A Day in My Life...

It has now been just over 7 weeks that I've been working at my new school.  I mentioned before that I am the English Coordinator at a private primary school - Yükselen Kolej.

The front of A Blok

 

What does being an English Coordinator mean?  To tell you the truth, we're still trying to figure that out here as well!  Essentially, I am overseeing 16 English teachers (none of whom are native English speakers) and 2 Heads of Department.  My responsibilities include teacher training and management, curriculum creation and management, and teaching English.  All of this is rather overwhelming considering I've been an ESL Teacher for all of 1 year!  Fortunately, my previous career in management has paid off alot (thanks again Enterprise!!). And fortunately the book publisher from whom we bought our curriculum books offers me and the school extra support in the form of two other natives.  Gabrielle comes to the school a couple times a month and generally helps out with book problems.  Sometimes she'll observe a class and offer some ideas and feedback and sometimes she'll come with me to my conversation class and help out (she's Australian so it's good for the kids to hear her accent).  Then there's Kate - a British ex-pat who lives in İstanbul.  She's supposed to come every month to do training seminars for the teachers but she's yet to come...But they do help me when I fumble so I can't complain too much!

The school itself is divided into two blocks.  A Blok is the lower primary building which houses kindergarten through to fourth grade.  There is a canteen and cafeteria, music room, art room, computer room, and gymnasium.  B Blok is the newest addition.  It houses fifth through to 8th grades and has all the same facilities (albeit more modern!).   I tend to spend my days in B Blok because it's nicer and has better washrooms!

The corner where I wait for my bus!

A typical day in my life is as follows:

- wake up at 6:45am
- get ready and to catch my servis bus (it never comes at the same time each day!) at around 7:45am
- arrive at the school at 8:55am (yup, it's a loooong way to school...)
- go and grab a simit from the canteen and make myself some Nescafe (it's my new Tim Hortens)
- do some file updating
- observe teachers in their classes and offer feedback (usually I observe anywhere from 1 to 4 teachers per day) - I watch their classes and check to see if they're following the curriculum that was set out at the beginning of the year, if they are using the books and materials effectively, and how they manage their classrooms 
- help teachers with pronunciation or activity planning
- plan my own classes (I teach 2nd grade on Tuesdays and Wednesday - just 15 minutes and usually just a fun production activity, and 4th grade Newcomers on Wednesday (same idea), then I also have a conversation club for 5th-6th grade on Tuesday nights and for 7th grade on Wednesday nights, plus my ESL for Teachers for 2 1/2 hours on Wednesdays after school - all told I teach about 10 hours per week)
- because it is near to impossible to make an appointment with anyone ever, I have random meetings with the owner of the school, the two department heads, and the principal whenever they are free - generally we discuss the progress of the teachers (where they are successful and where they struggle), and how we can improve the program
- at 4:55pm everyday (except on Wednesday where I stay untıl 8pm and on Thursday when I leave at 1pm) I get on my servis bus for the 1 1/2 hour drive home

My Turkish school bus...not like what we're used to back home!

The buses dropping off the kids

 

It's not as easy as Wall Street was (now that was a cushy job!!) but it's rewarding to see my teachers develop and feel more confident with English and as teachers.  I still have the opportunity to help people learn and that's just as good for me!  Every day is different which is also great. And I have evenings and weekends to myself which is another big plus! 

Just life as usual in the grand adventure of being me!