Teaching at EF Istanbul

Introduction

Over the past few months I have received several emails from prospective teachers wanting to know what my employers are like. To save me writing this stuff over and over again, I will blog it and they can see for themselves.

I have been employed with English First Istanbul for three months. So far I have
found it to be a reasonable place to work.

One thing that can cause a teacher immeasurable grief, is the nature of the Director of Studies (DOS). Fortunately, we have Steph who does her best to accommodate staff and students. A job that I would never want for myself, as you can never keep everyone happy. She does pretty well.

The students are pretty good. All mine are adults (thank Allah) and are mostly very keen to learn. There are many who are sent from their employers and their jobs could suffer if they do not learn. That is pretty good motivation. Others are less enthusiastic, but they are paying, so it is their choice.

My colleagues are a pretty good bunch. I like to think I have made some good friends here. They are usual sort of people who get up and move to a country like Turkey. Their professionalism is certainly greater than other schools I have experienced… no names mentioned.

There is also an extensive range of additional resources that can be used to supplement the texts. EF here uses Total English for beginner to pre-intermediate and New Cutting Edge for intermediate to advanced classes. The photocopier does pretty well despite having the occasional emotional crisis.

EF also likes to show a strong commitment to “professional development”. This takes the form of bi-monthly workshops, peer observations and providing mentors for inexperienced teachers. However, in my experience this has proved to be a bit half arsed – due to a shortage of teachers and the heavy workloads of the senior staff. The intention is there anyway.

The school is located above a very trendy café. This is handy for the odd cup of tea during the breaks. However, despite the 60 YTL credit every month and a 10% teacher discount, most dishes are out of the price range of this teacher.

The major downside of this position is the split shifts. This is where you will have one class in the morning and then nothing until the evening. This only happens for me about twice a week. Split shifts have tended to aggravate most teachers here and caused some to reconsider their positions with the school.

Classes

Classes, for all levels, run for two hours with a ten minute break in the middle and include up to 12 students. However, I have yet to have a class with all twelve, as attendance can be a bit hit and miss. Most people have other commitments that come before learning. Classes run in the mornings and the evenings.

One on One Classes

These I have found more enjoyable than I expected. They can be very intensive as it is only the two of you. They are also very personality based and if you get on with the student, the hour and half flies by.

As they are more expensive than classes, allot of the students I have taught are from a business background. My students have included: housewives, an assistant to the CEO of the county’s biggest bank, a journalist with the country’s most respected newspaper, an accountant, an industrialist, a world famous hairdresser and an Islamic banker.

In Company

This is where you go to a company to give lessons. I have yet to do any of these so I cannot comment.

Conversation

These are a breeze. You must sit and converse with a class for an hour. There are plenty of conversation questions available on the net or you can devise speaking games. It is quite straight forward (assuming that your students want / are able to speak) and it is a great way to gain insight into the student’s culture, customs, opinions and beliefs.

B-Learning

This stands for “blended” learning. Basically, students do modules on the internet and come in for conversation based on the module. This means that there is no preparation required (suits me) and you only have an hour and a half of conversation. However, the system breaks down when you get there and your student says “I have not done the work and could you teach me the present perfect continuous tense please?”
Then you have to think quickly.

Conclusion

EF is not a bad place to work. At the end of the day this sort of school is a business and exists to make money. At times it feels like this takes priority over education. However, I am getting paid and this is not my concern. It would be nice if there was more attention paid to the teacher development it espouses. Overall, it is a pretty good place to work, but the split shifts suck.

It could be worse.