Job Discussion Forums

[ella]

Hello to all, I have recently accepted a position with ATA Koleji, Istanbul. I know one woman who taught there but am seeking experiences of others who may have worked there or know anything about the school. I will be coming to Istanbul from Morocco, where I currently teach, on August 10. Any information for a newcomer is greatly appreciated.

If any of you are interested in working in Morocco, this is a wonderful country to be. Lovely. Time to move on, though.

Wishing you all a wonderful day, hope to hear from you soon.

[gelin]

What I have heard of ATA isn't good. I knew a Canadian who lasted there all of three months -- and she had plenty of teachers leaving ahead of her. That was when the headmaster was Chris someone-or-other. I believe he's been outed (though I believe his wife was co-owner or something). Hopefully they'll be okay for you. Do keep us informed.

[ella]

thank you for the response. well, i am not sure what i am going to experience at ATA Koleji. I know one woman who worked there last year and liked it but she is half Turkish and probably has a little bit more leverage (with discipline). i have found that this is true in morocco. the young learners are generally good for the moroccan teachers and a bit tougher for the foreign teachers. do you know why the canadian teacher left ATA so quickly? was it the administration?

thank you for your help. any thoughts are welcome! i have enjoyed reading posts from this forum.

[gelin]

It was mostly the administration, I think. That year they must have had half their teachers leaving after the first month. Hopefully that's NOT the way it is now. Ask to correspond to the current teachers and ask them what the turnover rate is. If they are hesitant to give you those statistics, I'd be troubled. Good luck.

[comenius]

I worked at ATA several years ago. I had an overall very positive experience, but I got along quite well with the administration. That wasn't the case for all of the teachers. Bottom line, they always paid on time and in full, made reasonable efforts to provide the materials we needed, and did a great job in helping with "out of work" stuff like housing and permits.

The faciliites were a bit dated and the building was a bit worn at the time I was there, although they did intend to invest some money into modernizing it. I like the location, just up the hill from the Bosphorous. There's a great little park where the ferries dock at the bottom of the hill that was fun for roller blading and people watching, and had some nice little beer halls intermixed with the mosques. Only in Istanbul!

The kids were a mixed bunch. My understanding was that the school was quite expensive but didn't have the highest academic standards. As a result, many "problem" kids who had not been successful at more prestigious schools ended up there. There were fairly regular problems with discipline in the classroom, and the Turkish administrators were not always hugely interested in intervening.

A lot of the kids were just great, though. I had some really smart students that were really motivated to learn, and was able to bring some borderline kids over to viewing my classes as worthwhile. Not without some work and conflict though!

I remember this one boy who had a pretty awful home life freaked out in my classroom one afternoon, and flipped over his chair and desk and was screaming at me in Turkish that he was going to kill me. His behaviour was a reaction to me basically holding him to the same high standard of performance and effort I was trying to held every student to. Funny thing is, I stood my ground, he ultimately backed down (to the relief of the rest of the class, I'm sure), and I ended up talking to him after class and told him I wasn't going to report him, but that I expected him to get in gear and show me what he was capable of. He would still get disruptive occasionally, but I was usually able to just look at him in a certain way and he would snap back and nod his head and buckle down. This kid was a legendary terror in the school so it was really nice to break through to him.

On balance, I had a really wonderful time in Turkey for the year that I was there. Istanbul is a great, great city with incredible people and an amazing, visible history that stretches back for centuries. And the easy access to the rest of Turkey with all of its historic, cultural and geographic attractions was a huge benefit as well. ATA, while not the best place I ever worked, was also not by any stretch the worst. Also, my experience is several years out of date. I would be interested to hear more current reports as well.