Onder Dil

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Aiesec Eskisehir was in charge with providing the trainees with accommodation, and what they offered us actually suited us quite well. It was a flat about 10 minutes away from Onder Dil, the Language School where we were going to teach. Our flatmates were two Turkish guys, rather dashing :PP, who could, unfortunately, speak very little English.

Carmen and I spent the first 2 days scrubbing the place up and making it feel homey...as it was rather scruffy. Fatih, one of the students living with us took us one day to Onder Dil. This was actually Aiesec's job to introduce us to the school principal and show us around, but they never showed up. Apparently Fatih had studied at Onder Dil, so he was familiar with the school and even knew the principal.

So, there we were! Both of us, Carmen and I sitting in the Reception area and waiting to be called in and meet our boss 😊. The meeting went on well, as we exchanged pleasantries and showed our enthusiasm at being there. Mr. Koksal was very polite and was speaking slowly, like a wise man. We were also shown around the school, there was the teachers' lounge and a small kitchen, along with administration offices all on the ground floor. The following 2 floors up were classrooms, extremely clean and well-equipped with audio and video system, white boards and nice desks. The school also had a large canteen with a terrace where students could grab a snack at break time and also sometimes the Speaking Clubs were run there.

We were introduced to some of the Turkish teachers, the school was proud to have among the staff 2 British mother-tongue teachers, there was also a Bulgarian teacher of English and some Turkish teachers who had previously lived in Australia, so quite an international bunch.

We were handed the textbooks and were asked to design some lesson plans for the classes we were given to teach. We had Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate classes and our students were mostly teenagers and young students, in their early twenties.

We were oh soooo excited! We returned home that day with a huge smile on our face!! We loved the school to bits, Onder Dil was everything we wad expected and so much more!! Everybody seemed friendly, warm and hospitable. The teachers, Mr. Koksal, the students we met in the canteen!! We were definitively getting ready for a year full of happy events and exciting experiences!

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Photos

Teachers' Lounge
Samir, lovely English teacher with so many stories to tell!

Onder Dill canteen
This is the place where we could run Speaking Clubs and where we used to spend our breaks or chat with fellow teachers and students

Comments

[Leslie Ryan]

Need email address for Onder Dil!
Hello Ms Serban, Thank you for the photos and accompanying text on Onder Dil. I worked there in 1996 - 1997 and have fond memories of Mr Koksal and my old friend Ahmed who, I believe, is in the photo speaking to you in the staff room. I have recently been trying to find the email address for the school as the web page is in Turkish and I was not able to navigate my way through it. Would you be so kind as to pass it along to me? It would be wonderful to be in contact with my old friends there. I would also like to recommend a friend of mine who is interested in working in Turkey. For that, I would be very grateful if you could also include Mr Koksal's personal email. I am sure that he will not hesitate to provide it. (You can tell him that I will not accept a commission for this service!) Who knows? Perhaps one day I will return for a visit with my family. All the best, Leslie Ryan Prague, Czech Republic

[Leslie Ryan]

[e-mail]
Hi again Mona. I got a reply - probably an automated one from this page - which was in my junk mail and I deleted it by mistake. I hope it wasn't from you. If it was, could you send it again? Sorry for the trouble. Leslie Ryan Prague