I passed :(

And so we sat our Turkish exams today. 

In all there were 5 exams: read a short story and answer the questions, dictation, composition, a 30 question grammar test, and listening to a short story and answer the questions.

Apparently the speaking tests don't start until level 3 which is a shame I think as that's what I need most practice in and is my number one priority.

Unfortunately the exam process made a mockery of the concept of education but is consistent with other schools in Turkey - both public and private.

For my students getting an education doesn't result in them getting an education. Instead they learn to give standard prescribed answers and thus don't actually learn anything. Ultimately I don't think it's their fault as no-one is asking them to think.

To site a few examples from today:

1. The reader of the dictation and short story emphasised the parts which held the answers to the questions. In addition she repeated them a number of times and paused until we had written down the answer. Some words were even translated into English for us when people asked.

2. She left the room on 2 or 3 occasions which enabled a wholesale discussion of the answers, checking of word meanings, and time to look back into our exercise books and other resources. In fact, one student openly had his class workbook on his desk and was looking things up.

3. The marking was excessively generous.

The final result was that everyone passed (50% requirement). Personally I think they would have passed without the shenanigans. The lowest mark was 68% and the highest 96%. Approximately 90% of the marks were in the 88-96% range.

Whilst everyone was of course happy to have passed I was a little disappointed to finish the course without any clear indication of how well I knew the material. 

In the end it was like the English language school I worked at here - the students, in essence, bought a certificate of completion.

That being said there were some positives. I did learn a lot - from the teacher, students, and from the huge amount of studying that I did. 

Our teacher actually wanted us to learn which was a bonus. Although he didn't speak English, which meant a few questions went unanswered, he was as helpful as he could be. Also he was the co-author of our texts so had an abundance of experience and knowledge to pull from.

I decided to take on level 2 in the end. Mainly to keep myself occupied amongst other things. I'm not so good at filling in spare time so it's good to be busy. As I've said in early posts I don't have any free days which over the colder months is a good thing.

I do however need to switch the balance between work and play (learning Turkish being on the play side) so that I am getting more money in as currently my earnings cover only about 30% of my outgoings.

So with this in mind I'm changing from 5 days study to 3 days study giving more time for work. This is also good on the learning front as the 5 days per week was as the course title suggested - intensive.

Next week our class will split into two groups. About half are continuing with the fast passed class with the rest switching to the normal class.

I might need to learn some Russian as the split means I get to be with the Ukrainian, Russian and Bela-Russian girls >.<

The party is over

This Friday is exam day. It's been great spending the last 4 weeks learning something and it's been great spending time with the people in the class. To find out more about them look here.


Unfortunately this means it's time for another series of farewells, adding to Facebook and moving on.


Most are heading to level 2 Turkish. At this stage I'm undecided. Either way I won't be doing the intense 5 days per week version. It's been a lot of information to assimilate in a short period of time without much chance to practice in the real world. So if I do head to level 2 I'll do the 3-days per week normal version.


Initially the classes were quite easy but once you get a series of suffixes under your belt (the whole language is based on suffixes to change tense, add pronouns and possessives) it becomes rather hard to figure out which one or combination of them are the right ones. Still it's absolutely necessary to learn and it's been enjoyable on the whole.



On another matter - I have to say I often find myself revelling in the fact that I have free time in the middle of the day rather than working 9-5. It's nice to get the chance to be outside and get some fresh air. I really notice if I've been inside for too many days in a row.


I used to have some relatives in England that spent as much time as they could outside. It was very rare to see a photo of them inside. I think this is the way to go.

My schedule atm

Mon to Fri: Turkish lessons 9-1


Sat: classes to 7.30
Sun: classes to 3.30


Tues/Thurs: classes 3.30 to 9.30

From Sun to Snow

There's lots to update you on since I left the glorious sunshine in New Zealand. So much so that I'll segment it for you to make it easier to read.


Arrival
My arrival couldn't have been much worse. I arrived exhausted after the 30+ hours of travel via 3 planes and 3 airports. 


Prior to this trip I wouldn't say anything bad about an airline - they are all pretty palatable with a few being a notch or two above the masses. However this is my first time with an airline that I simply refuse to fly with again. Recommendation: do not fly with Etihad. Their service was very very poor on many different levels.


So, I hit the bus to Istanbul and went direct to my partner's house. She was at work and her sister greeted me in an unusually reserved manner which put me on edge. She then told me I couldn't stay there which in all honesty I learnt just 2 hours prior to catching my flight from Wellington. So of course I hadn't had a chance to find somewhere else other than to fly off a few emails each time I hit an airport on the way.


Upon hearing this confirmed and feeling there wasn't any window of opportunity to stay I hit the internet to try to find a place which was just ridiculous. I quickly got befuddled and gave up. I then asked for some privacy and hit the bed to sleep.


Next thing I know said partner was home and greeted me or rather didn't. Not a hello. Not a kiss. Not anything. You get the picture.


Lucky for me that a fellow teacher at my old job said I could crash in her lounge which was a life-saver. Not only for a place to stay but even nicer for me to have someone at least be positive about me being in Turkey.

Needless to say it's all over. Whilst that was really difficult to deal with as you'd expect it is definitely the best result in the long run. We had some really great times together.

It was fab staying with Danielle as it meant I was right amongst the action of the young party-goers and lived right in the centre of town. So I had plenty of company and things to do even though I only had 1 set of clothes and began to smell a fair bit.


During this time I was busy firing off emails in an attempt to find a place of my own. In this regard I was very lucky.


Home
Actually I've been very optimistic and positive about things recently. I can't remember the catalyst but I was looking at some good websites and videos with good tips about life. Easy to look up when you're at the bottom of the pit too.


So I made this folder in my email called a GREAT home and within a few days I found a room at a very good price. There's a few technical failings with the water in various places but I have a roof over my head and all my things in one place which is very very nice.


There are 4 bedrooms and no living room. It's common as I said in an earlier email to convert the living room into a bedroom to save money over here. So the four boys are from: Turkey, the Ukraine, Lebanon and New Zealand (moi). Everyone does their own thing which is great.


After the first week or two here which really dragged out my Turkish course started.


Turkish
I'm now almost finishing the second week out of four and doing well.


Whilst in NZ I studied almost every morning which really helped with learning in the classes. I'm amongst a group that have a good grasp of the basics. However overall the class is taking it in much faster than I did which is good as we are progressing well as a group with not too many dragging things out.


Nationalities: Lena Ukraine, Sveta Russia, Estephan Iran, Mehran Syriah, Magda Poland, Natalia Bela-Russia, Tom Australia, David Texas, Helin Germany. Kind of nice we don't have any double-ups so everyone is unique in their own right.


The language mix is amazing with Sveta being the only one who cannot speak English and Magda speaking the most languages. Russian naturally is the 2nd most common language with both her and Mehran understanding it on top the "Russian" crowd.


Being a teacher now puts a completely different slant on being a student. Whilst I've always had an interest and noted presenters styles I can now be more precise in those observations. Zekia (50ish male) is pretty good. He seems to want to teach which is a great thing to be from our perspective as students. His only downfall thus far is that he doesn't have sufficient English nor teaching ability to elaborate on points we don't understand.


It's a common complaint I've heard from the Turks about other teachers. And from my perspective one of the harder things to do - get a complex point across when all you can do is act or draw the message i.e. not talk it through.


I'm still studying over-and-above the material from the class as I really want to get on top of it. Turkish is a very structured language which suits my left brain dominant thinking. 


I'll give you a quick example:


I am walking in the garden


Bahçe-de yürü-yor-um
There are no dashes in the language. I've put these in to show you the makeup of the words.


Breakdown:
Bahçe = garden; de = in; yürü = walk; yor = present continuous tense; um = I


As you can see instead of English: subject + verb + (object / compliment), Turkish is: subject + (object) + verb


It's structure paves the way to some really long words that are actually sentences - see here for an example. There are other languages too if you're interested.


Both during my time with Danielle (bless) and after I was madly emailing and visiting many schools across Istanbul. 


Work
I'd hate to guess the number of schools here but I'm sure it's in excess of 50. There's a mix of public, private and other. Other being smaller businesses that act as middle-men between students and teachers.


My first school, which I won't defame and got fired from, had some pretty bad practices. I'm not exaggerating when I say the teachers were treated worse than dogs. And amongst there dishonest practices was offering students free iPads on joining which they never delivered and showing on marketing material offices in the UK and US that simply don't exist!


So whist I wasn't getting desperate after sending my CV to about 15 places I was getting a little nervous. Bleeding money isn't fun.


Nevertheless I had created another folder in my mail. Yes. One called a GREAT job.


I had a good interview with an American director which included some complex grammar questions which amazingly and proudly I managed to pass. He even went so far as to say I had given him the best rendition on the usage rules for past simple versus present perfect that he had ever heard. Considering I learnt my language over the course of the teacher training and just before the lessons I'm well chuffed about that.


So I'm now on his list if some students turn up that need teaching - it's a middle-man scenario.


After the lull I heard from many schools all at once and as of today have had to turn down 2 offers of single students, one larger school for classroom teaching and 2 interview requests.


On top of the 20 hours per week learning Turkish I now have 12 (maybe more) hours of teaching. It doesn't sound like much on paper but it's a full schedule with no free days. And that's only teaching hours and class hours for Turkish. It doesn't include prep-time nor study/homework time which I'd estimate at 15-20 per week. With additional classes agreed to but not yet confirmed it's gonna be all hands to the pump.


Considering the weather that's not necessarily a bad thing.


Weather
It's snowing. It's raining. It's very windy. It's cold. In between all that there are some lovely days but not many.


Living in Sheffield and Edinburgh didn't prepare me one bit for the weather conditions here.


Being near the sea means there's some ferocious sea breezes that pass our way. Today it was snowing horizontally which for a Wellingtonian was a very familiar experience albeit in Welly it's rain.


I can handle the snow. Actually it's lovely. It's the half snow and rain that's a pain. Furthermore the black ice on the roads and footpaths is the true killer.


On top of that the door to our apartment block is, get this, in the middle of a 45° slope so that no matter if you exit left or right you are guaranteed to have a fun time negotiating the way out. Luckily it's closer to the bottom where two cars are often parked so a combination of holding onto mirrors and door handles gets  you as far as the barred windows which you can hold onto until about 3 metres before the main entrance. As for the rest you're on your own!


Needless to say it can be highly entertaining just walking about. Speaking of entertainment...


Play
Last, but of course not the least in terms of importance, is play time. It's going to be more and more important now with the big and expanding programme.


Mainly I do the usual internet time wasting with a mix of lunch with the ladies.


True to form most of my friends are women which makes for some (mostly) stimulating lunch conversations which tend to revolve around people and people issues. I feel I'm in a transition phase with some friends being harder to meet whilst new ones are popping into the circle. 


The main players are currently: Veronica Kiwi, Danielle English, Nicole US and Hazel Scotland. Into that mix is also Sabriye Turkish but she's harder to track down. Even more so are Arzu Turkish and Basma Egyptian who I am yet to have a lunch chat with.


It sounds like a lot of people but in practice I might see 1 a week on average if I'm lucky.


Oh I haven't mentioned anywhere but as usual the people I spend my time with are much younger than myself. The average age would be somewhere around 27-28.


The bummer of being a teacher means that you are working when everyone else isn't and vice-versa so making time to meet "normal" people can be tricky at best.


So there you have it. Plenty more I could talk about and I've been wanting to hit the blog for a long time so I'm very happy to have done so now and communicated with you.


Fare thee well...


PS One quick addition. It's really fascinating to watch how girlfriends of flatmates react when "discovered" in flats. I say discovered because thus far without exception they sneak about the house and even when they see you they quickly sneak back into their boyfriends room. It's really bizarre. I can't see a Kiwi chick doing the same. I'd fully expect a Kiwi to simply say "Hello"...

Türkçe!! Allah Allah!

I love learning Turkish!!