Job Discussion Forums

[travel bug]

Hi everyone,

I have really enjoyed reading your posts and have learned a lot about Turkey already. Thank you!!

My husband and I taught in South Korea for three years and are now really excited about teaching in Turkey. We both have BA's (mine is in English Language and Literature and my husband's is in History) and TESOL certification.

We really want to work in Izmir at a language school. We have heard about some of the language schools and are very impressed with The English Academy. I have a feeling though that it is too late for us to apply for this school year due to the low teacher turnover and the popularity of the school. FGT please let me know if I am wrong!

We know a little about some of the other language schools, but would like more details if anyone has/had experience with them.

We really don't want to have bad experiences with a school. We might be a little weird, but we would much rather have a great school environment and students that are eager to learn and make a fair wage than make lots of money and hate our school. I know many people say no teaching situation is perfect, but neither of us want to be stressed or upset over work all the time.

I look forward to everyone's replies, but would really like to hear from FGT and Richard because I have read a lot of your posts and you were the ones who really convinced us to live and teach in Izmir.

BTW, we are Canadian, so it is not financially viable for us to come to Turkey first to find a job and then come back to Canada for the work visa.

Thanks in advance!!

[FGT]

[richard ame]

Hi travel bug , thanks for the compliment . I haven't really posted here for a while but I try to keep abreast of things . Like FGT stated Academy is still the front runner as far as language schools go and my sources tell me this year the turnover is about 50% so there should be room for the both of you . However I'm at a loss as to why you would go straight to a language school when you may quite possibly be able to land something better paid with more perks considering your experience and qualifications . There I go putting my big foot in it again , suggesting there may be somewhere better to work than academy . Over to you FGT!

[FGT]

To summarize teaching in Izmir:

There are language schools, many of which have previously been mentioned, which predominantly teach adults. Some people (myself included) prefer to teach in this environment. At Academy (but probably not the rest) the perks include a reasonable hourly rate, paid overtime, free (excl. bills) accommodation, airfare, ongoing training and support, good resources, good syllabus design etc.
The downside is that most teachers work in the evenings and at weekends. On the other hand there is almost never a requirement to mark homework in your own time, to write your own exams, to attend parents' meetings etc in your own time, and so on.

Then there are schools and universities which is a very different environment. In some of these (I'm sure Richard is thinking of The University of Economics, which, as far as I know, has no vacancies at present) it is possible to earn more money and to get the benefits of subsidised private health insurance etc.
However, I'm not sure that the other benefits are still that good. It used to be the case that work in this environment meant that teachers benefitted from long summer holidays, in most cases this has been whittled down to 4 weeks in the summer (the exception being Dokuz Eylul university which still gives its teachers a 3-month break, unfortunately they pay badly). Teachers in schools and universities usually now have to clock in and out every day and be on the premises all the time, regardless of teaching hours. Teachers in schools also have to give up many evenings and weekends in order to mark homework, exams and to attend meetings. No extra allowance is given for housing, neither (usually) is free housing provided. In this environment teachers have to teach KIDS (Ugh!), usually spoilt and unenthusiastic ones at that!

I weighed up the pros and cons and chose the language school path, Richard chose the other.
It's horses for courses, each to their own, I say.

Over to you Richard (hi from Ayvalik by the way - your ex-house is still standing!)

[travel bug]

Thank you to all those who read my post. I hope I didn't offend anyone when I singled out FGT and Richard. I would still welcome anyone's opinions on The English Academy and/or any of the other language schools in Izmir that you think are worth recommending. I know of at least one other poster who works at Address English and I would like to hear more about the school if he/she is willing. I won't single him/her out though.

As I already mentioned, I have read a lot of posts regarding Izmir, but I've been reading them from oldest to newest. Some may say this is not smart, but I have gained a lot of information about Izmir/Turkey and teaching in Izmir this way. I have not finished reading all of the posts, so it wasn't until after I wrote my post that I found out you, FGT, left EA last June and that you, Richard, started writing less often. In light of these facts, I especially appreciate you both responding to my post.

FGT, thank you for the update regarding the higher teacher turnover this year. I will definitely send EA our cover letter and resumes. It is great to know that although you no longer work at EA, you still think highly of the school. It's a shame though we won't have the chance to work with you. Perhaps our experience and qualifications would help us to negotiate a bit higher wage at Address. Thank you also for the breakdown of the schools and universities. I've read other summaries, but yours was very straightforward and a lot more informative, for me at least. The pros and cons you mentioned were similar to the ones that helped us decide to go the language school path. On a side note, I hope everything is going well for you in Ayvalik.

I knew you would not be pleased with our choice of a language school, Richard, (as I said before, I read A LOT of your posts) but I didn't want to lose out on all of your knowledge of and experience in Izmir, so I singled you out knowing I would get some flak from you. I could be wrong, but from everything I have read, the private schools and universities sound great from a money and perk standpoint, but as I mentioned in my post, we don't want the stress and upset that I read goes along with the money and perks. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

To anyone who can help me...I need the name of the person to whom I should address my cover letter, with regards to Address English. Also, do they have a website and/or an e-mail address for the person responsible for hiring?

[FGT]

Just noticed that Academy is advertising again:

http://www.tefl.com/jobs/job.html?jo_id=29453

[travel bug]

Thank you FGT!! We really appreciate you thinking of us and for being so helpful. We have been in touch with Academy for a little while now, but only knew for certain about the available positions the night before they were posted on Dave's and tefl.com. I saw the job posting on Dave's right before I received your message. I don't look at tefl.com too often, so it was great you let me know. Take care.

[Beauty26]

What was the experience like?