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Teaching English in Turkey
Capital city: Ankara
Language: Turkish
Currency: Turkish Lira
Typical TEFL teacher salary: US$ 1,000/month
Major TEFL locations: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir
The Country
There are great opportunities for teaching English in Turkey, particularly in the larger cities. Salaries are reasonable and teachers are able to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. Opportunities mainly exist within the private educational sector. Most teachers seem to find teaching and living in Turkey a pleasurable experience. A university degree is necessary for teaching English in Turkey and with our lifetime assistance finding jobs, we’ll help you identify possible employers and help guide you through the interviewing process.
The cost of living here is very low and the minimum legal wage is about US$ 450 per month but teachers of English will generally make double that amount. The Turkish middle classes are very eager to learn English, especially from a native speaker of the language. The number of students wanting to learn English far outweighs the number of English teachers available to meet local demand.
There is an abundance of English schools in Istanbul that cater to adult students, and these are definitely easier to find a job teaching English in than the primary schools. This means that you will likely work evenings and weekends, which leaves your day free to explore. There are language schools in other cities, such as the capital, Ankara, and Izmir.
The majority of schools request you to stay for a year minimum. If you have an MA in TESOL, linguistics or education, and some teaching experience, you should be able to land a relatively well-paying teaching job at a public university in Turkey. These are regarded as the best employment prospects within the Turkish education system and therefore competition is high. If you have a degree and no formal TEFL training, it is strongly advised to enroll on a TEFL/TESOL certification course such as those offered by ITTT and TEFL International.
