Job Discussion Forums

[dmb]

[thrifty]

Have all your private students been male?

[dmb]

No, but most are.

[batukhan]

1500 is a pittance. It ıs ımpossible to survive on this type of salary. People often come to Turkey thinking it is not an expensive country but ıt really and truly is. If you eat pasta everyday with nothing on it, do not smoke do not drink, do not buy clothes etc.,. It ıs still not enough to survive on and ıf you have dependents ıt ıs beyond ımpossıble. Even to have a mınımal Western type lifestyle ıs a luxury generally beyond the scope of most TEFL jobs ın this country. Imagine you wish to buy a car for example the prices are hyper ınflated even used cars and to fill the tank may cost you 120-180 ytl depending on tank size. If you want to buy a pair of basic Converse shoes prices start at 100ytl. Public transport is very reasonable here however ıf you are grownup and wish to have your own transportation then forget about ıt. Private transport and decent clothing is incredibly expensive here not the crap you buy at the pazar. Local telephone calls cost you and overseas calls are expensive. Meat at the store is extremely costly even chopped beef, cooking beef and ground beef will cost you between 15- 18 ytl a kilo. I am not talking sirloın here just your basic crap meat. Fish is also expensive wıth the exception of anchovies. Fresh vegetables and fruit are relatively cheap in season compared to European prices however certain fruits and veggies may shock you. I saw a mango in Migros and it was 8ytl. Outrageous!!! Imported or not ımported come on. Bannas are not cheap either. Electronics, appliances, and furniture are again extremely expensive relative to the quality.
Also factor in the naive foriegner being ripped off. Many business and service people not all will scam you for just about anything. You will loose significant dollars to this inevitable process in your first months here. As you will see prices are not generally written down so they will see you as a foriegner and price accordingly ın many shops. In bıg grocery stores and shopping malls this is not the case but when you see the hyper inflated prices at shopping malls you will see why they put the prices on them. There is always room for negotiation but as you will see the flexibility on price is usually neglıgible. As you become more savy this ripoff factor will be reduced but never disappear. Good luck you poor sap!

[Vixter]

my salary at a language school is 1250 YTL and it is impossible to survive on. I had thought of doing private lessons, but which businesspeople are willing to take time out of work to have a lesson in the afternoon? Only evenings will do, and that's taken up at the language school. So if you're hoping to bump up your salary, check out the working hours first and if you have a couple of evenings free in the week then you should be able to take on some privates. You won't have much of a life though.

[justme]

I hate private lessons too! Interlang used to force us to do them (very galling, as the school collected 30-40/hr, but still paid us the regular lesson rate of 9), and it sucked-- they were usually the most high-stress students with unrealistic goals who expected miracles and got mad when I couldn't provide them. And yeah, the prep for 2 hours with a lower level student who thinks speaking practice is a waste of time is just ridiculous.

But then, I've never had higher level students ask for privates. It's usually neighbors or whatever hoping to pay me 10ytl an hour to 'teach' their rugrats who are failing state school English classes. Like Baba, I tell them it costs 100YTL an hour-- that usuallly gets rid of them!

[Baba Alex]