Job Discussion Forums

[OverseasTeacher]

I have been familiar with Dave' ESL cafe for years. It has a good rep and is interesting to monitor to see trends and movement in ESL overseas. This Turky site seems a bit outdated. Isn't anyone out there willing to give a summary of what is going on now? Visa situation? Cost of living? General comments on this country as an ESL posting? What about this new government? Pro-ESL do you think? There must be a lot of bi-lingual Turks willing to comment on what they see happening in relation to job opporutnities and trends in the Ministry of Education regarding teaching English as a foreign language. Come on Turkey, give us the goods.

[coffeespoonman]

What do you mean it's outdated? Just the front page is full of info about visas, cost of living, specific schools, etc. I can't imagine that you could have posted this AND actually read even the first 5 non-sticky posts.

And what new government are you talking about? AKP has been in power for ages, and I don't think that they spend their days thinking much about ESL or ESL teachers. Plus, why are you soliciting info from only bilingual Turks? How about bilingual native speaking ESL teachers? Or even monolingual ones?

Sorry if this comes off as harsh, but I spend a lot of energy replying to posts on this board, as do a lot of other people, and you've clearly written that all off without even reading what we're talking about. Please, read all the posts on the first 2 pages to completion, then ask any specific questions you want - if you have any left.

[OverseasTeacher]

You sound a bit defensive, but you're right I did skip most of the sticky points. Most of the threads were a couple of years old though. I asked about the AKP because a friend of mine said they recently changed the law so that spouses can not teach. Only one of a married teaching couple can work, which quite franly sounds a bit xenophobic. They may have been in power for years, but the recent re-election by an overwhelming majority of Turks is going to give them a bigger stick to swing. Look at the generals who resigned last week. ESL teachers are just another kind of foreigner, and whether you work of an oil company or a school we are all expats...so yes I think this government goes around worrying about foreign citizens who live in their country. At least they should do. Finally chill out about who speaks what language as a mother tongue. I was just trying to encourage some input by host country nationals. I will read your sticky posts, and I will also re-visit the comments, but this site is kind of stale compared to other areas of the world pon Dave's. Sorry if I sound harsh. Just saying.

[billy orr]

"spouses can not teach. Only one of a married teaching couple can work" ????
I think you have been seriously misinformed. Any qualified person can teach regardless of their marital status.
And when I come to the Turkey forum I can see 25 threads that have been added to in the last 30 days on the first page alone.

[delal]

Firstly, this forum is full of people willing to give advice to others if they can, despite heavy workloads (Coffeespoonman for example is always ready to help)
Secondly, I assume that you're not in Turkey so until you actually come to live here, it will be hard to make an informed decision about politics here from what CNN, Fox or the BBC choose to focus on and publicise for whatever reason. It's all just hearsay after all
Thirdly, there is life in Turkey and tons of it. Sometimes we use the forum to vent, that's true, but we are all still here for good reasons; nobody is forcing us to stay.
And finally, if you don't like this forum, why not hang out on another?

[OverseasTeacher]

You guys got it wrong about the work visa thing, but that's okay. Sometimes folks who don't have proper visas and make periodic runs to the border get confused about immigration laws. And then there are the self-satisfied expats who are married to host country nationals and think they know everything because the know a c sounds like a j in Turkish. Check the law and you'll see I am right about married couples and work visas. So, how can I expect you fellas to tell me what's on sale at Migros when you haven't a clue as to immigration law out there. You sound like local yokels who want to have a pissing match every time someone says something the collective doesn't like. Sounds like you have been in Turkey too long where group-think rules the day.

If I don't like it go somehere else? Really? Is that the best you can do? Love it or leave it? I heard that one in the 60's and it was no less enlightened then. Actually, I may just hang around now because, like the immigration law, I know more than you local boys about your own turf.

[gloomyGumi]

[billy orr]

Oh dear.

[gloomyGumi]

[CallieWho]

I think someone is trying to pick a fight. That someone being OverseasTeacher.

[OverseasTeacher]

Yeah, I was a bit of a grouch. Too much coffee and jet lagged. The confusion on the visa issues may stem from the fact that couples are restricted from both working in the same company or school. Each may work independently somewhere else, just not together. One could argue this is to prevent nepotism, but I suspect it is a kind of anti-foreign legislation that only popped up last year. I got onto the site, didn't know how to use it, got my ears boxed by a couple of locals and it ticked me off. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. However everything one writes here stays here, and I can see already who is consistently mean spirited, in my humble opinion.

[OverseasTeacher]

I have spent a few hours reading old posts, and I want to apologize to coffeespoonman who seems to be straight up and very helpful. He was right; I hadn't done my due diligence before venturing an opinion, and when caught out, was less than gracious. Sorry about that.

[coffeespoonman]

Hey, no problem. As my name suggests, I know what it's like to have too much coffee.