passing grades? <insert ad-hominem attacks on teachers here>. Got students who won't study, won't bring books/pens/paper to classes, and then blame somebody else for their bad choices? <fling ad-hominem arrows at fellow teachers here>.

Allow me to add, as it seems I need to get permission here, that there are two types of teachers in TESOL, in addition to the two types of students. There are those who will go along with the programs, obey, and do what they are told, students be damned, no matter what. And there are those who will not go along with the programs if those programs need to be scrapped or something else tried. Most teachers I've met fall into the latter category. These are the teachers who contribute most to the turnover figures.
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