Kucukyali Kindergarten Istanbul



Kucukyali Kindergaten- Istanbul



Kucukyali Kindergarten is situated on the main road that runs along the Marmara Sea, overlooking the six islands off the Istanbul coast.
There are 11 students at the moment but three more will start next week. They range in ages from 2years to 5 years. They are hoping to get up to 20 by May, now that the "long awaited" English teacher has finally arrived. NO PRESSURE, NOT MUCH. I have quickly found out that teaching English is not like teaching Reading and Writing to Kindergarten.
The staff consists of Principal- Naz - speaks english well and gorgeous
Deputy- Figen- about 60, speks quite good English and lovely
Two teachers- Sevgi and Meryem- speak VERY limited English but are lovely and very supportive
TEachers Aide- Yeter and her husband, Ahmet who is the gardener, janitor and general handyman- They live on the premises.
Kitchen lady- Turkan- lovely
All we seem to do is eat and drink cay (tea) and occassionally teach!!!
Routine- I get picked up by the school driver at 8.30, arrive at 8.50- the Istanbul traffic is very congested so it moves slowly.
Children begin arriving at 9.00- breakfast is at 9.30-10.00 Bread, jam or honey, cheese, olives, milk.
(I have breakfast before I get to school, but I do have tea there!)
English Gym (me) for 15 minutes- action songs at this stage (thanks Ann-Margaret for the CD has come in very handy!)
10.00-11.15: 2-4 year olds- English
11.30- 12.15: 5 year olds (3 students)- English
12.30 lunch- 3 course meal- soup, main course, fruit or dessert and OF COURSE MORE TEA!!!! All ISTEK schools are provided with lunch by a catering company. All the children sit at little tables and eat everything!!! even the 2 year olds. Amazing.
The youngest one is a little boy whose name is Gorkem- his is so cute, I could smuggle him home.

Teacher Meryem with some of the two and 1/2 and 3 year olds in the upstairs indoor play area. 



Before the nap time



During the nap time!! Cute!



1.00-2.00: little ones have a nap and I have the older ones for English

2.00-3.00: break

3.00-3.15- Snack time, nad YES you guessed more CAY (tea)

3.30-4.15- English Activities all together (some younger ones have gone home by this time so there are about 7 children)

4.30 Home time-

I am learning to catch the minibus (dolmus- means stuffed) home. They are called this because its exactly what they are at peak times. You get on and off anywhere you like along the route you're taking. You pay the driver when you get on , he continues to drive, take your money and give you change all at the same time as negotiating the traffic, beeping his horn, braking and accelerating with ferocity. Talk about multitasking- the dolmus drivers are experts!

I can now pronounce where I need to get off, so that's handy. I then walk for 5 minutes to my "lodgements"!

So, that's my day in a nutshell.
Today, though, I visited our main feeder school, to meet the other English teachers and to get a bit of an idae how they do things. They were very helpful and managed to bring back some resources. I also sat in on a couple of classes. They are preparing a little play in English, shades of KWS K-2 shows, only more riotous!
Children are sweet and I now know all their names. See how you go pronouncing them!! And see if you can guess if they're girl or boy!
Gorkem, Demir, Mira, Renk, Deniz, Eda, Arman, Kayra, Ela, Elif, Katya.