my name is Erinand I'm going to be your host today.Telling you about my life, living,and teaching in Istanbul, Turkey.I'm just leaving my apartment nowand on my way to my service bus.We've just arrived at the school.Our school is two in one, a kindergartenand a secondary school,so this side is firstthrough high schooland over here we're gonna enterthe kindergarten section,Aduka Kids, 'cause thisis where I teach.
I've just arrived into my classroom.My kindergartners will showup in about 20-25 minutes.We'll have free play time, breakfast,and then we'll get intoall of our different topicsfor the day.They're here until 3:30 p.m.Unfortunately we have a strictpolicy about showing photosand videos of students on social media soI won't be able to dothat but I can show youthe classroom I share with aTurkish partner named Rhanna.We are both full-timeteachers and work togetherthroughout the day.Before our chaos begins withthe little ones for the day,I wanted to tell you Iam from the United Statesand I did my Englishteaching certification onlinesince I was working fulltime before coming to Turkey.And during our lunch break I'll tell youa little more about why I picked Turkey.Yes, schools do hirednon-native English teachers,but it is a little harder.So what I recommend is doinga video application whenapplying for jobs, so they hearyour fluency and your accent.And that ask also setyou apart from others.I actually found myjob on Facebook throughIstanbul English Teaching Green List.
This is where a lot of languagecenters and schools put upjob postings and where teacherscan advertise for themselvesand put it out there thatthey're looking for a job.It's a great resource!Somebody asked me if I speak Turkish.I do not.I have not taken any classes.My Turkish is very poorfor being here for year,but it does actually help in my classroombecause the children are forcedto speak English with me.Okay guys, I'm backafter a long day of workand we're gonna walkaround the neighborhood.I went home,and I picked up my husband- Hi everyone!- And our little puppers Dublin.(speaks in foreign language)and now, we're gonna take youaround where we live in Kadiköy.Right now we are in Moda on Baharia streetwhich is a famous street forshopping, cafes, restaurantsand this is only about a fiveminute walk from our apartmentso it's very convenientto get anything done.This is part of our freshfood market here in Kadikoy.Only a 10 minute walk fromwhere we live and you can findanything from bread, sweets, cow tongue,fruit, nuts, fish; anything youcan desire you'll find here.We chose to live in Kadikoybecause of all the conveniences.It is a Turkish neighborhoodbut there are a lotof foreigners here as welland we don't need a car to getaround, we can walk everywhere.
And public transportation iswidely available in this area.Someone asked if as awoman do I feel comfortablewalking around in Istanbuland yes, I absolutely do.I walk around day and night andI've never had any problems.It's just a very crowdedcity with 15 million peoplebut other than that, no big deal.Yes we are able to save each month.On average maybe more or less, 1,000 lirabut we do like to go outand enjoy the eveningand have food and tea, shisha!So if we cutback a littlewe could save a lot more.I didn't have any full-timeteaching experienceprior to completing my TEFL.My undergrad wasn't ineducation nor was my Master'sbut I was a tutor for awhile and that definitelyprepared me for coming here and completingthe TEFL certification.
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