14 replies to this topic

[Karolina]

Hi everybody!

I have just joined this web so I would like to give you a little personal intro.
My name is Karolina (as you have probably noticed:-) and I come from Czech. I have just finished university and got a teaching assistantship in Adana. I am moving to Adana togehter with my fiance in September.
Of course I am all excited but a little worried too. We need to find an apartment first and my fiance will also try to look for some job...
Although we are keen travellers, this is our first time moving in a foreign country. If anybody can give some tips on living in Turkey (particularly Adana), I will be grateful for any advice!
Looking forward to hearing from you all!
Cheers

[Abi]

Hi Karolina and welcome to our forum. I don't live in the area that you are moving to but we do have members who do and maybe they will be able to help.

I can imagine that you are feeling nervous about your move here but sure you will settle in quickly.

Let us know how it all goes

[Fil]

Welcome Karolina, is it a Comenius assistantship you are on? What type of place will you be teaching in? You'll have a great time, wherever you are. I don't know much about Adana, I'm afraid, but everywhere is full of friendly people and history. And you will be ideally placed for visiting some fantastic places like Antakya (Antioch), Nemrut, Urfa, and you can even pop over to Syria and Jordan. Don't worry about anything, but get busy learning some Turkish (do an EILC if you are on Comenius) and read the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.

[sunny]

to our forum Karolina. I'm sure you will have an enjoyable time here in Turkey.

[Ken]

Welcome Karolina! Check both the Adana forum and the Incirlik forum (which is near Adana) for some tips on living there and finding an apartment, I've written everything I know about the subject in those two forums.

I'm going to move this topic to the Adana forum, but I'll leave a link here also, so people can welcome you and also provide information to you from both forums!

Thanks very much for joining, I hope you will keep us informed about your move, if we are lacking something in the Adana forum, you would be just the person to fill in any information others might need about moving to Adana!

[Cukurbagli]

Hi Karolina, welcome to Turkey Central, hope you like Adana.

[kisaiya1]

Hello! I am moving to Adana in three weeks. I will be teaching there as well. I would love to hear how your experience goes!

[Sirin]

Welcome to the site Karolina, and good luck in Adana!

[KTKaya]

Hi Karolina! I am an American living in Adana and teaching at a private K-12. I hope you love Adana as much as I do! By the way, I have a friend in Adana who is also Czech and I'm sure she would love to be in contact with you. There aren't many Czech women here, so if you'd like me to put you 2 in contact, please send me a message!
I'd also love to meet up some time. I've been in Turkey 2 years and love making friends!

Best Regards,
Katie Kaya

[Karolina]

Thanks everybody for a nice and warm welcoming!
I hope everything will go OK in Adana...
If there is a funny story, be sure I´ll let you know:-)

Cheers

Welcome Karolina, is it a Comenius assistantship you are on? What type of place will you be teaching in? You'll have a great time, wherever you are. I don't know much about Adana, I'm afraid, but everywhere is full of friendly people and history. And you will be ideally placed for visiting some fantastic places like Antakya (Antioch), Nemrut, Urfa, and you can even pop over to Syria and Jordan. Don't worry about anything, but get busy learning some Turkish (do an EILC if you are on Comenius) and read the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.

Hi Fil,
yes, you´re right, I am going to Adana as a Comenius assistant! I´ll be teaching at Toki Sehit Ozan Onur Ilgen Anadolu Lisesi, which I believe is a general high school. Have you done anything similar as well?
I have already been to Turkey twice and loved it each time, so that´s actually why I am coming now. I hope it will be one of the great things to remember when I grow old:-)

[Fil]

Hello again Karolina. Well, I was an assistant in France but before they acquired the Comenius tag, 1978 it was, those were the days, Plastic Bertand, Bonny Tyler, Normandy scenery, wine and calvados. I know about Comenius now because I work at a university now and one of our new graduates spent last year in Limerick, Ireland. It is amazing how things have changed since my time. Who would have thought before 1990 that a young Turkish woman would be supporting learning in an Irish primary school, or a young Czech would be doing the same in an Adana high school.

Are you the first assistant at the school? It will be an amazing experience for them as well as you. They will be so proud of having you there, and many people will make you feel welcome, although you may find some a little reserved as they may be a little scared of you, not knowing how to behave towards you.

Have you spoken to previous assistants in Turkey? I am sure they have some good stories to tell. Do you know about the teach English website for assistants? It might be useful.

http://www.teachinge...guage-assistant

In your school some of the English teachers may feel a bit threatened by having to speak to you in English, and you may need to think about their feelings more than they think about yours. The school may have a bit of trouble understanding the concept of an assistant, and try to put you in with a whole class on your own, that is what happened in Hungary at least, where I supervised assistants from UK in the 90s.

How much do you know about the school you are going to? It seems to be in the Seyhan district, outside the city of Adana itself. You say it is a general high school, but the ‘anadolu’ bit implies a more academic curriculum, at least for some of the classes. Looking at the school’s entry points (the number of points needed for students to go there) it takes the top 10%- 15%, so it is not the top school, but not the worst either, somwhere in the middle. It may well be a school that specialises in languages, which would be a good sign because that means your placement there is for educational reasons. If it does specialise in language, then I am sure most of the students will be very pleased and excited to have you there, as dealing with foreigners is rare experience in many parts of Turkey. For some students I teach, I am the first foreigner they have ever spoken to in their lives.

If you can find the time, please let us all know how things are going.

best,

PS when do you arrive in Turkey?

Edited by Fil, 10 August 2010 - 08:19 AM.

[Karolina]

Hi Fil,

Thanks a lot for your great info-message and for the links, too!
I am coming on 10th September and I am really looking forward to my new (not only) teaching experience in Adana.
I spent one semester in Hungary as an Erasmus student and did my teaching practise there, which turned out to be quite an intensive one, so I had a great chance to teach English to students of a different native language. The guys were used to having Erasmus students teaching them and they cooperated really great. It was big fun.
Beside that I have some practise teaching lessons at private language schools in my town (something that almost every language student does to earn some extra money), so I hope I´ll be able to contribute with my experience.
In fact I count on teaching classes on my own and, to he honest, I would actually appreciate that as I like doing things my way:-))

I completely agree when you say that English teachers in my school may feel a bit shy to talk to me because I definitelly will:-)) I think it is the feeling a non-native language teacher can hardly ever avoid. You are always afraid of others noticing you mistakes etc. Considering the number of native English teachers in Adana, I already feel a little silly :-)

I case everything works fine and after I get settled down properly I would like to enter a PhD programme in Turkey. Do you think it is difficult for a foreigner to get enrolled? I guess you need to pay for that even at public universities...isn´t it so? Do you know anybody who has done that?


I will let you know how things are going.

Hope to hear from you soon.
Take care.

K.

[Fil]

Sounds llike you are good and ready, Karolina. Where were you in Hungary? We lived in Szeged, down in the south.

Enrolling for a PhD with a Turkish university may be difficult. Won't the duration of a PhD programme be longer than your stay in Turkey? Have you considered a distance programme with a UK university such as Lancaster (that's what I did)? It is not cheap but the quality of the courses are extremely high and are an excellent qualification for university work anytwhere in the world.

Bye for now,

[Karolina]

I stayed in Eger, a little spa town, 2hours north-east from Budapest. It is a nice place with some great monuments though it turns out to be a little too quiet and sleepy when you stay longer then 3 days:-)

You are right, PhD may take looong. If Turkey works fine for me, I would like to stay a couple of years maybe, but it is just an idea. I am actually not so sure I could handle a Phd. You really need a strong motivation for that:-) However Lancaster sounds interesting, I´ll check that out.
Thanks for supplying with interesting tips everytime!

[PhillipB]

A few pics from a TDY to Adana in 2008.

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