How I learned your language – part 4 Turkish

Turkish, from my point of view, is a pretty exotic language. Unlike any language I'd been learning before, it has amazing characteristics such as vowel harmony and a whole complex system of agglutination.

Prior to my settling down in Turkey I spend a year learning the basics from a self study book called ‘Teach Yourself Beginner’s Turkish’. And I did learn only very simple stuff – numbers, colours, days of the week and basic grammar rules. Needless to say, it wasn't enough to get by.

Looking back, I learned most of what I know during my first year in Istanbul. In my former workplace nobody except for the three other language teachers knew English and the students... let’s say they spoke Turkish most of the time. They were my first teachers.

And Turkish surrounded me and swallowed me up.

Without much effort I caught myself picking up words and phrases, occasionally asking for definitions or clarification but most of the time simply guessing. Quite often I had to handle important matters entirely on my own therefore my Turkish phrasebook consists of largely unrelated words such as ‘vergi numarası’ (tax number), ‘fesleğen’ (basil) or ‘duş perdesı’ (shower curtain). The peculiar situations I was in obviously forced me to speak the language without hesitation. I also developed my miming skills to a near perfection.

During my second year I decided to enroll on a course designed for foreigners living in Turkey. It was a disaster. We had 3 classes in a row: 1 – students took turns to talk about what they did last week (speaking – 3min, listening – 47 min), 2 – we checked homework, 3 – we learned a new grammar rule e.g. ‘can’ which was followed by hundreds of mindless gap fills.

I paid for 5 weeks and left. The classes were boring, frustrating and felt like a waste of time.

But there were some bright moments. I realized, for example, that compared to other students that were studying in that school from the very beginning, I was much better at speaking and listening. Sure my grammar was imperfect at times but I covered it up by gesticulation and always got my message across. The only serious problem I faced was writing – I still have a very vague idea about how to write anything in Turkish.

It’s my third year now and I feel like I should know a lot more. I would compare my current knowledge of Turkish to a colourful patchwork. Some patches look nice, some don't but you can still cover yourself up with it when you're cold. Maybe I would have learned a lot more if I had attended courses, maybe not.

Summing up, there are a few things that struck me when I was reflecting on writing this post.

1. There is/ must be/ should be a clear division between T(x)SL and T(x)FL in terms of curriculum development to start with.
2. Any language teacher should experience learning a given language in a native speaking environment first and foremost to understand the students better.
3. It seems like the current trend in today’s ELT is to mirror the kind of ‘natural’ learning I described in regular classrooms. Yet is it actually possible considering the dissimilar nature of both worlds?

Now here's another chance to win something. Below you can see a photo of a popular Polish brand of vodka. 
If you tell me what the connection between the brand and Turkey is, you can claim your prize!
If you are Polish, please give other people a chance to guess :)

Nostalgically about Christmas

I fell in love with Turkey the first time I visited it in summer 2006. 

A year later, I was doing my CELTA in Istanbul and got my first job there. Although I had a chance to work in Shanghai and Madrid something was dragging me to Anatolia.

Living the life of an expat is a very enriching experience. You make new friends, get to know different cultures and opinions, learn the mother tongue of the locals.

Having lived in Istanbul for over two years now I’ve done it all. Yet there is something I miss here most – Christmas.

Don’t get me wrong. Turkish people know about Christmas. You can see Xmas decorations in shops while you stroll along the malls looking for presents to the tune of ‘Jingle Bells’. You even start praising Americans for building Starbucks. The majority of Turks I know decorate Christmas trees, called here ‘the New Year’s Trees’ and give each other presents on December 31st.

Still the most important thing is generally missing – the Christmas spirit. Those of you who are Christians or were raised in a Christian country should get my point. The feeling of anxiety, the desire to be kind to people, the shopping frenzy and the overeating I disliked before are all absent. The worst thing is that it is a regular working day for a great majority of people.

I don’t blame Turks for that. In the end, Christmas is not part of their culture. It reminds of my own attitude to Halloween – a tradition absent from Polish culture. No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot start getting excited about it.

A South African colleague of mine has been living in Istanbul for over 14 years with a Turkish husband and two daughters. One of them is 13, the other - 11 years old. Believe it or not, these two girls still think Santa is real J Although all the kids in their school have been telling them that it is parents who actually buy the presents, Aybüke and Kardelen refuse to accept. Surprising?

My friend Yolanda is a wise lady. ‘Your friends don’t get presents from Santa because they don’t believe in him. Santa comes to you because you wait for him’, she always says. In a country where Christmas spirit is rare, the one you can find melts even the coldest hearts.

Merry Christmas everyone J

Schools in Poland and Turkey - comparison

Teaching abroad is an amazing experience.

No matter how hard you try though, it seems impossible to stop comparing countries you have worked in.

After Poland, Turkey is the second country I chose to teach in. Here is a list of similarities and differences between teaching in both countries.

Poland

Turkey

- Students attend primary schools (6 years), middle schools (3 years) and high schools (3-4 years) - One lesson unit is 45 minutes - Most schools are public, there are not many private ones - Public schools are generally seen as offering better education than private ones -Teachers seem to be given more freedom; they stay at school only when they have classes -There are many course books to choose from and it is the teacher’s decision which book to use regardless of the school type -Substitutions are generally paid for -Most schools are co-educational

- Students attend  primary schools (8 years) and high schools (4 years) - One lesson unit is 40 minutes - There are a lot of private schools, especially in Istanbul - Public schools are often considered as ‘worse’ e.g. there are too many students in a class (80!) - Teachers are made to stay at school the whole day e.g. from 9 to 5 even if they have three classes that day -Teachers in all public schools use the same books; in private schools, English teachers can choose the books they want  to use -Substitutions (in private schools) are not paid for -Most schools are co-educational

There are probably a lot more similarities and differences that I failed to mention J

If you are a teacher from a different country, please feel free to write a few words about how teaching in your place differs from the ones I have compared.

It will be great to hear from you J

The most enchanting spot in Turkey

I decided to live in Turkey because I love to travel, discover and explore. Perhaps the most important reason that made me choose this particular country was that it is a fascinating blend of modern and exotic. Many tribes and nations have occupied the territory of Anatolia and traces telling their history are to be found in almost every corner of the country.

To me, the most enchanting spot in Turkey is Ani.

This early medieval city, located in the north-eastern part of Turkey close to the border with Armenia, is now ruined and uninhabited.

It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey. The city is located on a triangular site, visually dramatic and naturally defensive, protected on its eastern side by the ravine of the Akhurian River and on its western side by the Bostanlar or Tzaghkotzadzor valley.

Called the "City of 1001 Churches", it stood on various trade routes and its many religious buildings, palaces, and fortifications were amongst the most technically and artistically advanced structures in the world.

At the height of its glory, Ani had a population of 100,000 - 200,000 people and was the rival of Constantinople, Baghdad and Cairo. Long ago renowned for its splendor and magnificence, Ani has been abandoned and largely forgotten for centuries.

(source www.wikipedia.org )

I visited Ani in May 2009 and since then have not found a place with more charm and character. It takes at least three hours to walk around the still preserved, grass covered streets of Ani. With hardly any people visiting it, you can easily travel back in time and imagine what the city looked like at the time of glory.

Ani must have been truly magnificent. Anyone who pays it a visit will be simply flabbergasted.

10 words a foreigner teaching English in Turkey should know

Inspired by Lindsay Clandfield’s blog www.sixthings.net I have decided to write ten key words and phrases a foreigner teaching English in Turkey should be familiar with as she/he will hear them millions of times every day:

·        YABANCI (that is you – the foreigner)

·        SUS (meaning: be quiet or simply shut up!; the most useful of all words gathered here I guess)

·        YARAMAZ (naughty – very easy to memorize as appropriate contexts are always at hand)

·        HOCAM (again you – meaning: my master, my teacher; a word used primarily by lise /high school/ students; kids at primary school will call you ÖĞRETMENIM)

·        HADI (something like come on!, variations include HADI YAAA, HADI BEEE or HADI BYE, BYE. The last one always heard when someone finishes talking on the phone)

·        GÜZEL (beautiful, nice, delicious, good – used to describe basically everything you like or enjoy; word that is heard all the time. A variation would be ÇOK GÜZEL, çok /read as the English word chalk/ meaning very or a lot)

·        ANLAMADIM (meaning: I don’t understand; why use the past tense suffix then?)

·        SINIF (classroom) that I always confuse with SINAV (exam)

·        OTUR! (said angrily usually works – sit down!)

·        oOOOo (an expression with rising and falling intonation used to express exaggeration and my personal favourite)

O zaman, hadi let's start learning Türkçe arkadaşlar :)))

Things that amaze me in Turkey

• Nobody I have talked to likes Orhan Pamuk – the only Nobel Prize winner from Turkey

• Students are given homework for the weekend, winter break, summer holidays and any short holiday that comes up

• In any type of organization there are at least 5 levels of management with general director, director, manger 1, vice manager1, vice manager 2...

• Kids in private schools have at least eight 40 min classes a day and frequently attend extra courses after school i.e. they have hardly any free time

• The number of students in public schools can be close to (or more than) 60 per class

• A lot of Turks have never been abroad and have no desire to do so (reason: their country offers them everything they need so why bother and look for something nicer elsewhere)

• It’s very easy to get a passport in Turkey, the only problem being its price (more than $100 for a year)

• A great majority of people who live in Istanbul or the western part of Turkey have never been to the eastern part of the country (reasons: it’s dangerous or there is nothing interesting there anyway)

• It is very difficult (sometimes impossible) to use a pre paid Turkish sim card in a non Turkish cell phone

• Although the redenomination took place in 2005, a lot of people still talk about prices using the ‘old money’

• You will be loved instantly if you tell Turks you support one of their teams – Beşiktaş, Galatasaray or Fenerbahçe. In other words, they are crazy about football.

• People genuinely like artists like Bülent Ersoy (I am still not sure whether he is a she or she is a he)

• The majority of Turks are Muslims but the country is secular. Anyhow, most people drink alcohol but they dread eating pork

• The patriotism, nationalism and unconditional love for Atatürk (founder of the republic) are unimaginable

• Turks use kolonya to make their hands smell of lemon all the time

• They eat bread and yoghurt with almost everything they consume and drink sweet tea with it

• Different stores selling similar items are located in close proximity e.g. stores selling lamps are to be found in Şişhane, fabrics and things for hamam are sold in the Eminönu area

• Some websites including www.youtube.com and many others are blocked (still wondering when www.facebook.com will be blocked as well)

• Turks love eating breakfasts out, especially in groups and at the weekends

• The sell things everywhere – in the streets, on the ferries, in the middle of the highway…

• A lot of Turks are fascinated with communism, maybe because they have never experienced it

• They love music and a lot of them can play a musical instrument

• A couple can legally get married if they are first cousins

• People eat a lot of fruit, vegetables and nuts, especially pistachios. They can be even an ingredient of ham.