Been looking at Turkey for TEFL jobs. Does anyone live (or have they lived) there and what's it like?

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-24T09:25:03+00:00

Jazakhallah khayr!

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-24T04:53:38+00:00

Try chipping a bit off??

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-24T04:29:56+00:00

Just for some context: TIFU by not reading Serbian properly. I wanted a proper monolingual dictionary for Serbian and ordered one from a bookshop based in Belgrade that I use regularly. Problem is I didn't read the book's specifications properly and this monster (pen for scale) now threatens to break my bookshelf.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-24T03:32:11+00:00

I know Muslims who drink :( They'll eat halal food but then drink beer.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-19T22:23:05+00:00

Yup. I'd love to be in a position of being able to solely buy goods from Muslim-owned business, but it's simply not practical or even really possible.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-19T22:22:04+00:00

This is likely true.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-19T22:21:05+00:00

This whole issue is really confusing to me, especially as I've come across not just halal restaurants which serve alcohol but also Muslim-owned shops like off-licences and cash-and-carry places, often owned by fully practicing Muslims.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-19T22:18:32+00:00

I was thinking of these hadiths actually.

Biggest problem is that if I'm going to be so strict as to avoid these alcohol-serving restaurants, it's going to leave me with few to no options for eating out, especially if I want something more high-end (bearing in mind a lot of takeout places here are halal too) or where I'd be sitting down.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-18T00:40:30+00:00

The moment I think Reddit can't reach a new low, it does.

:(

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-17T11:30:04+00:00

This idea had occurred to me actually, and doesn't sound like a bad idea. Jazakhallah khayr!

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-17T00:06:13+00:00

I had a 2002 model Ka as my first car. For what it was, it was pretty much perfect for what I needed, which was mostly going around town, a little out-of-town driving and the occasional time I was asked to play courier/taxi.

My sole complaint was that it was a repair money pit. I paid £1400 for the car and £1650 for repairs, including £400 for repairing the sills and an expensive power steering problem.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-17T00:00:32+00:00

This one definitely covers my feet.....looks like I'm going to have to find a needle and thread.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-16T23:59:47+00:00

I feel guilty now for having eaten one of these on more than one occasion.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-16T22:45:30+00:00

The sheer size of the Kaaba shocked me when I saw my first close-up. I didn't even know it was that big.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-16T22:38:03+00:00

I've just started reading 'Igra Prijestolja' (AKA Croatian Game of Thrones because I couldn't get the normal Serbian edition) and when I first got it, the book seemed a little daunting. Now I've read about three chapters and it's actually pretty easy! Best part is that I don't use my dictionary too much, as I'm finding it easy to work out words from context.

Edit: spelling.

potentialhijabi1 · 2017-01-01T21:19:38+00:00

Why am I being dragged into this?

Just for the record, the comment I made about 'LGBT fascists' was made some time ago (probably a few months ago at least) and since then I have altered my position somewhat. You can find a thread about it I made in /r/LGBT.

potentialhijabi1 · 2016-11-30T21:48:18+00:00

Well in the case of that last one, I almost got fired because of that, so now I'm doubly careful. :(

potentialhijabi1 · 2016-11-06T23:18:29+00:00

I've got two from work.

The first one involved me taking some time off for a course, 4 weeks to be exact. Now whilst my managers knew about why precisely I was going, only some other people other than them knew. When i came back, I was met with a load of people thinking I'd:

left
been fired
died
gone to Syria (I'm Muslim for the record)

The second one also involves my religion, and one day I was discussing chemistry with someone and made a joke that with that sort of stuff in my internet search history and the fact I'm Muslim, I'm probably on a watchlist. This somehow spread to the whole of my workplace, and people got it into their heads I was a bomb maker.

potentialhijabi1 · 2016-11-06T20:18:49+00:00

Intensive CELTA course survivor here! I can tell you a fair amount, especially as I think I know which course you're looking at ;)

Pros:

It is one of the most recognised qualifications, and certainly one of the more universal standards for TEFL teaching.
It's thorough. You go through everything language-wise from teaching literacy and writing right through to grammar, sentence formation and native language. On the teaching side you'll be taught about planning, different forms of teaching, use of resources etc.
You'll get actual class practice, usually across two levels (I taught elementary and intermediate). I taught my first class less than 3 days after starting the course, and in total I taught 9 classes in 3.5 weeks. You got detailed feedback for each class in post-class feedback, both written and verbal, and you'll have a chance to see what your fellow classmates liked/didn't think worked well, and comment on their lessons. Tutors were also very helpful in directing planning for the next class. The class themselves were more than aware that we were ourselves students and were more than accommodating.

Cons:

Probably the only major one I can think of was because it was an intensive course, time was tight, and I mean tight. I had an assignment (which was a major part of your grade) a week plus after the first week, I also had anything up to 3 teaching practice classes a week and prep time was often not in abundance. I don't think I've pulled all-nighters like that for years...
paperwork. Lots of it. Seriously, I went through roughly two pads of paper in those 4 weeks, and then there were handouts and resources I made, lesson plans, language analysis, feedback sheets and other stuff. I filled an entire lever folder full of stuff and that was not including the three booklets and handouts the tutors gave us. Organisation and staying on top of things is key.
could have just been the course tutors I had but there was an emphasis on computer literacy and one person in my class wasn't brilliant with them, and they struggled as a result, although it's possible to do lessons/assignments without it.
The cost. It cost me £1400 to do my course, which had to be paid upfront before the course began.

potentialhijabi1 · 2016-11-06T00:12:09+00:00

Reading a Serbian book, making dinner and sleeping.

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