English Time Şirinevler

Şirinevler is a crowded suburb of the greater city of İstanbul. Because Şirinevler is a ways outside of the city and is inexpensive, most of the people who come to İstanbul from the viallages of Anatolia to seek work or a life settle in Şirinevler. This means that Şirinevler is crowded and often dirty, because of its location next to one of the city's busiest highways and its role as a minor transportation hub. But it's not a complete hole. It's more of a working class neighborhood, incomparison with the planned, upscale neighborhood of Ataköy, which faces Şirinevler from across the highway. It is also near the airport, so there is always activity and people coming and going. For these reasons, Şirinevler is a bit of a misnomer - in Turkish it means "cute houses". I always got a ride out of that.

Looking west, towards the airport

İstanbul as far as the eye can see

Şirinevler square and the main mosque

English Time, the business - ahem, school, where I work has nearly ten branches all over the city, but I work at the Şirinevler branch. I wouldn't have it any other way, because even though it is crowded it is out of the way, it is inexpensive, unpretentious, and bit seedy and, therefore, genuine. Most of the students don't like the Şirinevler English Time, but it is fine by me.

It is located at the top of a high rise work center, only one long hallway of classrooms and two offices. I like this because you don't have to know your way around. Once, or twice, I had to cover at a different branch and I hated it because there were 6 floors that all looked the same so I could never find my classroom. The Şirinevler branch is simple - there are about 10-13 classrooms along the hallway, that's it. There is also a little canteen where you can buy cookies and crackers and drinks, but it is a little pricy. Sometimes it is nice to sit in there between shifts when no one is around.

One of the unique things about the education system in Turkey is the requirement of all classrooms to have a short inventory list on the wall cataloguing all the items in the room, as well as a photo of Atatürk, his "Youth Address", and the "İstiklal Marsi", something like a national anthem. This is mandated by law, and the Atatürk photo must always be set a bit higher than the "İstiklal Marsi" and the Youth Address. There must also be one in the main hallway for everyone to view.

I have a varied work schedule. During the weekdays, there are two classes a day: the morning class, which runs from 10 am - 2 pm, and the evening class, which runs from 7 - 10 pm, with a 10 minute break every hour. On the weekend, the morning class runs from 9am - 1 pm and afternoon from 3 - 7pm. English Time breaks the levels of proficiency down into 6 levels, so a weekday class, a level, takes about one month to finish, but a weekend class takes about 4 months to finish. This means that my work schedule changes about every month or so, depending on whether new classes open up. I always work on the weekend. Now, in the summer, students are hot and take holidays, so business is slow, but luckily I have work, so I am thankful for that.

The best thing about working at English Time Şirinevler are the teachers. The students are great, but the rapport and lively comraderie between the teachers makes the work tolerable, even enjoyable at times. All of the teachers get alont great, which is a bit unusual; once, when I had to work at the aforementioned different branch, I found the teachers there to be chilly and unconcerned. Not so at Şirinevler - we all get along, joke with one another, help each other, and spend time together outside of work. All of the teachers here are hardworking and care about the students' progress and do our best to make sure they understand things, and to make learning fun and interesting as well. We have one Turkish teacher who helps the students with their grammar problems, Feyza - she is very affable and charming and helps us out a lot, making the teachers' room a great environment and everything a bit easier for everyone.

Martyn, our token Brit hard at work

My Turkish friends, Feyza and Ali

Everyone at the Şirinevler English Time makes it a nice place to work - Şirinevler may be gritty, but at least the staff and students help our branch live up to being a "cute house"!