by Yasemin Tezgiden
On TED University English Language School
Notes from YEŞİM ERASLAN’s TALK
Yeşim Eraslan is the founding director of English Language School at TED University. She received her BA in English Language and Literature from Hacettepe University. For a couple of years, she worked at dershanes in Turkey. After she started teaching, she discovered her interest in teaching and she had an MA in English Language Teaching in Middle East Technical University. Meanwhile, she also started to teach at the Department of Modern Languages at the Middle East Technical University. She started as an instructor of freshman courses and later held many different positions at the department. She worked in curriculum development and testing offices. Later she became a proficiency test writer. She also became an assistant chair at the same department. After she retired from METU, she became the director of TED University English Language School.
She thinks that being an academician requires hard work, as you need to get engaged with reading, writing and researching. Being a teacher is nice, but it is also hard work. Yet, being in the classroom keeps the person young because you are always with young people. When you are in the classroom, you are excited.
Ted University is a tiny, elite, boutique university and does not plan to become a huge university. TED University is an English medium university. It has a student-centered education policy. Students enter faculties rather than their departments in their first year at the university. At the end of their first year, they decide their programs. There are scholarships for all students at the university.
English Language School’s mission is high quality language instruction. In the prep school, they have a MODULAR system which means that students have to become successful before they pass onto another level (beginner (26 hours a week), intermediate (23 hours), upperintermediate (20 hours)). Those students who start from the beginner levels pass onto intermediate level in the spring semester. If successful, they move onto upper level in the summer school. If a student is not successful and has to repeat one level, the school offers them a different program (different course books and materials).
TED University English Language School, Ms. Eraslan asserts, gives a lot of importance to students. She thinks prep school students are difficult to handle because they are between high school and university. The prep school also helps them adapt to university life. The program at the prep school encourages autonomous learning. Students keep personal portfolios. They have to do a lot of reading and write many reflections. It is very useful for their progress and students like it.
Ted University English Language School has strict rules. Nobody is late for class. Nobody can enter the class after the teacher. They do not accept doctor’s report. They try to teach their students how to manage time.
Instructors at English Language School are coaches. They have tutorials and they spend hours with students outside regular classroom hours to help them overcome their weaknesses. Ms. Eraslan says that she is proud of the instructors at their language school. She thinks they are the most important assets of a school. They work in harmony with each other at the school. For her, English language teaching requires a lot of TEAM SPIRIT. They work with a partner. Each class has a main teacher and a support teacher. Every week they come together and discuss the answers of a test. When they reach a common ground, they need to standardize. Teachers do not take exam papers home. They do all the grading at school, because they work from 9am to 5pm on a full-time basis. But they give two half days off for registered MA or PhD students unless an important meeting/seminar exists. She underlined the fact that instructors at the school work hard and they have a heavy work load. They are paid extra if they teach more than 20 hours a week. They are offered free lunch on campus. First year, instructors do not have a leave of absence. After the first year, they have a month off during the summer. There is no semester break. But when conditions are OK, the school administration makes sure instructors take some time off.
During the interviews, Yeşim Hanım says she usually asks questions on how to teach grammar. They also ask questions on professional knowledge (e.g. on testing, curriculum and error correction.) They also ask questions such as “Why will you be an asset for our institution? Why do you want to work with us?” She underscores the fact that ENTHUSIASM is very important for her in a teaching candidate. She also thinks a candidate’s spoken FLUENCY is crucial.
She suggests teacher candidates to do some research on the institutions they are applying for (mission, teaching staff, president, etc.) beforehand so as to make sure the working conditions are appropriate for their purposes. She says teacher candidates should not make PAY the number one criterion, but they should make sure whether they are going to be happy there or not.
Here are some photos from the event:
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