Job Discussion Forums

[Otterman Ollie]

Yes,com'on Mr P give us a descripition ,if you can ?

[Truthful Trudie]

No school can be perfect and Izmir is probably preferable to Istanbul or Ankara as a city to work in. Whichever school you work at there will be negatives and positives. As far as The English Academy is concerned here are the pluses and minuses.

Positives
a) on the whole great students
b) efficient level testing system means you don't end up teaching mixed levels
c) friendly admin staff
d) excellent resources
e) reasonable wage
f) nice bunch of teachers who want to do a good job (no real weirdos)

Negatives
a) mickey mouse contract (teachers do not get a copy, it is usually honoured but quite a lot goes on outside of the contract in terms of teachers doing extra with little return)
b) inconsistency of management techniques
c) lack of prospects and recognition
d) few rewards for loyalty on contract renewal (in fact standard contract gets worse every year)
e) unfair allocation of holiday leave and weekend work and lack of planning for rota to cover sickness
f) lack of support with discipline problems
g) negative energy in the teachers' room and front office (lots of creeping around and whispering)
h) uneasy relations between director and some staff


If you can go into the classroom, teach your students well and then turn off to the rest of the crap, then you may be able to hack it. If you want to play an active role in a place where management is fair with everyone, consistent and good at motivating you, where you can openly debate things, maybe this is not the place for you.

[fungus the bogeyman]

Wow!!! Trudie - good on you!

Beautifully said and so true!!!

Nice to see that someone has the balls to stand up to them.

I believe the contract banned teachers from saying anything negative about the school in bars but online - i dont think so! Its more direct online - at least the management can read it themselves rather than having it reported second hand. I can hear contracts being torn up and rewritten as we speak!

[FGT]

I agree with Truthful Trudie that Izmir is probably a better city to work in than Istanbul or Ankara.
Whatever her opinion of EA, is there a better school to work at in Izmir, and I'm talking about teaching adults not kids, either those at lises or the overgrown ones at university?

Seriously, I'd like to know. I'm looking for part-time work and wouldn't want to miss anything.

[Sally Vaite]

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=25982

Hiya FTG
I saw your other post from awhile back. Have things changed since you wrote that? Are you still workin there?

[FGT]

Hi Sally,

I checked the post you referred to and what I'd written then. For the 8 years I worked there I think what I wrote was a fair summary.

I haven't worked anywhere since June, I'm involved in the latter stages of restoring a house in Ayvalik which I hope to live in soon, hence the aim to find part-time work in Izmir. If I were offered that at EA I would have no hesitation in agreeing to work there.

In the 13 years I've been teaching, all of that in Izmir, I've only worked at two schools - English Fast in its hey dey, and English Academy. I think I've been very fortunate. Nowhere is perfect but...

[Truthful Trudie]

As others have said here, EA is most probably the best place to teach in Izmir. In terms of students, it certainly is. However, I doubt EA would pride itself on the label 'best of a bad bunch'. I'm sure that it has been much better in the past than it is has been recently.

The fact that teachers 'keep coming back' SHOULD give a good indication that it is a good place to work. But, if teachers are only renewing their contracts because of a lack of viable alternatives in Izmir then it is not a good advert. If a newcomer has ties to Izmir or a specific reason to teach in Izmir, then EA may be the only option.

The fact that EA managed to retain teachers year after year meant that the teaching staff was experienced and experienced in teaching Turkish students. If EA cannot keep those teachers anymore, then it will eventually end up with teachers who are not as experienced in Turkey and who do not have the same level of loyalty to the school.

Of course, all of this is only an opinion and I would not want anybody to base whether they worked somewhere on this alone. Everybody looks for something different from a job.

[billybuzz]

FGT I've heard a bit about Ayvalik being a good place to buy old houses ,I'm in the market for one .Whats the situation in Ayvalik? How far is from Izmir ?Prices ,you know that sort of thing .Thanks !

[Sally Vaite]

Thanks to all of you for your information. You were very helpful.

[stuartdilg]

Hey guys - thıs ıs my fırst actual post here on thıs sıte but as we're talkıng about Izmır schools I'd thought I would suggest Address Englısh (addressenglish.com). Its a good school, alway pay on time, can't get you a work permit unless you work full time for more than a year. They try to help you find housing but they won't pay for it. Pay ıs 15 an hour, whıch ıs a bıt below average. But - everyone here ıs really helpful and the boss always looks for more hours for you. I gotta teach a class rıght now actually so a more full post later.

And they tend to always be hırıng.

stu

[dmb]

[FGT]

15ytl an hour is low for Izmir. It may be a newbie teacher's salary but not the normal rate. I was on 22ytl plus bonuses last year.

[Sally Vaite]

[teacherdude]