(no subject)
Phew, what a couple of days. And my computer just ate about five paragraphs, so I'm annoyed.
Well, I got back from Çanakkale at around midnight on Wednesday night and got up late on Thursday. I had to plan a sample lesson plan for my interview at Yıldız Technical University today using a chapter of material from one of the books they use in their courses. That was my sole task for yesterday, and the reason I couldn't meet Oxford professor woman, AND the reason that I rushed my Çanakkale trip and came home early (well, and I was running low on funds).
Well, I couldn't find it anywhere. I looked high and low and in my ladies' chamber. In bags, books, under pillows and furniture. Tore my bedroom apart, in fact. Nowhere. So I went into this internet cafe and emailed Aylin Alkaç, telling her the situation and asking if she could possibly send me another by email attachment. I didn't have much confidence in her reading and replying to the email in one day, however, so I also dug up a phone number for her off the YTÜ website. I stayed at the internet cafe for five hours, periodically calling the number and checking my email, but to no avail. I also wrote my last LJ entry and did some other stuff (emails and Pensieve stuff) but finally I gave up and went to Seren's.
Well, I got up at seven-thirty this a.m. and left Seren peacefully slumbering... big lug... at about eight. I got to YTÜ at nine and went immediately in search of Aylin (well, after a quick stop off at the bathroom to sponge deodorant marks off my shirt. Oops). She wasn't in yet. Perhaps at nine? So I killed a boring hour at one of the plastic tables next to the shop/canteen downstairs (I didn't have my book -- it wouldn't fit in my cute black and white bag that matched my black shirt, white skirt and black espadrilles... God, I'm becoming more Turkish by the day!), then went up again. Still no Aylin, but the woman there, who spoke excellent English, seemed interested in why I was there so early, so I explained my predicament to her. She immediately got me the materials and set me up at a computer to type up my plan. It took me until about twelve-thirty to get three hours planned, plus material (a questionnaire for a warmer).
So I then ran off and grabbed a quick lunch at the woeful canteen.
Coming back, I had to print off my CV from my own email account because the woman there (her name, as it turned out, was Hande) couldn't find it and couldn't reach Aylin, who's on holiday in Antalya.
Well, despite the absence of Aylin, there were still six of them to interrogate me. They seemed to all have assigned roles. One was the official questioner -- he asked as many questions as the others put together, I think! One or two nodded happily to my answers and seemed pleased. Two women fired the most difficult questions at me. One of them frowned almost all the way through, the other was very take-charge and abrupt. And the remainder kept silent, looking detached but vaguely interested in the proceedings.
I botched at most three questions.
When asked to expand on my interest in religious studies, I think I may have become a bit too expansive, leading to the follow-up question of would I be studying religion and modernity whilst teaching! At least I could firmly respond to that, "Certainly not!"
The frowning woman was extremely bulldoggish on a question regarding how long I'd work for them and how long I planned to stay in Turkey. I was evasive, saying I really couldn't say, but certainly at least one contract, one full year. "Yes, but you see, this is very important to us, we have broken all the rules to bring you here, so we really want to know." (They are interviewing with me after all their regular hiring of foreign teachers has finished.) I was still fairly evasive, but made reference to things like, other Turkish universities sometimes offer the MA TESOL for free to their teachers, and I would really like to live in a different part of Turkey, at which their expressions seemed to lighten somewhat. I think I calmed any fears they might have that I want to hop back into academia as soon as possible. Which of course, I do, but if I signed a contract with them, I would work the year out, unless conditions were unbearable. To be honest, I don't think they "broke all the rules" as a favour to me, but because they need another foreign teacher to fill their quota, so I'm not feeling too guilty about not feeling much loyalty to them.
Which brings me to the question I think I really botched, and the one that is most making me re-think whether I even want to work there. How would I deal with unmotivated students, I was asked. Well, I think I did fairly well at first, by pointing out that students might be unmotivated for any number of reasons. If they are unmotivated because they feel they can't do it, you praise, encourage and positive feedback them into thinking otherwise. If they are unmotivated because they are bored, you try to suit your lessons to the talents, interests and personalities of the students. But then I made the fatal mistake of assuming that this "preparatory" programme was in fact preparing them for regular coursework in English, which is the case at, say, Kadir Has. I moved into talking about English for Special Purposes, finding out what lexical sets would be most useful for their particular course of study, which presumably they would be interested in.
At which take-charge woman broke in "I hate to interrupt you, but..." and went on to explain that outside of the school of Foreign Languages, all of YTÜ's courses are in Turkish, but that the students are nonetheless still required -- read: forced -- to complete courses in English and achieve a certain level of proficiency. "So that is why they are unmotivated."
I floundered very briefly before basically adjusting what I was saying to point out that they can still use English in, and to advance their careers and therefore it might still be worthwhile devoting some time to the type of English they would use in their chosen pursuits, and the smilers and nodders smiled and nodded, but I still felt a bit flat, especially after I finished by saying "Maybe I'm optimistic, but I also feel you can motivate students simply by being motivated yourself... that they will often work for you if they feel you are working for them." Frowning woman frowned even harder. I'm sure she felt I was being unduly optimistic and didn't know what I was in for. Uh-oh.
My sample lesson plan went well, I think. Predictably, take-charge woman assumed the role of the student who breaks into a teacher's explanation to a class to say, "It's hot and I'm bored. Let's go outside!" I think I squelched her fairly well by saying "We can't go outside because have a listening today, and no you can't do it at home because you haven't got the cassette, and if you're hot we can turn on the air-conditioning." I then followed it up by giving her some personal attention in the feedback to their activity, which seemed to mollify her student persona.
I think I passed fairly well their questions on the teaching of grammar, and the presentation of the way I myself would teach a grammar point. I rather think they liked my boardwork.
Anyway, they said they'll contact me next week. We'll see. Sure took it out of me, though. Pheeeeeeew.
Well, I got back from Çanakkale at around midnight on Wednesday night and got up late on Thursday. I had to plan a sample lesson plan for my interview at Yıldız Technical University today using a chapter of material from one of the books they use in their courses. That was my sole task for yesterday, and the reason I couldn't meet Oxford professor woman, AND the reason that I rushed my Çanakkale trip and came home early (well, and I was running low on funds).
Well, I couldn't find it anywhere. I looked high and low and in my ladies' chamber. In bags, books, under pillows and furniture. Tore my bedroom apart, in fact. Nowhere. So I went into this internet cafe and emailed Aylin Alkaç, telling her the situation and asking if she could possibly send me another by email attachment. I didn't have much confidence in her reading and replying to the email in one day, however, so I also dug up a phone number for her off the YTÜ website. I stayed at the internet cafe for five hours, periodically calling the number and checking my email, but to no avail. I also wrote my last LJ entry and did some other stuff (emails and Pensieve stuff) but finally I gave up and went to Seren's.
Well, I got up at seven-thirty this a.m. and left Seren peacefully slumbering... big lug... at about eight. I got to YTÜ at nine and went immediately in search of Aylin (well, after a quick stop off at the bathroom to sponge deodorant marks off my shirt. Oops). She wasn't in yet. Perhaps at nine? So I killed a boring hour at one of the plastic tables next to the shop/canteen downstairs (I didn't have my book -- it wouldn't fit in my cute black and white bag that matched my black shirt, white skirt and black espadrilles... God, I'm becoming more Turkish by the day!), then went up again. Still no Aylin, but the woman there, who spoke excellent English, seemed interested in why I was there so early, so I explained my predicament to her. She immediately got me the materials and set me up at a computer to type up my plan. It took me until about twelve-thirty to get three hours planned, plus material (a questionnaire for a warmer).
So I then ran off and grabbed a quick lunch at the woeful canteen.
Coming back, I had to print off my CV from my own email account because the woman there (her name, as it turned out, was Hande) couldn't find it and couldn't reach Aylin, who's on holiday in Antalya.
Well, despite the absence of Aylin, there were still six of them to interrogate me. They seemed to all have assigned roles. One was the official questioner -- he asked as many questions as the others put together, I think! One or two nodded happily to my answers and seemed pleased. Two women fired the most difficult questions at me. One of them frowned almost all the way through, the other was very take-charge and abrupt. And the remainder kept silent, looking detached but vaguely interested in the proceedings.
I botched at most three questions.
When asked to expand on my interest in religious studies, I think I may have become a bit too expansive, leading to the follow-up question of would I be studying religion and modernity whilst teaching! At least I could firmly respond to that, "Certainly not!"
The frowning woman was extremely bulldoggish on a question regarding how long I'd work for them and how long I planned to stay in Turkey. I was evasive, saying I really couldn't say, but certainly at least one contract, one full year. "Yes, but you see, this is very important to us, we have broken all the rules to bring you here, so we really want to know." (They are interviewing with me after all their regular hiring of foreign teachers has finished.) I was still fairly evasive, but made reference to things like, other Turkish universities sometimes offer the MA TESOL for free to their teachers, and I would really like to live in a different part of Turkey, at which their expressions seemed to lighten somewhat. I think I calmed any fears they might have that I want to hop back into academia as soon as possible. Which of course, I do, but if I signed a contract with them, I would work the year out, unless conditions were unbearable. To be honest, I don't think they "broke all the rules" as a favour to me, but because they need another foreign teacher to fill their quota, so I'm not feeling too guilty about not feeling much loyalty to them.
Which brings me to the question I think I really botched, and the one that is most making me re-think whether I even want to work there. How would I deal with unmotivated students, I was asked. Well, I think I did fairly well at first, by pointing out that students might be unmotivated for any number of reasons. If they are unmotivated because they feel they can't do it, you praise, encourage and positive feedback them into thinking otherwise. If they are unmotivated because they are bored, you try to suit your lessons to the talents, interests and personalities of the students. But then I made the fatal mistake of assuming that this "preparatory" programme was in fact preparing them for regular coursework in English, which is the case at, say, Kadir Has. I moved into talking about English for Special Purposes, finding out what lexical sets would be most useful for their particular course of study, which presumably they would be interested in.
At which take-charge woman broke in "I hate to interrupt you, but..." and went on to explain that outside of the school of Foreign Languages, all of YTÜ's courses are in Turkish, but that the students are nonetheless still required -- read: forced -- to complete courses in English and achieve a certain level of proficiency. "So that is why they are unmotivated."
I floundered very briefly before basically adjusting what I was saying to point out that they can still use English in, and to advance their careers and therefore it might still be worthwhile devoting some time to the type of English they would use in their chosen pursuits, and the smilers and nodders smiled and nodded, but I still felt a bit flat, especially after I finished by saying "Maybe I'm optimistic, but I also feel you can motivate students simply by being motivated yourself... that they will often work for you if they feel you are working for them." Frowning woman frowned even harder. I'm sure she felt I was being unduly optimistic and didn't know what I was in for. Uh-oh.
My sample lesson plan went well, I think. Predictably, take-charge woman assumed the role of the student who breaks into a teacher's explanation to a class to say, "It's hot and I'm bored. Let's go outside!" I think I squelched her fairly well by saying "We can't go outside because have a listening today, and no you can't do it at home because you haven't got the cassette, and if you're hot we can turn on the air-conditioning." I then followed it up by giving her some personal attention in the feedback to their activity, which seemed to mollify her student persona.
I think I passed fairly well their questions on the teaching of grammar, and the presentation of the way I myself would teach a grammar point. I rather think they liked my boardwork.
Anyway, they said they'll contact me next week. We'll see. Sure took it out of me, though. Pheeeeeeew.