Comenius Assistantship in the UK

by Sevda Yaymaz

Hello everyone!

I am a 4^th year student at METU. Actually, I was supposed to be a graduate last year but I couldn’t because I was working as a Comenius Language Assistant in the United Kingdom!! I would like to thank Mrs. Tezgiden for giving me the chance to share my Comenius experiences with you.  Be sure that everything is my own real experience  and there is no exaggeration. Enjoy it!

(I need to mention that Comenius has changed in many ways. In order you to have enough information about the new program which is called now Erasmus + I will add the link under this post. Please note that this post is written according to the prior system. Don’t worry, even in this changed system you need to know some certain things that I will share with you.)

Application form seems as if it is the first step of becoming an assistant but it is not.  First of all, you need to be determined and patient. It is a long process requiring patience. I guess everyone finds experiencing Comenius in their hearts that should be so. You are supposed to fill an intention letter to show the people you are really willing to do this. You also need to persuade them with your command of English and your culture. You should talk about your aims, future plans, and experiences in terms of both educational and voluntary works in your life and also your cultural background; they basically look out for your cultural competence. I mean, to what degree you can teach your culture in a different country and also what you can get from them in terms of culture. Language accuracy is very important in intention letter.

When the time came to learn the results, I held my breath and checked my email and SCREAM!!! I even cried when I saw the email telling me that England – Newcastle- would be my second home! Yes, definitely England was like my second home in terms of both social and occupational issues. You are having so many procedural steps to get a visa, buy plane tickets and find accommodation in there. Don’t worry you will have enough time to get these requirements. I contacted my mentor teacher from Burnopfield Primary School and we tried to find the best accommodation option for my criteria. Mentor teachers are supposed to help you for everything; they are in the charge of providing you enough help and information.

During the first two weeks, I stayed at a home which belongs to one of the school teachers. They were such lovely people that they did not let me feel homesick ever. I observed some classes from different age levels for two weeks. By the way we continued searching for permanent home stay. Finally, we got an email from parents offering me home stay till the end of my assistantship. The house was the biggest one that I could ever find in my life. They had twins, who are my best friendsJ, 3 dogs and 10-15 chicken. My landlady helped me a lot; we had lots of fun together. I cooked Turkish meals for them and they cooked British ones for me. I couldn’t imagine how much I would have fun and good time with this beautiful family. Needs to say, you will definitely find a good place to live in and people will be dying for learning something new from you. The most breathtaking thing about Comenius in my life is the idea that my first students are native British ones and there is no world that can change this.  I cannot tell you how much I learned from them and how great persons- staff- I meet in the school. We did lots of things together. One of them was preparing a Turkish Day in the school which corresponds to 23^rd April. I held a dance club that I teach damat halayı, misket ve mezdekeJ We did Marbling Art which is Ebruli, we prepared a mini role play which is in Turkish with the children who came to my Turkish club and also there was a power point presentation which was presented by the children. Everything was great! (I cannot share the photos of the event due to the privacy issues. 

Apart from these, I need to talk about the teaching philosophy of the school. Education system in primary school was so good. They use communicative things as much as possible. Feedback and technology in the classrooms are very important. They give effective feedback to the students all the time. Also they keep the students’ all records in the school and if it is necessary teachers just take all of the records out to look through the process of the learners. The school and teachers are cooperating with the parents in all of the matters related to the students and school. The school management organizes parent’s day; on that day all of the parents come to the school and have chance to see everything that the students have made. So that, they are informed about the child’s learning journey, strengths and weaknesses. The school management send Friday letter to the families to let them know what is going in the school and what will happen next week. There are much more than these; I mean we need to take it as a sample and apply it to our schools. I had my first practice teaching experience in METU College and I did not have any difficulty because they are quiet similar to British education system. In both of these foundations, they use CLT and sometimes eclectic approach. They have qualified teachers and technological opportunities. I know we may not have all these facilities in our state schools unfortunately. However, do not forget everything is in our hands. We can apply everything we have learnt at FLE to the institutions to get better generations both socially and academically. As we all say, we can change the world!

Comenius is one of the greatest opportunities to go and visit Europe, please do not hesitate to apply for being an assistant.