Teaching English in Turkey

(Justin) Two weeks ago I finished my first semester teaching 2nd-4th graders here. I had a tearful goodbye with my colleagues, since our family made the decision to return to the U.S. to help Elias's progress with his special needs. Everyone commented that it felt like I'd worked there for years rather than just one semester-- it was such a good fit for everyone. Here are some fond memories. This was my view after arriving every morning (most days more sunny than this one):

You can just make out Anıtkabir in the center of this one.

On a bulletin board in the high school wing I was met with a daily reminder of where I'd come from:

Below are a couple of items I got from students during my time that I appreciated. The first is a set of Atatürk Turkish coffee cups that one of my students gave to me on Teacher's Day.

The second is a picture one of my 2nd graders drew for me for Christmas with a note from her in Turkish that she loves me and will never forget me.

Having read this book and talked to countless other veteran teachers here, I can say the complaints of Western teachers in Turkish classrooms are universal. It is tough. The schools are loud, discipline is weaker than at a typical American school. At my school, the acoustics of the rooms and corridors were akin to a racquetball court. During the 10-minute recess after each period, the shrill screams literally hurt your ears. This can shake you deep down to your nerves (signs written in Turkish on the walls pointing out the scientific hazards of "noise pollution" only make it worse). So, you strive for peace and quiet in your own classroom-- meaning you have to keep the kids busy at all times. 40 minutes have to come loaded with 10-minute activities, and any exciting games you have to play need to have strict rules/boundaries to keep kids quiet.

Kids are emotional. They are just as passionate about their football teams as their parents are. There is no age limit for crying to be unacceptable. Insults quickly lead to violence.

And the kids LOVE and want to be LOVED. The best teachers are mugged in the hallways by their students/former students who want to hug them. (Touching is very normal here, it often makes Westerners uncomfortable.) They are lavished with gifts on Teacher's Day. I never achieved that status. In part because I'm not the most teddy-bear kind of guy, it was my first time teaching little ones, and I also had the misfortune of preparing young students for their first Cambridge exams (and their first English speaking/listening exams in any case), which added a bit of seriousness and stress to what had previously been mostly speaking-English-for-fun class.

My advice to anyone wanting to teach in Turkey: Learn Turkish first. This will make you a better co-worker and allow you to understand problems in your classroom. You need to make friends outside of your department and it will be hard for you if few of your colleagues speak English well. You obviously don't want to use it in your classroom, but if I hadn't spoken Turkish, I wouldn't have been able to get help with issues from the homeroom teacher, principal, etc.

But here are a couple of native English speaking colleagues who made my time there go faster as well. I'm glad to have met Jim, a retired Royal Air Force man from Scotland, and Robin, a South African surfer. They helped me have fun. 

 

Here's to the toughest job I've had with the greatest colleagues and boss (Ayşen Hoca) in the world.