Job Discussion Forums

[corall]

I'm looking into teaching in Turkey, but don't really know much about the contracts there and what is a good deal money wise, work hour wise etc... Keeping in mind I taught in Korea, where I got royally screwed my first year there, I really am not too anxious to end up in the same predicament. Right now I have genereated interest in a private school, but I am confused...in Turkey there's a difference between language schools and private schools??? In Korea they are one in the same.

I've been reading people's interesting posts for the last few days and I have learned a lot, thank you.

Oh yes. I am also interested in the reaction of people with non-white female teachers.

Thanks so much in advance

[FGT]

If you say private school to me I think of an establishment that charges money to teach a variety of subjects to "children" until they leave and get a job or go to university.
If I hear language school however, I think of a place that charges to teach people (predominantly adults) one or more languages.
I'm surprised that these are perceived to be the same in Korea. Does this mean that all children go to state schools and there are no private schools? Or what? I'm curious.

[corall]

well...pretty much everyone goes to public schools, but there are many private schools that teach a variety of subjects. because there are so many students and not a lot of spots for university, parents put there kids in these after school schools. most people who teach in korea, teach at these school.

parents in korea believe that if they put their kids in these school they will have a better chance to get a spot when it comes to university. they start early too. my first grade students where in math school, art school, english school, computer school etc... after spending the day at normal school. the older the students get, the longer they are at these schools. middle school students in seoul are at after school schools until 10 or 11pm most nights.

there are a few regular "private schools" that are very prestigious and such. in these schools they work the kids pretty hard and are only for the top precentile kids. it's rather difficult to get a post at a public school or uni in korea, but if you do you're pretty set.

so can you tell me any other info?

[FGT]

There are both private and state schools in Turkey that nearly all include English in their curriculum though not always with native speaker teachers. These are commonly referred to as K12.

There are places called 'dershane' which in UK would be crammers; kids go there after school/at weekends/in the summer/after leaving school to get coached for exams, particularly university entrance. English is probably included though I've never come across any TEFLers in these establishments.

Some universities use English as the medium of instruction and provide a 1-year preparation course. Many of the teachers are native speakers.

There are language schools in all the major cities which are privately owned and provide only English/other foreign language instruction to (usually) adults. The students tend to be business people, doctors, post-grad students etc. The better ones use exclusively native speaker teachers.

Hope that helps.