God is good and always provides. We managed to find a dershani (cram school) willing to hire all three of us as full time English teachers, and will begin teaching classes at the end of the month. My two cohorts have already been recruited to substitute for some classes this week, while I escaped and still have a little time to crawl about the city before getting into the daily grind.
Today we were able to go in and observe some classes, to get a feel for the course material and the lessons. Classes are taught in three hour blocks, broken into chunks of fifty minutes with tea breaks in between. It's pretty intense. Most of the students are university students hoping to improve their English, and there are also quite a few professionals. One girl I talked to today graduated from university last year and wants to be a primary school teacher. These days, there's a growing demand in primary schools for English instruction, so she's learning English to increase her chance of getting a good job.
I visited three different classes this morning, with three different teachers and levels of students. Their abilities varied, but overall the teachers were helpful and the students were enthusiastic. One of the teachers decided to utilize his visitor to spur some practical conversation practice with his students.
They asked me a few questions about myself and my hometown. I used my standard answer of, "You've never heard of Missouri, but you know Brad Pitt? He's from Missouri." Works every time. They think it's an awesome place. Then I asked them about Ankara and what's fun to do here. They all answered, "Go to Istanbul. Go to İzmir. Go to Eskişehir." Basically: Ankara is boring. If you want fun, go somewhere else.
Things took a more interesting turn when the teacher asked them to advise me on things not to do in Ankara. The students started with the standard big city advice of don't go out downtown alone at night, keep an eye on your purse, don't go to pubs alone unless you want to be majorly hit on, don't make eye contact with beggars or they'll follow you, etc.
Then a guy in the class perked up his head and said, "Don't speak to apaçi!" When I asked for clarification on who or what is apaçi, all the students scratched their heads for a moment. The guy continued: "Apaçi are strange people. They have strange hair."
The teacher stopped him. "That could mean anything. Draw it on the board." One of the girls took a marker and drew a rough version of this:
Hair sticking straight up on top, hanging down on the sides. I recognized this from the streets. We'd noticed that some guys here walk around with partial mohawks, gelling up only the top portion of their heads and letting the rest hang loose. To be honest, it looks like they just gave up on their hair halfway through styling it.
The student, whose hair was tame and completely lacking in gel or tackiness, finally thought of the word he needed. "Heidi, do you know emo?" I nodded and he smiled, glad that he'd found a way to communicate. "It's like emo, but dangerous. Don't speak with them."
Well then. I'd never thought of emo kids as a particularly dangerous breed, but apparently there's an offshoot of the movement in Turkey that is creepy enough to warrant some cautionary advice. I shall keep my eyes peeled.
The next class I visited was taught by an Englishman who has a rule that if a student speaks Turkish during class, he receives a strike. Three strikes and you have to bring cake for the class. It so happened that I arrived on a day when two students were being punished for speaking Turkish in class; one man had brought a cake and another drinks. The lesson finished early and we all got to chat and enjoy a lovely cherry-chocolate cake. I think I like this disciplinary measure.
If our goal is building relationships, this seems like a great place to start. Once I get my own students, we'll be together a lot through these intensive English courses. The school emphasizes conversation and getting students to speak, so there are lots of chances to build rapport and positive relationships in the classroom. I'm looking forward to it.
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