Job Discussion Forums

[bess]

Do you think all private kolejis in Istanbul are difficult. This one has primary, intermediate and high school kids all in one? Tricky question to ask I know. I have seen alot of the comments on the Turkey forum and feel quite discouraged.

[ghost]

[thrifty]

I think that you can put the private high schools into three groups:

1. The schools that Ghost is referring to-they are businesses and have no ethics or educational values.

2. Schools such as Fatih Kolejleri-they have a religous bias and are run by a religous foundation-they do as a last resort expel students and because they are essentially non-profiit and have a lot of scholarship students they are better.

3. Schools that are very well-known and are supported by an embassy, educational trust or charity. They are fee paying like the Austrian High School-parents are often professionals and both parents and management are very proud of their high achievment.

I would never work at the first type but would consider 1 or 2.

Guess why you always see ads for teachers for type 1 but less often 2 and 3.

[billybuzz]

I think the whole private school thing tends to get blown out of all proportion ,I can only speak for the ones in Izmir and have worked at 4 of them over an 7 year time span ,they are generally a mixture of good and bad .
It is true to say that life there is a bit more intense than the average Language school and the kids can be a bit of a handful at times,however not all of them are rich spoilt brats quite a large number are well adjusted bright and can make the whole teaching experience worthwhile .
I would advise you to make sure that you get a good "package" because you will earn it ,but at the end you will be somebody who can deal with just about any situation that comes your way .Its one hell of a training ground .
Some people try it for just a week and decide thats enough others have lasted less than a day . See how you get on expect the worse then if you haven't k,illed someone by the end of the week ,you never know you may enjoy iy .Don't forget to ask someone who already works there what life is like doubtless you'll get anything but the truth .

[thrifty]

Working at 4 private schools in 7 years says it all.

[ghost]

[tinkerbell]

[yaramaz]

Ghost, 'lycee' (or lise) is just plain old highschool. Maybe you are thinking of Anadolu lisesi, which in theory is a more rigourous stream but isn't necessarily in practice. The group I liked was the hazirlik, the kids who were entering the lise from outside the school's own primary section and who needed to get their English up to a certain level to do so. They did a year of intensive English between year 8 and year 9 (lise 1) and were pretty motivated compared to the kids who had come up through the school's system. It may be different in other schools- mine ha a lot of scholarship kids in that program so it helped. They were lovely.

[batukhan]

Are all private kolejis difficult? Is the sky blue? Does the sun rise in the east? Honestly, if you value your sanity then do not teach in a koleji. I would rather do two consectutive tours of duty in Iraq then teach in that enviroment again. No matter what they offer you as compensation it is not worth it. The children are sugar encrusted, spasmodic deviants with no socially redeeming qualities.
Some people on the forum try and couch the koleji experience in a very diplomatic manner. You may be under the wrong impression that the negative comments are from disillusioned or disgruntled negative nellies. Believe me I have seen even the most well seasoned, savy, experienced, thick skinned teaching pros run crying out of the classroom. After which you can look to zero support from the administration. That is only one aspect of the koleji experience the enviroment outside of the classroom can be equally toxic.
Seriously do yourself a favour and be far from this environment. When you are in the middle of it dealing with day to day nonsense, you fail to realize how self destructive it is to teach there. However once you get a taste of freedom you will never go back trust me.

[billybuzz]

Ok,lets clear up one or two things ,firstly working at 4 different places in 7 years does not mean I wanted out or they wanted me to go . It was a change I was going through in finding what I felt was the right place to work I got through 3 of them in just 2 years one of them closed down after 6 months and the other one just could not afford to pay its staff.I stayed at the last one for over 5 years as I felt at that time I had gone as far as I wanted to and thought teaching older students was a natural progression .
The other thing ,tinkerbell, what on earth makes you think I teach grammar, that has always been what the Turkish teachers do best .
I teach reading ,writing,listening and speaking .

[thrifty]

No, what the Turkish teachers do well is gapfills.

[mongrelcat]

bess are you in Turkey now or are you still just contemplating coming here?

if there are specific schools you are looking at, you can pm me and i will tell you what i know or at least what i hear.

and since i havent worked in all the private kolejis in this country i cant say for certain if they are all bad. but out of the ones i've worked in, 100% of them have all the problems that ghost talked about. he hit it right on the head.

then there are the problems with management. i chose to work in the private schools because in general i heard that there arent the kind of paperwork and monkey business problems one encounters in the language schools. wrong. the legal issues and complete disregard for the contracts you sign are enough to make a person quit, then on top of it you have to deal with the students. personally, in this current school, i havent gotten anything out of it other than a bit of money. my life hasnt been enriched by this work experience, i dont feel happy or fulfilled, just drained and depressed.

and like Tekirdag in that other thread, i think i am done here. i havent been doing this work very long but i am shot, worn out, overwhelmed and disgusted.

maybe if i recover over the summer i might try another country, and a language school. at least in that genre what you see is what you get.

ghost, suggestions? are you liking it in Korea?

[dmb]

I think if you are working an academic year then everyone feels a bit jaded around this time. Hang in there everyone- Summer isn't too far away.

[dagi]

Ok, I am still at my first private school but don't find it all that bad.

[ghost]