Job Discussion Forums

[nicoletteines]

To begin, I'd like to dispel the mentality that people who complain about past work experiences on Dave's ESL are either people with no experience of the company in question, or merely bad teachers who got burned because of their own shortcomings.

I was an employee of ET for five months, so the following opinions are based on valid experiences. Furthermore, I was a good teacher with great reviews from students and a reliable and respectful employee, as noted by the management.

In summary, I found ET to be a hostile environment with low pay and deceiving contracts. I browsed this website before I signed a contract with them, and if I had read a list like this, I would have gone with another company. Hopefully, some of you job seekers will heed this warning and claim a bit if job satisfaction in Turkey.

10. ET Facilities
The women's bathroom never has toilet paper. And I hear the men's WC is even worse. And is there a pedagogical reason for not serving teachers' tea on the 5th floor canteen? Also, why can't teachers be provided with even the BASICS?! i.e. paper! a working photocopier! a reliable internet connection to print things from the computer!

9. The Lojman
The teachers' dorm was bad enough on Istiklal with the curfews, blackouts, plumbing problems, bad kitchen/computer room etiquette, and having to listen to the caretaker's domestic violence. Now, they are shipping everyone to the Asian side, lengthening the commute.

8. Disorganization
Classic examples:
You've been assigned a new class - the day before or day of its first class - and when you arrive to the classroom, it's already filled by a different class. So, as the Fur Elise bell rings, you're still running up and down stairs trying to find a classroom of students without a teacher.

It's 9:45 on your day off and you get a call saying you HAVE TO cover a class at 10:00!

You're scheduled for an activity, but the room is locked...again.

The activity or class or classroom you have on your schedule has been double-booked. So, you and another teacher are confused on where, when and what level you are suppposed to be teaching.

7. Rough Schedules
Your contract says you will get 2 days off per week and may be asked to work up to 35 hours per week. However, the later pages of the contract (that they usually don't give you photocopies of) state that ET can take away your days off and schedule you for more that 35 hours if they deem it necessary. I saw teachers scheduled closer to 40 teaching hours against their will or working over 2 weeks straight without a day off.

6. Low Pay
Teachers get 14-16 YTL per hour, whether its a class or private lesson. Students are paying a lot of money to be in a class, and private lessons cost the students 60 YTL per hour! The people you report to will threaten your pay as often as they can. For serious lapses such as arriving late to class, to minor offenses such as dress code requirements, or ludicrous prohibitions against admitting to students that an example from the new ET book is incorrect or offensive (which they often are!)

5. Deceiving Contracts
Your contract says ET will help you get a residence permit, but they actually discourage this. All of the foreign teachers are illegal immigrants and can be - and have been! - THROWN IN JAIL AND DEPORTED! You have no legal protection and are at the mercy of ET.
Your contract also says if you quit without a month's advance notice, you forfeit your outstanding pay, rent subsidy, travel reimbursement, visa reimbursement, and contract completion bonus. However, if you submit a letter of resignation one month in advance, your pay, rent, and reimbursements "may be paid". When you sign with ET they explain this "may" as permission to receive these perks. When you submit your one-month's notice, they explain that in reality, you "may" (possibility) receive your pay and rent subsidy. And just getting these is a battle. I've seen a teacher crying because she was yelled at and threatened that she wouldn't even get her outstanding pay for the last month. Your travel and visa reimbursements are not even under consideration. You will definitely not receive these. I saw many people resign & quit and nobody has received them.

4. New 'English Time' Coursebooks
For detailed info, see the popular thread with the same name...

3. Lack of respect for students
ET doesn't care about the quality of education the students receive or their satisfaction with the services rendered. ET 'traps' students with a promo special (buy 3 levels, get 1 free!). As soon as the students prepay, the new ET books are distributed, and the complaints begin to roll-in. But nobody cares, they already paid! They also parade around a clause that if the student fails a level, they can retake the course for free. But there is so much red tape that students rarely, if ever, get to retake a course.

2. Lack of respect for staff & teachers
This encompasses much of No. 10-4, and especially No. 1 on this Top 10 list. In the past 5 months I have been at ET Taksim branch, they've gone through 2 assistant head teachers, 2 Turkish teachers, about 10 English teachers (at least 6 who quit before their contract term expired) and some of their best Educational Advisors. These are signs that something is fundamentally wrong with ET and the way they treat their workers. I admit, this is a transient business, but not for Turkish staff, and not for assistant head teachers who make a career out of the TEFL business. And if the company treated its workers with respect, you would see more teachers finish their contract term, or renew their contract for an additional term.

MOD EDIT
Beyond her total incompetence as a director of education (if that's her title...I've heard otherwise), and the failure of her ET coursebook project (she is responsible for the content & editing), she is simply a rude and inappropriate person in the workplace. Just look at the evil face she adds as signature to her postings and in-office notes to staff members! She is always cursing and swearing and threatening to kill people. A quote from a teachers' meeting, a fist raised in warning against anyone planning to go against her word, "I will throw you out the f.ing window!" Another quote in front of teachers in the teachers' room aimed at the assistant head teacher who wasn't even there at the moment, "If he touches my books again, I will f.ing kill him!" I don't accept this kind of verbal abuse in my personal life, why would I accept this in my professional life??


This was my experience of English Time, and I believe the aim of Dave's ESL Cafe is to share these real-life experiences with its readers. So, I've shared my piece, and hopefully future teachers will be able to make an educated decision on where they work in Istanbul.

[thrifty]

: [/u][/b]

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

If you want this thread to survive, you will avoid personal attacks and the identification of individuals by name.

This should be considered a very final warning.

[tararu]

If you wish to pick on the Taksim branch as you have worked there, then that is your choice. However, as you haven't worked in the Bakirkoy branches, the Sirenevler branch, the Bagdat branch, the Mecidiyekoy branch, the Kadikoy branches, or the Ankara branch, perhaps you can keep your comments branch specific.

[thrifty]

The senior management is not branch specific.

[tararu]

As you know, the dynamics of a school are not only affected by the boss at the top. The staff in branch make the biggest difference. Teachers interact daily with their head teacher and manager. These are the guys who will try and keep the branch running smoothly. It is generally the head teacher who bares the brunt of upper managment's whims not the teachers.

[thrifty]

It seems to be how the manager interacts with the teachers that is causing one of the most serious problems.

The coursebooks are no doubt the same across the branches.

The teachers and students seem to be bearing the brunt of the whims.

Things do not seem to be running smoothly.

[Baba Alex]

I feel very left out having never had any experience of ET.

Can I swear at someone anyway, though?

[thrifty]

So you are saying that she is not rude and innapropriate as a rule but you don't rule out the possibility that she may have been so at some teachers'meetings?

[thrifty]

[dmb]

[tararu]

No, it is not the teachers who bare the brunt thank you very much, and l should goddamn know as l am a head teacher at ET. As you don't work at my branch, please do not tell me what it is like. Yes, the books are causing problems, but I think they will do less so when teachers and students have gone through one level and then go onto the next.

[thrifty]

[thrifty]

[dmb]