Job Discussion Forums

[JDYoung]

I'm considering teaching in Turkey sometime in 2006. I've read most of the postings. I'm wondering if anyone has ideas/comments/etc for someone in my situation which is:

Canadian female, widowed, no children, age will be 58 by then.
B.Sc. degree, TEFL and some other minor teaching qualifications.
2 years experience teaching English at various levels in China.
Previous career in a management position in government in a small community working with people.

I'm particularly interested in working in a university setting as I like that lifestyle.

I hope to travel to Turkey after I finish my current contract in China. That will be in January or February but I wouldn't expect to get work at that time of year.

[dmb]

There is a possibilty of getting university work at that time. Every year places are looking at this time as people leave at the end of the previous year. I started at a private uni in Feb.
Language schools recruit all year round. Just keep an eye on the job boards.
Good luck.

[31]

Cue the invitation from ET that we all know is coming.

6 pounds an hour, hourly pay, no sick pay, no work permit, visa runs, no social security and no rights.

[31]

[molly farquharson]

maybe newbies do runners where you work, 31, but they usually finish their contracts at ET, plus many renew.

re the original poster, truthfully, your age might be a problem at some schools, so be sure to include a photo if you apply online. Your maturity and life experience would be a real plus, however, and if you can get on at a university, it would be great. Don't bother applying at Koc or Sabanci, however, as they generally want a masters degree.

best of luck to you and don't pay attention to the negativity you see here

[31]

I love how ET dignifies its unenforcable pieces of paper with the term contract. If the employee breaks his ''contract'' how can ET attempt to enforce it when the employee is on a tourist visa and the tourist visa clearly states that he or she is not allowed to work? What does the employee do when ET breaks the contract as the employee is a tourist and not entitled to work?

Beware of working illegally.

[molly farquharson]

ET does not break contracts but teachers do, although not very often. And when we do ask a teacher to leave, it is usually for a good reason-- the person turns out to be an alcoholic, a nut case, or a crappy teacher. Why should we keep people like that?

31, if you have been here for so long, why aren't you legal? And who made you the expert on ET? And, by the way, you are NOT a spokesman for ET on this thread or any other.

[31]

Neither are you a spokesperson for ET.

[JDYoung]

After using Dave's for more than 2 years and seeing all the negative posts and the reality in China I think I've become quite good at distinguishing wheat from chaff.

Since I'm new to the Turkey scene, what is ET?

[31]

ET is English Time a chain of TEFL bucket shops that is spreading throughout the city by buying up other has been language schools that have run themselves down by poor management and stabbing each other in the back. ET is prospering by the following methods:

Shipping in newbies
Paying 11 dollars per teaching hour
No sick pay
No holidays
No monthly salary
No work permits
No social security
No rights
Fake contracts

But very professional marketing with vans that drive round the city advertising and touts on every corner.

ET saves a fortune with its illegal business practices and appears to use its money to buy up other schools that it has driven into bankruptcy by the above methods.

Beware that ET owns other mills that trade under their original names.

[dmb]

English Time. The largest group of language schools in Istanbul. 9 branches? Molly might have to correct me. She is the Director, and more of a spokesperson for ET than 31.

[31]

No, she is not a spokesperson. She is an employee.

[molly farquharson]

OK, sorry to the oldies here, but once again I need to respond. Oldies can skip this and newbies can read a balanced reponse.

Yes, I am an employee, unlike 31. As the director, of course I am the spokesperson, again unlike 31 who does not even work at the school. And as the director, for those of you who have been on this forum for a while, you know I speak directly and honestly. As I have said before, I know the weaknesses of ET better than anyone, but the things that 31 complains about are either baseless or not any different from other language schools. We are trying to rectify the visa situation, as I have said before. Re the salary, we used to be on monthly salaries, but the hourly salaries work out much better because teachers get paid more for working more.

We do not drive other schools into bankruptcy and in fact they are not bankrupt when we buy them, though they are in poor financial shape. The result of our buying them means that the teachers get paid, there is work for them, and the schools prosper. What is wrong with that? In fact, those schools are Interlang, World of English and Gokdil, for those of you who are new. World of English was set up by us but is now called Gokdil. Both of these schools are doing much better than before, as far as I know (I am the director of English Time, not those schools).

We do not "ship in newbies," We have new teachers, of course. We also have very experienced teachers who come to us new or who have been with us for some years. If schools don't hire new teachers, how are those teachers supposed to get experience? We were all newbies once. Once again your illogic amazes me, 31.

Yes, we don 't pay for holidays or sick pay. Teachers are working hourly, so if they are on holiday or ill, they don't get paid. How is that different from the real world?

The contracts are not fake. I have asked my lawyer and some other lawyers about this. Some people think that because they are not in Turkish, they are not binding, but that is not true. They could be in Chinese or Swahili, as long as the holder of the contract understands its contents.

What kinds of rights are you talking about, 31? The right to endlessly complain, like you do?

English Time is not a bucket shop. It is a language school run by Turkish management. I think it is a very good example of a success story, as Turks I talk to are surprised to learn that such a successful school is owned by Turks. Yes, there is a lot of advertising, but the school is a BUSINESS, so of course it is going to advertise. I think some of the advertising is quite clever, actually, even those goofy aliens (ET call home...). We have a well organized education system that is teacher friendly and accountable to the students. We are accountable to the teachers, who indeed are paid on time and make fairly good money at the end of the month.

OK, end of my own rant.

[dmb]

^nice rant Molly. was I correct with 9 branches?

[JimDunlop2]

This thread has been peppered all over the "report a thread" list today.... So, your local, neighbourhood mod's gotta step in.

This is simple, really.

Let's take a quick peek at site rules again.

...you acknowledge that all posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the author and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable.

You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-orientated or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned (and your service provider being informed).

Are 31's posts any of the above? Not really. They border on slanderous, but I'm not going to start arguing that at this point. Other than that, he's got the right to his opinion, as misguided as it may (or may not) be -- I'm not gonna start judging that right now either.

What I AM going to say, is that both 31 and Molly have had a chance to present opposite arguments as to what "ET" is and isn't, and no flamewar has yet been started... SO, in order to prevent one, and to close the reports that have been made on this thread, it's been locked.

My sincere apologies to the OP. If you haven't received a satisfactory answer yet, I'd recommend either re-posting a new thread OR (probably better) sending a PM message to some of the long-time residents of the forum and asking them directly for suggestions.