Job Discussion Forums

yaramaz · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:29 am Post subject:

You can't get a work visa with only a TEFL. The minimum is degree plus CELTA. Don't think it's changed recently.

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:13 am Post subject:

WTF İS THİS ? Suddenly everyone wants to work here without a degree ! Am I the only one who thinks this is not a very good idea ?

batukhan · Joined: 25 Mar 2006 Posts: 26

If you dont have a degree and wish to teach here. Do yourself a favour go home or go to China. It really undermines the teaching community as a whole when you come to this country. I personally would resent you if you were teaching in my school. Well for one thing they wouldnt hire you. Seriously dont come here. Go else where.

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

A degree ? To teach ? Ah, ain't life a bitch ?

batukhan · Joined: 25 Mar 2006 Posts: 26

A degree is certainly no quarantee of a good teacher. However, it does indicate that a person has a certain level of proficiency with the language and a degree of commitment to learning. Success as a teacher in this country is not related to your goodness as a person. In fact it might be a bit of a hinderance. Additionally, an automechanic might be a magnificent human being it doesnt necessarily make him a great English teacher either. If teachers want higher wages,respect, better conditions etc.,. I think it is important to keep the bar a little high.

snowite · Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 6 Location: Istanbul

Hello everyone....

I have been in Turkey for almost 4 years. I have worked at language centers and kolejs. I do fulfill the requirements for teaching legally here however I have worked with many teachers who do not. Most of them were great at teaching. The employers and students were happy as well. Good luck to everyone.

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:46 pm Post subject:

Oh Dear, Oh dear, here we are at the start of 08 and people are falling over themselves trying to get work here without the necessary qualies.It does cheapen the whole thing when well meaning but totally misguided and inexperienced goons think they can just trot over here a get a teaching position. How are we as a group ever going to get any kind of respect or recognition for what we do when this cycle of stupidity is fostered? You fall out with your employer over a number of differences and he thinks you are wrong for standing up for yourself,why should he worry about replacing you when the streets are full of degreeless dorks who think they can do the job but just mess it up and leave us with the fallout, either in the workplace or outside we get a bad name through people who come here just for the romantic notion they will soak up some cultural adventure ,at the same time screwing those of us who intend to stay here more than a full academic year or even just a semestre. STAY AWAY FOR CHRİSSSSAKE!!!!!!!!

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

Ollie - for once I can only agree with you wholeheartedly.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

scot47 hates to agree with anyone but agrees with ollie

Why have I started to talk like ghost ?

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:51 am Post subject:

Thanks for the support, makes a change from the usual slap down.
Snowite, My comments were not aimed at you, just members of the great unqualified and unwashed!

tarte tatin · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 247 Location: Istanbul

I actually got my CELTA and started teaching before I did my degree and later PGCE.

I honestly don't think that getting a degree made the slightest difference to my teaching ability and I would go so far as to say I learned more about teaching on my CELTA than I did on the PGCE! There is a factor X in teaching that does not come from getting a degree.

Also there are degrees in just about everything these days and not all of them are academically rigorous. Just because you have a degree in midwifery or whatever, does not mean that you have a stunning command of English.

I can understand that people want the bar raised to protect their rights here but to be honest I don't think most language schools here deserve highly qualified people. Universities are a different matter of course. From what I have observed, the TEFL outlook in Turkey is pretty dismal.

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:36 am Post subject:

Can I clarify one small but important point. I agree with those people who say a degree does not make a teacher,this is something you either have or not, before you even went into some form of higher education. Some of the most obtuse people I have seen in the classroom are usually well qualified,but watching them teach is akin to watching paint dry, hardly a memorable experience. These sadly are usually the people who end up as trainers. They are so used to an older audience they have forgotten how to relate to younger people .Others who have the all the right bits of paper end up in a testing department or even worse in a little room that purports to be of something called materials development. After a couple of years of that you lose the "touch" you may have had in the past. I know I bang on about the value of degrees but at the end of the day its just a piece of paper that testifies that you have at least been educated to some kind of minimum standard. We should try to at least maintain that.

Ebenezer · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 99

hi, Ayse! Despite your being Turkish and having a Turkish name you can still be treated as a "real foreigner" money and privileges wise, they may legally hire you as a Turk just to get around some unecessary bureaucracies, but still you will be considered as a foreign teacher and they may also ask you to tell the students you have a different name, which is weird and ridiculous, but people do it... don't you ever settle for less, you ARE a native speaker, but if you go for your interview all "humble" and with an "oh-I'm Turkish-just pay-me-enough-to-survive" attitude that's what you'll get. If the brought up something like this, just say you're walking away and they'll reconsider it and if they don't you'll definetely find someone who will... the only drawback is that you don't have a B.A. so it may take you out of most of the serious schools... anyway, good luck!