Job Discussion Forums

MissPinky · Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 12

I speak Turkish. Is it better to let my students be aware of this or to keep quiet about it?

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Depends on your situation and your classroom management skills. It can be a benefit and a hindrance.

bigbadsuzie · Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:24 pm Post subject:

If they think you can do the lesson in their language thats what will happen .Much better to give them the impression you don't understand a word .That way you can sit back and listen to them making all kinds of comments about that you you wouldn't otherwise hear . The same logic also applies to your Turkish teaching partners ,they will openly talk about you even in front of you if they think you don't understand them .It will be an eye opening experience in more ways than one ,just to let the cat out the bag some time in the future and see the look of horror on their faces ,its priceless!

tvik · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 371 Location: here

some of the native speakers in my school got 3.5/5 on the teacher evaluation for speaking turkish in the classroom..

none of them could speak turkish

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

bigbadsuzie · Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:49 am Post subject:

Nice Sheik, very nice, I don't believe for one moment you are naive enough to think your co workers don't talk about you in front of you or behind your back .It comes with the job,I know I would talk about you not just behind your back but thats me up front and in your face .Btw Tvik I got a 3.5 for speaking Turkish on my evaluation form ,do we work in the same place bychance ?

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Is 3.5 a good thing or a bad thing? Does it reflect your level or how much Turkish you use in the classroom?

Baba Alex · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 2411

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Baba Alex · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 2411

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

BBS ... it's not solely the gossip I was referring to ... you seem to be on the receiving end of an awful lot these days ...

Also, I didn't appreciate the implication that all Turkish colleagues are back stabbers ...

And Baba, is my back so repulsive that no one will talk behind it ... is there some fungal growth upon it, that the politeness of others has kept me from discovering ...

bigbadsuzie · Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 11:11 am Post subject:

Sheik old chum ,perhaps I have unwittingly misrepresented myself.These tales I bring are not from my own personal experience ,rather they are what I have witnessed in the past against others who later turned out to be normal people like me, maybe, even you . Some become close and dear and trusted friends ,most of them are Turkish .They usually are the people who tell me what was been said about me when my knowledge of the local lingo was still in it earliest stages . Since then I have discovered that most people regardless of race or ethnic background are generally good or try to be . I know I've said this before but ıts worth repeating all the same ,the biggest disappointments are my fellow countrymen and women .
And yes they speak Turkish in the classroom .

thrifty · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1665 Location: chip van

molly farquharson · Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 839 Location: istanbul

i think the ones most likely to try to speak turkish in the classroom are the young just-learning-turkish teachers. occasionally a little turkish gets things unstuck, so if it speeds things up, why not? it was harder to do when i had five different languages going in a classroom in the states...

bigbadsuzie · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 8:19 am Post subject:

Sorry Molly ,can't go with that .Most of the guilty ones are the those who should know better they have just become lazy ,the new ones are generally idealistic and think there is no place for the mother tongue in the class room .