| Teaching
English In Turkey |
| Falling
In Love With Turkey |
| By Dawnelle Salant |
| Many people
enjoy travelling, but short visits to a country are rarely enough to
get a real feel for the culture and people. Travellers often want
to spend more time in one place, but their budget prevents them from doing
this. Living and working in a country is probably the best way to get to
know a place authentically.
If you have
ever been interested in visiting Turkey, or returning to Turkey, there
is a very easy way of making a living for any English speaking tourist.
The Turkish
middle classes are very keen to learn English, and they really want
to learn it from a native speaker of the language. If you speak English
as your first language, you are almost guaranteed a job teaching English
in Turkey. |
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| The number
of students wanting to learn English far outweighs the number of English
teachers, which means that many schools will hire someone without the proper
qualifications.
Having a
teaching degree or English degree certainly helps, but it is not necessary.
The only basic requirement of some schools is that you are a native speaker
of English. I spent a year teaching at a private primary school, and although
I do have a degree in Education, not everyone did. In fact, one of the
teachers hadn’t even gone to university at all. A TEFL certificate will
certainly boost your chances of getting a job, but again, it’s not necessary.
Just about all schools provide a training period before you are actually
put in front of a class.
There are
numerous English schools in Istanbul that cater to adult students,
and these are definitely easier to find a job in than the primary schools.
This means that you will likely work evenings and weekends, but this leaves
your day free to explore this diverse city. There are language schools
in other cities, such as the capital, Ankara, but Istanbul is the cultural,
historical and social centre of the country. |
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| Don’t go
to Turkey to teach English expecting to make a lot of money. The salaries
are reasonable, and the cost of living is very low, but you aren’t likely
to leave with a huge savings account. Any extra money is usually spent
on exploring Istanbul, trips around the country, or maybe on a Turkish
carpet!
Most schools
want you to stay for one year, but few schools are willing to pay
work
permit fees, or do the required paperwork. This means that you must leave
the country every 3 months to renew your tourist visa. This is crucial,
if you try to leave the country with an expired visa; you will be charged
a hefty fine. But without a proper work permit, your contract is not valid
and you can leave at any time. It sounds naughty, but it happens all the
time.
Some of the
more reputable adult language schools in Istanbul include English Time,
Active English, Istanbul Language Center, Best English and Dilko English.
A useful website is Dave’s ESL café. |
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Offshore Resources Gallery
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| www.daveseslcafe.com
It gives job listings from all over the world, useful tips, and warnings
about schools where other teachers have had bad experiences. A lot of people
arrange a job before they go, but many people I know have just shown up
in Istanbul, and within days have been hired. So, if you love Turkey like
I do, or want to get to know and love it, if you can speak English and
have ambitions to live abroad, what are you waiting for? Get thee to Turkey!
High On
Turkey
Turkey is a
country with a rich history, geography and culture. One of the most ignored
treasures are its geographical wonders. Not only can you see things you
would never see anywhere else, but here you have the opportunity to see
them in a unique and extraordinary way.
Kapadokya
Until I moved
to Turkey one year ago, I had never heard of this part of the country. |
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| It is one
of those places that make you think – how is it that the rest of the world
doesn’t know about this? And then you are grateful that they don’t, because
if they did, it wouldn’t be the same.
Almost exactly
in the centre of this large country, Kapadokya’s history begins
almost 10 million years ago when three volcanoes erupted and spread a substantial
layer of volcanic ash over the area. The ash then hardened into a porous,
soft stone called tuff. Eventually, it was discovered that this could
be worked quite easily and carved into living quarters. Kapadokya has often
been compared to a fairyland, and it is sometimes hard to believe, even
when seeing it with your own eyes. Although few people still actually live
in the cave homes, restaurants, shops and hotels are often carved out of
the stone which provides a constant temperature of 14 degrees Celsius year
round. |
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Offshore
Resources Gallery
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| A hot air
balloon ride at sunrise provides an exceptional and fascinating view of
the entire area. Although it doesn’t come cheap, and it means getting
up at 5 a.m., there is truly no better way to see Kapadokya. The hour long
ride gives you a bird’s eye view of all of the strange rock formations.
You can see one of the volcanoes in the distance, the extent of the tuff
stretching out for miles, as well as the sunrise itself. The red sun sheds
a new light on the stone, bringing out its natural colours.
A little
scared of heights, I was nervous about the whole experience. But I
didn’t even know when we had lifted off, the ride was that smooth. The
highest we went was one kilometre, but at times we were close enough to
the ground to pick apricots off nearby trees. You could never get a sense
of how big the area is and the diversity of these rock formations from
the ground.
Ölüdeniz
Ölüdeniz,
meaning dead or calm sea in Turkish, is not much more than a beach resort.
However, it is a beach resort set amid spectacular nature and is one of
the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to. I was worried that I would
be disappointed when I arrived, after seeing postcard upon postcard of
beautiful blue water and white sand. But this is one of those rare places
that exactly resemble the advertisements.
A beach
is a beach is a beach. You swim, you relax, and you soak up the sun.
But Ölüdeniz offers much more than just these normal beach activities.
Paragliding companies are as common as restaurants here. More often than
not, I would look up from my lounge chair to see the air filled with tandem
paragliders. I had to go.
Again, I
was nervous. Who wouldn’t be? In fact, at one point I thought I might
not be able to go through with it. But after I survived the terrifying
45 minute drive up the winding mountain road, I was much keener to jump
off a cliff than get back in that jeep.
The safety
record is very good, and most pilots have made around 5000 jumps. A
6,700 foot area on the top of the mountain was our take off point. Once
we were strapped in, we waited for the wind and only had to run a few steps
before we were lifted into the air.
Once afloat,
the view dissolved any nerves that were left.
The sea was still quite far away, but even from up there the water was
breathtaking. The colours were strangely magnified as we descended toward
the beach. I could see the mountains behind me, the hotels, the water and
the beach. As we got closer I could see how the blues of the water intensified
from aquamarine to dark blue according to the depth of the sea. It was
simply beautiful. I was high on Turkey and all it had to offer; plus, I
had a new perspective of this beach, and the beauty and power of the sea.
To contact
Dawnelle Click Here |
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