đď¸ Living in Istanbul and teaching English â jobs, students, pros and cons
Istanbul is by far the largest city in Turkey, both in terms of population and geography. It is the cultural capital of the country and it is definitely where you will find most of the ESL teaching opportunities.
Today we are going to be talking about the ultimate East meets West country, and that is Turkey!
Turkey offers up a beautiful, geographic country as well as a beautiful culture. I am mostly going to be talking about living and working in Istanbul.
It is not the capital of Turkey, which is Ankara, but Istanbul is by far the largest city, both in terms of population and geography. It is the cultural capital of the country and it is definitely where you will find most of the ESL teaching opportunities.
Living in Istanbul
Istanbul is such an interesting city because it is trans-continental, which means it straddles Europe and Asia. Thereâs a European side of the city and an Asian side of the city separated by the Bosporus Strait.
There are multiple harbors and enlists, surrounding this city meaning you get great waterfront views, almost everywhere in the city, which is amazing!
Because itâs close to the water, you get excellent restaurants and cafes where you can enjoy an amazing view. As I said before, Istanbul is really a mixed smash of East meets West, meaning that you can really see the gamut of Eastern traditions â drinking chai and spice markets, but itâs all fairly Western.
Istanbul is what I would call a culturally Islamic city. What does that mean? There are elements of the city that are deeply ingrained, that you will see in your everyday life that are closely related to the Islamic religion.
You will hear the five calls to prayer even if youâre not near a mosque. Which you probably will be because there are hundreds and hundreds of mosques in the city, all the way from the Hagia Sophia down to little neighborhood mosques that have their own minarets and loudspeakers.
But this doesnât mean that you need to change your lifestyle: you donât have to worry about getting things like alcohol. It is readily available. in bars, clubs, restaurants, stores.
You probably will have a problem finding pork products. Those are not commonly seen in Istanbul because of the Islamic heritage of the city. However, Iâve tried bacon â itâs not that bad. Give it a try, Iâm sure that youâll like it.
Because Istanbul is a big sprawling city with multiple urban centers, the public transportation is really amazing. Thereâs a system of buses, subways, trams, ferries, mini-buses â youâll have no problems getting around the city.
The public transportation is very well organized, youâll be able to zip around the city to see, multiple amazing historic sites.
Cost of living in Istanbul
Istanbul is a very affordable city. The local currency is the lira and itâs what youâll be paid in if youâre working in Istanbul. Itâs a very affordable city because everything from more humble residences, all the way up to a luxurious penthouse apartments rent is gonna vary massively.
You can expect to pay a pretty low rent if you decide to live with roommates, and a less fancy or a less luxurious or a less modern apartment, you could spend as little as $200 a month for your own room in a shared house.
That goes all the way up to maybe. $600- $800. If you want to live in a loft by yourself, or if you want to live in a more modern apartment.
Itâs really easy to find a place to live, but if you have exact specifications, if you want something thatâs a little bit more modern, you will pay a little bit more for that.
Living in Istanbul on a teacherâs salary is very comfortable. Youâll have all of the money that you need to pay your rent, pay your bills, go shopping, buy food, go out to eat, and even travel around the country. living on a teacherâs salary is very easy to do.
Most places will compensate you very well for teaching, and, if youâre working for a language school, meaning that youâre probably going to have to travel around the city, your travel expenses are almost always reimbursed.
Teaching jobs in Turkey
Letâs talk about what itâs like to work as an English teacher and Istanbul. Unless you have a teaching certificate from your home country or a lot of ESL experience, you will probably be working at a language school. If you do have a lot of experience, your opportunities open up, you could work at a university or at a primary, middle, or high school, directly and have your own classroom.
But if you donât have teaching certifications of any kind, your best bet is to work at a language school. If you are teaching at the language school, it means that youâll have a diverse group of students at all ages and all levels probably spread out around the city.
Most language schools will provide training for you, even if you already have prior experience teaching English. This means that youâll understand what they expect from you as a teacher, as well as how their lessons are run.
They usually have a fairly extensive library that you can choose your materials from, or they will provide the materials and explain the curriculum of each of your classes.
One of the best benefits of working for a language school is that they probably have a dedicated HR department that is going to help you transition to your life in Istanbul, which is incredibly helpful.
Even though Istanbul is a massive international city, there are lots of headquarters of multinational companies there, to do the bureaucratic administrative things youâll probably need to speak Turkish.
If you donât speak Turkish, you can understand how this might be a bit complicated. Thatâs why working at a language school is great. They will help you with the administrative work of getting your visa, finding an apartment, registering for private health insurance, getting a cell phone, all of these kinds of essential things.
Language schools are adept and equipped at helping foreigners figure all of that out.There will be someone who will go with you to appointments, working with the language school also means that you get automatic help finding your way around your new home.
Students in Istanbul
One of the best things about working in Turkey will be your students. Turkish people are me of the nicest, kindest, warmest, and friendliest people in the world.
If you are teaching adults, itâs very likely that you will become very good friends with your students. They want to learn and happy to learn. They are happy to share their culture with you.
Working with a language school and specifically having adult students, itâs a great way to network. Not only will you be a teacher and youâll have a student-teacher relationship with them, then theyâll all probably become your friends.
And, when you have a Turkish friend, it means you have many great things â restaurants, bars, clubs, museums, cafes, they arenât happy to share their city with you. Having adult students, which you probably will working at a language school is a great benefit, and will definitely improve your lifestyle in Istanbul.
Istanbul has a massive population, somewhere between 15 and 20 million people. That means that there are a lot of people who want to learn English.
There will be no shortage of opportunities for you to work, as a private tutor, which means you can take your own students and either teach them at their offices or in your home or at a cafe. You can get me pocket change on the side.
This is really common practice and most language schools while itâs not necessarily accepted, itâs understood that it will happen. Youâll have maybe multiple streams of income working in Istanbul.
Getting a visa when teaching English in Turkey
Letâs talk about everyoneâs favorite getting a visa in Istanbul. As I mentioned before, youâre going to want to have help getting your visa, from someone who speaks Turkish. The people who process visas will probably not speak another language.
Most people apply for their work visa or residence permit after they have arrived in the country. Most nationalities do you mean you need to have a tourist visa to enter the country. This is a super easy process.
You can either apply for it online before you arrive in the country or you can get it at the airport. It costs about $20. and itâs, not anything that you have to stress about.
After you enter the country on a tourist visa, it will get you in 90 days in the country, thatâs when youâll apply for your residency visa since visas and work visas take a long time to process. I think the usual processing time is about 5â6 months.
Luckily as you were waiting for your visa to be processed, you are allowed to leave the country and then come back. You will need it a document from the police station that says youâve applied for your visa and youâre waiting for it to come. And thatâs enough to have multiple entry and exits from the country.
Pros and Cons of living in Istanbul
Finally, letâs talk about the pros and cons of living and working in Istanbul as an English teacher. One of the pros is definitely the geographic and cultural heritage of Istanbul. itâs truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It has one of the seven wonders of the world that is Hagia Sophia, which is a beautiful Basilica mosque.
Istanbul has multiple different religions and itâs very long history. You can find people, palaces, museums â just anything that you want to see about Turkish culture you can find in Istanbul. Another pro of living and working in Istanbul is definitely the people. As I said before, theyâre super friendly, very warm and very welcoming.
Being friends with Turkish people, as well as the other ex-pats in the city, youâll be able to have a great community of friends and itâll be really easy to find them working as an English teacher. Your salary will be more than enough live, play, and travel on.
You wonât have any trouble assimilating and getting into the groove of it.
Summers in Istanbul can be really hot, pretty sweltering. Itâs an excellent opportunity to take the trip down to the southwest of the country, where there is stunning coastlines and beautiful beaches.
Thereâs Cappadocia, which have a little fairy chimneys and great valleys to go hiking in as well as opportunities to go hot air ballooning.
The Cons of living in Istanbul
the countryâs currency is the Lira. And as I said, youâll be able to live very comfortably on the Lira in Turkey. However, as far as savings are concerned because the Lira is not the most stable currency, you probably wonât be able to save when you convert that money back into your home currency.
That is something to keep in mind. Itâs really, a break-even country. We would say not really a country where youâll be able to take big a chunk of money home.
Another con of living in Istanbul is there can be some civil, political unrest. While this doesnât affect your safety, usually expect to find and see a lot of demonstrations, especially if you live in the heart of the city, there are usually demonstrations that happen on Fridays and Saturdays.
Itâs not going to really affect your safety, but it can be a bit jarring to see thousands of people marching in the street. Turkish people are very politically active. and especially around election times, youâll be able to see a lot of demonstrations and protests.
I think itâs a very safe city to live in, but it is good to be aware that, There are some moments of civil unrest that you should be prepared for.
That is everything about living and working in Istanbul. I hope this was helpful for you. Be sure to check out the links to the teaching jobs in Istanbul to starting your life and finding a job there.
Originally published at https://teach.fm.