Job Discussion Forums

[justme]

I just wanted to put the word out about a school in Istanbul-Bakirkoy called (as far as I last heard) Kampus, formerly known as Quartet. They are currently hiring for my position. I feel I should warn anyone applying to there that they will lie to get what they want from you and your contract there will be worthless. Every month I had to pitch a fit to get whatever money they decided they didn't have to pay me, ie: visa run reimbursement, travel time compensation, hours worked... While they generally paid on time, I rarely got the money I expected according to the terms of my contract.

Aside from money, the administrators are not teachers themselves so they know nothing about what goes on in a classroom, yet they felt completely free to force whatever materials, activities, or lesson plans they had been offered money to promote, regardless of their validity or pedagogical value. The so-called DOS is very young and inexperienced with no management skills whatsoever, so she did things like call me at 9am to tell me that I had a new private student starting that day at 12pm for a 4 hour lesson. Compounding the problem was that no one bothered to placement test new students, making it impossible to properly prepare for any lessons. In one class, students ranged in level from false beginner to intermediate, and they just kept adding students as they showed up at the school, placing them by which lesson time they want rather than by level.

And lastly, they were more interested in having a foreigner around than a teacher, and I was more or less put on display to prospective customers. While working at school, I was expected to come running to meet whatever visiting guy was drinking tea in the office that day or they would just bring people around to stare at me, saying 'Look, we have foreign teachers here'. I was sent on 3 hour round trips to appear (not participate) in meetings with Migros, then later they sent me to twice-weekly private lessons with a Migros manager with the idea that they didn't have to pay me for the travel time.

As far as I know they are hiring now. If you've already accepted a position there, don't be afraid to fight them when they bullsh*t you about money, and feel free to refuse new classes when they don't give you enough notice. Placement test new students yourself, as the DOS will always tell you they're intermediate.

I know a lot of this is usual Turkey BS, but I've been here for over 2 years and worked at 2 other schools, and the manager of this one is especially smarmy. The work is pointless (many students don't pay for lessons, as they're someone's relative or whatever, so they don't put in any effort or bother to remember anything week to week), there is absolutely no support for teachers or materials for lessons, and in general this job was alternately the most frustrating or humiliating work I've ever done.

[FGT]

Sorry to hear of your misadventure. How about some positive feed back - where are you going next?

Good luck with whatever you've chosen and thanks for the input.

[justme]

Misadventure, schmishadventure-- that's just life but I wanted to let others know in case they're applying for the job, and admitedly I'm feeling a little vengeful and would like to make it difficult for them to find a new teacher (at the risk of losing my last month's pay if any of them come across this msg). As of this week I've started at Fatih University and so far so good-- decent, interesting people, a quality program at a reputable school, and they're in the process of improving the program (academic English prep) by, among other things, instating program portfolios as part of their assessment, expanding the use of multimedia and CALL in the classroom, and hiring more native speakers to improve the scores of students entering their major courses.

Plus I get paid more and don't have to work evenings or weekends.

Exactly what I was looking for in terms of the type of work I'm doing, the kind of English I want to be teaching, and the kinds of students I want to be working with. Knock on wood it'll be as good as it seems so far...