I've come to the conclusion that the 'good schools' are rare. That'll be tested at the EF I'm going to but maybe I had too high of expectations about the schools themselves. Doga expects you to immerse in the (our campus was BEAUTIFUL! Horses, petting zoo, swimming pools etc) job and they work the Turkish teachers VERY VERY hard.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that one of my little boys (just turned five) whose mother worked at the school was almost 'forgotten' at the end of the day. When I asked which bus to take him to so I could personally deliver him to the bus from here on in they said "he doesn't get on a regular bus, people just walk around the buses 'til they find someone who is going to his area." (everyone knew him and where he lived.) I swear, I could have taken him home, fed him, put him to bed and brought him back the next morning and they wouldn't have been any the wiser. I should have because he was just heartbroken that he'd been forgotten. I shed some tears that night too.

Another Edmontonian here! I went a bit further east than Kevan and ended up in Istanbul! I love the city, will be going back but working for EF. I'll tell you about the school I worked for last year but first I want to talk about Istanbul so it's clear that my experience with the CITY and the PEOPLE were wonderful, the school just sucked. Contrary to what the news is, Istanbul is a friendly city, quite easy to navigate (I didn't speak a word of Turkish!), cheap to live in and has something for everyone. While most of the people are Muslim, it's not the strict, opressive society that westerners think it is. Winter lasted four days! You can imagine that THIS Albertan laughed that the schools were closed for the snow!

Istanbul is also a great springboard city to travel elsewhere from. Along with exploring SW Turkey in January, I also popped in to visit a friend in Sofia, Bulgaria for a weekend and a few days to visit family in Glasgow.

As a single woman, I am treated with respect when I go out and I don't feel uneasy anywhere.

There are various churches for those who are inclined and Taksim is alive with clubs, bars, restaurants and shopping. The Turkish baths (hamam) are to be experienced! Ahhhh!

I love it there. The school...however...

From last Oct to this June, I worked for Doga Koleji. I wasn't impressed by them. Nobody was in charge, the co-ordinator was USELESS and pass-the-buck was the catchphrase. The administration didn't speak English!

Before I even left Edmonton I explained to this co=ordinator (I believe there's a new one now) that when I went to Ethiopia, they stuck me in a house with 6 people who smoked and grew pot in the yard and I want to be guaranteed a female, non-smoking roommate. I got a fine roommate when I got there...for a month. Then they tried to shuffle the rooming around and put me in with a man. when that didn't go over, they moved me in with a smoker. Then they moved another smoker in there. (I made the school buy me an air purifier for my room.) So I spent most of the time stuffed up, wheezing and my sinuses will never be the same. I also had a medical emergency and told this co-ordinator that I needed to go to a clinic NOW (I found a lump in my breast - it wasn't a convenient time/place to tell her the problem but I was shaken and upset when I was talking to her)...she hemmed and hawed and said "what are you doing on Wednesday?" (this was on a Monday.)

The school has NO direction. It is a VERY unsafe establishment (building materials left all over the place, they spray pesticides when the kids are outside for lunch, they have little rivers and ponds with no railings around them) and there is NO discipline as far as the kids go. Their excuse is that the parents pay a lot of money to put the kids in the school so they don't want to make them mad.

Oh yeah, and the report cards are a joke. Everyone has to at least get a 'good'. They can't have 'needs assistance' (even though it's on the report card). I had one girl who couldn't take her coat and hat off without help, couldn't change out of her gym clothes without help. I marked 'needs assistance' and the principal said that I couldn't do that. Had to put at least 'good'. (I asked her why we didn't just fill them all in at the beginning of the year then.)

Doga doesn't care if it's right or wrong, just as long as it looks good.

So, the school sucked but Istanbul is a fun city and the locals (plus, likely your Turkish teaching partners) are very helpful. (But watch out for the carpet salesmen in Sultanahmet! They'll annoy the heck out of you.)

This coming year I'll be working at EF, hopefully it'll be a lot better.

when I asked teachers about EF and if they'd be a good company to go with, they said that it's a franchise so there are some good and some bad. Be sure to read the contracts, question what you wish and weigh it out for yourself.

My friend works for EF in Istanbul and I'm going to be working with them starting Sept. She wouldn't steer me to somewhere that was miserable.