Job Discussion Forums

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:06 am Post subject:

Hi Sally ,yes you're absolutley 100% spot on there is a lot of petty bickering and backbiting and general disrespect for each other here ,btw,you're new here are'nt you ? Don't worry bout it too much you'll catch on and pretty soon you be dishing out the same type of poo that we all do at one time or another ,relieves the boredom ,see just blowing off as you do in the hols beats sunbathing .

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Sally Vaite · Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 27 Location: Izmir

Okay, Otts, I will start constructing my poo catapult.
But then maybe you have demonstrated why a school may not wish to hire foriegn teachers.

thrifty · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1665 Location: chip van

Schools employ native speakers in order to make more profit because many students, parents and employers consider it advantageous to be taught by native speakers.

Nothing more nothing less.

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

In my experience with uni prep, students believe in theory that foreigners will help them to learn English better, but in practice, most of them refuse to take advantage of anything they could learn from us, and in general, most of them prefer their Turkish teachers.

ak_tesl · Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 50

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

I agree with you ak_tesl-- that's a lot of it. I also think that the perceptions of a teacher's role are quite different, and Turkish teachers play the role of mentor quite a lot more than foreigners believe we should.

My school's final exam had as an essay question, "Do you prefer Turkish or foreign teachers? Why?" and the answers were really interesting-- a few students said they preferred foreign teachers, but the majority said they preferred Turkish teachers because foreigeners are stricter disciplinarians (!), they don't understand Turkish or Turkish culture, and they don't explain everything in Turkish. Also, they said they can relate better to Turkish teachers because they are willing to discuss (in Turkish) other topics like current events and politics in the classroom, they joke with students more, and they take more of an interest in students because they help them with their personal problems with (for example) their families and love lives. Many Turkish teachers at my university even go so far as to call students' parents to discuss the problems their kids are having in school because of their problems at home.

Which I tend to think, at a university level, is mollycoddling and ridiculous, not to mention inappropriate for students that age, and I think a lot of my colleagues agree.

Which just means there's a huge gap in the perception of teachers' roles here.

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:17 am Post subject:

Justme ,I think that is one of the most correct and profound posts I've read on this esteemed forum for a very , very ,long time .