Embarking on a journey through the dynamic landscape of English Language Teaching often leads individuals to transformative experiences and profound insights. Çiğdem Kömürkara’s narrative embodies this journey, transitioning from a student at İnönü University to a seasoned educator with a wealth of knowledge and passion for language pedagogy. Join us as we uncover the depths of Çiğdem Kömürkara’s experiences, discovering the essence of her commitment to shaping the minds of future generations through language education.
1)What inspired you to pursue this career?
I’ve always been interested in learning languages ever since I knew myself. I met the English language through songs, e-books, and some comics that I liked when I was a child. I always felt the need to comprehend these and the content of most was in English. So, I decided to teach this language to myself before school and it was one of the best decisions I’d ever made. In the course of time, learning English has been one of my hobbies and led me to pursue this career.
2)What was your exam result like?
My exam result was kind of lower than I expected. I took three different exams and all were more difficult than I thought. The first exam called GK – GY was the hardest one. I couldn’t have success in it. The second exam was called Science of Education and it was the one that I was the most successful. I literally hit the books for this exam because it was an exam with very broad content in itself. The last exam was about our department which is English Language Teaching. I had success in this one but not as much as I expected. Some questions and most of the reading passages were too long to fully comprehend. But thank God, I got the point which was 77 and that was enough for me to be appointed.
3)Are you content with the place you work in? Is it rural or urban?
I am completely content with the place I work in. The high school where I work is rural and the transportation conditions are a bit rough but all these hardships are quite bearable and can be overcome with a bit of effort. Being in school as a teacher feels great and teaching English to teenagers is the most fascinating experience to me.
4)Can you describe your working environment? Have you experienced a culture clash?
My working environment is not very different from what I used to have. I mean, it’s rather similar to where I used to receive education when I was a student. That’s why I’ve never experienced any culture clash so far. I was born, raised, and studied in Malatya and I presently work in Malatya. I don’t know whether this is a chance or not but I feel lucky thanks to my working environment and colleagues.
5)How does it feel being responsible for the class for the first time alone?
I’m responsible for the 9th grade and this class is the most challenging one in the school. They are still so young and have some difficulties getting used to the environment. They are not good at communicating with students from other grades. This sometimes makes it really hard for me to deal with problems or disagreements. I somehow manage all these and try to keep the order but I still receive a lot of support and help from my advisor. It’s harder than it looks to manage a class for an inexperienced teacher.
6)What aspects of working for MEB are challenging or unexpected for you?
I actually don’t have problems with the aspects of MEB and I don’t think that they are restrictive. I teach at a high school and I think the curriculum for high schools is enough and related to daily life which is a significant factor in providing permanent learning. The curriculum for 9,10 and 12th grade is quite well but 11th grade is a bit challenging for the students. The curriculum of this grade comprises an intensive knowledge of grammar and this is most of the time boring or difficult for the students. I try to teach all these through different techniques or methods, I always associate the topics with daily life or current events. This helps a lot but unfortunately, grammar is still an issue for our students.
7)What language learning strategies are you using to manage classroom behavior and maintain a positive learning environment?
As a language teacher, I always try to teach in a certain order. To me, basic grammar knowledge should be taught to students first. Even if it is abstract and difficult, students should know the grammar structure and the syntax. When I teach a grammar structure, I mostly use the discovery learning strategy. I write down a few sentences that are formed with the target grammar on the board and I color the parts that have auxiliary verbs and main verbs. Then I ask students to discover the structure by themselves. After they find it, I talk about the grammar in detail and ask them to take notes in the way they understand. This strategy takes time but really works. When we’re finished with the grammar part, I always ask my students to talk about what they have learned and create their own sentences. We never skip this part because we speak to each other, we tell stories or talk about current events and this helps us to use the structures. I also add some other social and cognitive strategies such as summarizing, analyzing, guessing from the context, or collaborating with others.
8)How do you plan and organize your lessons to ensure they are engaging and effective?
I weekly plan my lessons. It wastes much of the lesson time to be unprepared and not know what to talk about. I also make an effort to be up-to-date and apply the agenda to the lessons. Because real-life and authentic materials are engaging and make the learning permanent. It also makes the learning process fun. When I talk about current events and give my examples based on them, I can easily catch the attention of students. I can teach my lessons effectively and longer.
9)What are the challenges you have encountered while assessing students?
Assessing students has been one of the major issues for me. It’s not a problem to assess the reading or writing papers since most of the questions have a certain answer. Open-ended questions are also included in these papers but I can still grade the answers fairly. However, I have some hardships in assessing the speaking exams. My students are not good at speaking and they are quite shy while speaking. They get so much nervous and often forget what to say. I mean, I barely get an answer I can grade. These answers are often a few words or some piecemeal memorized sentences.
10)How do you incorporate technology into your teaching?
I use technology every day while teaching. A smart board is a must in my lessons. I use the PDF format of textbooks in every lesson because I want everyone in the class to focus on the topic. I know that students can also follow the same part in their personal textbooks but some students may forget their books or some don’t have the book at all. To get ahead of all these problems I use the smart board. They are also quite useful to show the images of the new words. I believe that showing the image of a new word in English is more effective than just writing down its Turkish equivalent.
11)What resources or materials are most helpful in teaching English, such as books, online platforms, or educational games?
Teaching English shouldn’t be considered as the other lessons. Books are necessary to give the fundamentals of the language or the grammar structures. But we also need to make the students put theoretical knowledge into practice. At this point, some speaking applications such as HelloTalk or OpenEnglish could be helpful. Finding some friends or tutors whose mother tongue is English will help the learners more than they think. Because these friends and tutors speak the correct English most of the time the learners will be exposed to this which will help them to improve themselves. Learning vocabulary is another point that they need to care about. There is an educational game called Kahoot. It’s a fun way to learn new vocabulary or more. I also recommend them to listen to the podcasts. There is a very large scale of podcasts on YouTube and they are free. I’m sure the students can find podcasts with content they are interested in.
12)What is the most essential thing ELT students need to know before experiencing as a teacher?
They should know that teaching a foreign language is not easy. They should put in a lot of effort and most importantly be patient. It takes a very long time to build a good foreign language knowledge and make the students put it into practice. As a teacher, we’re always supposed to be open to new ideas. We should use various techniques and methods to be able to teach every aspect of the language. It is also essential to be aware of the changing world and integrate it into the lessons.
And always remember that English is a language, not a lesson. Be patient, encourage the learners to use what they learn, and think that English is more than just a lesson. It’s life itself, just like your mother tongue.