Job Discussion Forums

[goodatheart]

Hello Everyone,

I'm planning to move to Turkey in May. I'm finishing up my Master's degree in Social Work and I will be getting my TEFL degree in couple of weeks. I'm mainly planning to look for a Social Work position in Turkey however I wonder about my chances in education. I would like to teach while I get some experience in Social Work and understand the history and practice behind it in Turkey.

I'm looking for some guidelines such as language schools, international schools and universities. I would like to know if I'm qualified to teach in Turkey. What should I look for in Ankara and what should I hope? When is the good times to start searching and appliying for jobs.

I' was born and raised in Turkey however last 11 years I reside in United States. I grew up in a small city in Turkey so I really do not know what to expect from Ankara.

Any help would be greatly appriciated.

[barabbas]

At the moment the work situation in language schools in Ankara is pretty dire - the schools I know of have seen a real loss in student numbers and I've heard teachers are roaming the city looking for work - that's not to say you might not get lucky and walk into a school just at the right time. I imagine too things will pick up as the economic crisis passes.

[bulgogiboy]

I had a colleague in a similar position to you, he was Turkish-Canadian. You should find Ankara fairly comfortable, especially if you speak fluent Turkish.

I would recommend the Turco-British Association, you dont have to be British, and they are a pretty decent employer. All your students will be adults, and you will teach some pretty important people over the course of a year: Senior judges, colonels, generals, senior police officers, city and provincial governors, diplomats, as well as quite a few uni students.

They pay for your accomodation and all bills as well. The accomodation isnt exactly modern but its very spacious and located just between Tunali, the main shopping/bar area and kizilay the town centre.

I think its the best job available in Ankara, 10 times better than English Time(DONT GO THERE!).

[fishmb]

Beware, some of my North American - Turkish friends have been exploited by language schools. For example, I have one friend who was born in Turkey but then moved to Canada when she was 4. She lived there until she was 23 and then moved back to Turkey. She is a native English speaker. However, the school she works at pays her what they pay the Turkish teachers for whom English is a second language BUT made her change her Turkish name to an English name to "deceive" her students.

I feel bad for a lot of my Turkish friends who speak English as a second language. They're great teachers and their English is great, but get offered half of what native speakers get offered. One of my friends got offered 8.5 lira an hour yesterday, and she has a CELTA!

[eclectic]

8.5 per hour with a celta----thats horrible. ABout $5.50 an hour, you can make twice that in a Burger King in the US flipping chicken nuggets.

[bulgogiboy]

That's absolutely shocking. My Turkish friend was a professor in science at Middle East Technical University in Ankara (all the instruction is in English), he spoke excellent English, and had a PhD. He was quite desperate for money as his father was ill, so he enquired at a language school about doing some teaching hours. He was offered something like 9-10 liras per hour. He was outraged. Ok, he wasnt a native speaker but that rate of pay is still shocking considering he was able to explain even the most complex scientific matters to me in English, much better than I could have!

English Time actually paid the Turkish-Western teachers the same rate of pay as me, but they had to change their name to something Western (so for example 'Gul' became 'Rose' ) and go through the ridiculous charade of pretending they didnt speak/understand any Turkish (mind you that was company policy for ALL teachers working at English time-you had to pretend you were linguistically challenged for some reason, even if you had been in the country for a considerable amount of time). The students werent stupid, in most cases they would take one look at a teacher and tell me "teacher, he/she is a Turk!". Fun and games.

Like I said before about TBA in Ankara, they are a decent employer. If you apply to them they will most likely pay you the Western salary and not insist on any change of name.

[goodatheart]

Thank you so much to everyone for your insight. I was actually looking into English Time. I did my reserach on this forum and they have horrible feedbacks. At the moment they are also hiring for other like "counseling" positions. Does any one know anything about those positions by chance?

[doner]

The counsellor positions are for Turks-usually new English graduates who advise/lie to/encourage/explain grammar points in Turkish/listen to the student complaints. They work long hours and the pay is half what the TEFLers get. Worse treatment because they are even more expendable. They also are young and usually women and live at home with their parents and so can live cheaply.

[goodatheart]

Thank you for the quick response doner. I think I have decided to avoid English time for good. I thought maybe the counseling positions could be a place to start since I have my degree in social work and counseling.

Thank you again

[goodatheart]

Thank you bulgogiboy. I will look into Turco-British:)