Job Discussion Forums

[stumy]

Hey everyone,

So I'm new to the whole TEFL thing, and have been speaking to several English companies in Istanbul. I have read many previous posts on this site, but I am a little confused about the relationship between interlang and English first. I've actually been in contact with both of these organizations, but I am under the impression that ET owns interlang. If this is the case, why do they have separate terms/contracts?

Also there was one startling post in particular that depicted Interlang's temporary accomidation to be "a dirty mattress" in a bad area. Has anyone else had any experience with Interlang's (or other schools) accommodations?

One more question: is salary generally preferred over hourly rate? It seems that either could have positives and negatives. As a new teacher I am a little intimidated by the prospect of being overworked as a result of a salary. Is this a reasonable concern?

Thanks so much.

[Vixter]

Happy Christmas Stumy!

I am also a newbie but I don't work in Istanbul so can't help you with the schools you mention.

Regarding salary versus hourly rate, it's been my experience that salaried is better as they provide you with a work permit (or they should do) if your not a Turkish National. If you are part time or on an hourly rate that's not likely to happen. The downside of being salaried is that you can't freelance for other language schools if the reason you're coming here is to make as much cash as possible and therefore work as many hours as possible. If you're coming here to live, then being salaried is pretty secure and you may get other benefits e.g. health insurance.

I chose to be salaried because of these reasons, and in fact the monetary difference between me being salaried or on an hourly rate is minimal.

Enjoy Istanbul and Turkey - it's a wonderful place!

[yaramaz]

English First isn't ET. English Time is. As far as I know, there is no connection between EF and Interlang or ET. I'm back at EF and working on salary because I like being legal and I like knowing that I'll have a guaranteed amount of money coming in each month. You can always do privates if you feel the need for more money but I'm happy with what I have and am still saving 1000ytl a month without feeling the pinch. If you do the math, their hourly rate (based on average number of hours per month) is still better than ET et al. And we get paid holidays. Not as many as at the unis and kolejs but I prefer maintaining sanity over having tons of holidays.

[stumy]

Thank you for the replies! I meant english time, not english first. Sorry about the confusion.

I have another question however:

I have been offered a salary job with a little over 30 hours of teaching time a week. I am a little concerned about such a high number. I have no experience teaching english. I do have a TEFL certificate, and a college degree.

Does such a high number of hours sound reasonable for a beginner?

[dmb]

For a newbie I think it is alot. Especially if you are teaching intermediate and above. For example- defining and non defining relative clauses. Oldies may scoff and be able to teach/present them standing on their head. But as a newbie you will have to learn the material before going into the classroom. I think you need to ask your potential employer what support there is.

You will need to be spending alot of time time preparing or be a very good blagger. However, students usually can see through the *beep*

[nicoletteines]

I believe ET, Interlang, Gokdil, Kultur (no relation to the university!) and many other TEFL companies share the same owner, but still operate as distinct companies. I worked for English Time and it does not offer paid holidays or residence/work permits. It's dormitory is on the Asian side. I also interviewed with Interlang when I arrived in Istanbul and it seemed like their bonus structure was based solely on the head teacher's recommendation.

I was a newbie when I came to ET and teaching isn't that horrible as long as you have a good book with accurate examples and explanations. In addition to the coursebook and teachers' book, I bought a good reference book called "Practical English Grammar" that helped me during the first few weeks of getting into the swing of things. There are other good grammar reference books you can use as you plan your first lessons.

Good luck!

[thrifty]

[dmb]

[lovelace]

As I understand it, Interlang was bought by English Time about three (maybe a bit more) years ago. The word is that it used to be an excellent school, with good and supportive management but that it couldn't survive in the competitive field of Istanbul language schools. That's not my opinion, by the way, just what I've heard from several horses' mouths.(with a lot of swearing edited out!). So, forgetting the past, it's now at the middle to lower end of the private language schools. Like a previous poster said, a lot depends on the staff in a particular branch, but I think it's fair to say that the contracts are not great and can easily be manipulated by management - or ignored completely!

My advice is:

- as a new teacher, if you're conscientious and you don't want to have to wing it, don't sign up for more than 30 hours
- don't go for an hourly rate unless making a lot of money is important to you or you have savings or a private income to rely on. Hours fluctuate and it's a stress not knowing how much money is coming in every week

[lovelace]

Oh, and the accommodation used to be terrible, not sure of current situation. Dirty mattresses, disgusting kitchens, fleas etc - worse than student days. But there was a brand new building in Taksim, has that not been better? Anyone?

[thrifty]

I worked part time at Interlang ages ago and it did have a good reputation. This I think is more because of the poor reputation of all the other language schools rather than anything intrinsic about Interlang. It was very well organised and had good facilities but the teachers' pay was always very low and overtime was paid at the end of the contract, when high inflation had made it lose a lot of its value. Also a few of the staff did the dip every year and one of the DOSes was a trainee dip tutor. Interlang was very good with tht glossy brochures and they definitely sold themselves as being upmarket.

That was all before they were bought out.

[dmb]