Interview with an English teacher from Syria, now working at a Syrian/Turkish community center in Hatay.
What are you doing today?
Today I’m working on the children’s course. I’m separating the curriculum because it’s for all age groups and I think it’s too difficult. Maybe I’m going to change the test… For children learning English you should start from the beginning with ABC’s, numbers, colors, shapes, weather, animals, fruit and vegetables… maybe some words related to clothes… But with the older age group, they know all that information, so you should start with some grammar, tenses, personal pronouns, making questions, something like this…
Do your students have previous experience with English? It seems like a lot of people know…
Yes because English is like a subject at school in Syria, a formal second language.
What about other languages like French?
Yes, they start to take French in the seventh grade. They start taking English in the first grade, but French is like a second language... it’s starting in the secondary school. For Turkish we have a university Turkish Department. It’s like English… literature, Turkish literature… something like this…
How was the educational system in Syria?
The education was free in Syria… and for college. We just paid one thousand Syrian pounds [~18USD] for taking the exam, so it’s cheap in Syria, it’s nothing… We buy our books and things but you didn’t have to pay to get into school. We have private universities but the governmental universities are free.
How did you start to teach and what kind of courses?
I started to teach during high school. I was giving private lessons for English and other subjects, for children. Then I started to take hours by teaching English at governmental schools. They have a system that you can take if you are not a teacher, or you didn’t enter the university, or if you are a university student… So you can teach if you take hours and we get paid for that. They will give you a small test and then you can teach.
What do you see happening with Syrian kids here, refugees? Kids aren’t going to school for different reasons…
I don’t know the whole Hatay but we have two primary schools in Kirikhan and they’ve started something for ninth grade, and for high school certification. In Syria there are two certifications, secondary certification and a high school certification…this is something basic in the educational system. But we don’t have school here because we need financial support. Those primary schools I told you about are demanding money. Not all of the families have that amount of money to pay for the children. Like, if you have five children you can’t pay for school. And the places are not like… they can’t accept all the numbers of people… I used to teach in a Turkish school but we started a Syrian school after the Turkish students finished school… after they finish the day, we started over and made our school.
In the evening?
Yes, sometimes…
Is that happening in a lot of places, do you think?
I don’t know but it happens here with two schools… but they stopped because… I don’t know why… they have a problem because it’s so crowded.
So there’s a big demand for schools in general?
Yes because we have a whole generation starting to forget about everything that they learned before. You know, and our children were learning languages and everything, and they are open to education. So that’s why we need education… The obstacle is money… money I think… and place… The government is supporting it… when we started the community center they came from the Ministry of Education and they saw the place and supported us. They came and visited, and they are supporting those schools. But I think the problem is money and they need some resources that are in keeping all the time, because you know, children need everything like school books, papers, everything… And you have to pay for teachers because they need to support their families.
Do you think the problem would be solved if there are more schools and the education was free?
The last year when I was teaching here in the Syrian schools, it was good because most of the Syrian refugees here in Kirikhan were attending. We have huge numbers of children because we were covering two areas, one nearby and one elsewhere. We also had a transportation service to go around and pick up the children… they paid of course, most of the time. So we had a transportation service, we had schools, we had a curriculum, we had teachers, and we had, you know… stationeries like notebooks… and so it was good.
But what happened?
I don’t know… the donors stopped giving money and so the school closed.
Who were the donors? International?
Japanese.
What happens to those kids then?
They stopped coming to school…
What about their situation a year from now?
I don’t know…
Given your experience, what do you see the needs of Syrian refugee kids are here?
I think, first of all they need food assistance, health care, shelter… they need education… We asked some parents why they are not sending their children to schools. They said they need to eat before they go to school, and they need to get dressed, and they need clothes, and they need everything, they need shelter. Some children last year, they couldn’t… Their house is too far from the school… from two schools. So they need to come but they couldn’t. We started the transportation service but they couldn’t pay so they stopped coming. And I got sad because of that… I couldn’t do anything. My salary was only 150 lira.
150 lira for the month?
Yes, and they consider it like a gift.
Children that are not going to school… I think fifty percent of children are not going to schools, but they are attending classes in the community center or something… or they are going to child-safe places related to another NGO. Other kids are working… I saw one of my students who used to attend Turkish classes. He said that he wanted to learn Turkish because… He was attending an English class also, so I asked him why he was attending Turkish classes and what’s his motivation for that. He said he wanted to work. He’s working in a mobile phone shop. He’s twelve years old.
What’s he doing there?
I don’t know, cleaning or something…
Children start to forget about everything they learned before. I noticed this from children who are coming to the community center… you need to make a review for them… to remember how they were studying before… what is teaching. And they want to attend… they keep coming every day. Even if they don’t have lessons, they keep coming and they are asking ‘When is our class? Which day are we going to take the class?’… They pretend that they lost the program... Yea, really… [Laughs] And we keep giving the program all the time and say that you don’t have a lesson today. Really… we have a child who keeps coming to the community center everyday. He says, ‘When are you going to start the program? I need to come to school.’ He calls it like a school, he didn’t know how to say like community center. So… And they are asking for the homework. Like… ‘Can you write for us the homework?’ Most of the children are complaining about homework. They are eager to take homework.
Are they competitive?
Yea, most of the time… ‘I finished first’… ‘I can say that’… Yea, all the time…
How do you facilitate the class?
I use different strategies in class. Sometimes I use cards and games, and sometimes I make them write on the board. Sometimes I have them color on papers, to make them memorize words and sentences.
What’s their favorite game?
For the children, it’s cards… You have two words with opposite meanings and they have to find the opposite meaning of the word. And sometimes I would, for example, divide the name of an animal into two cards and they have to find the other card… So the class started to boil. [Laughs] Yea… they say… ‘This is my card’ … ‘No, you took my card’…
Every class is different because I’m creating my materials, my strategies. So, I’m using different strategies, because sometimes if you see children who are calm, you have to create a game to make them wake-up. Most of the time I write songs, or I create a game. I start some songs… sometimes they start to sing and dance… English songs. And sometimes we figure out… I write words on the board for greetings, like ‘good morning’… And I choose someone from the class, and he is making the signs and everybody is repeating the words or the greetings or something that is related to the words that they are learning for the day. But if kids are hyper we color… because they get calm. For example I copy something for words and after they color it they choose the words form the board, so… that calms them down.
What are the struggles you face in the classroom… versus teaching years prior in Syria?
I think here you need to be careful in your treatment with children because now it’s a sensitive situation. You have to make them release the stress by using ways… like singing, painting… So that’s why I’m using those strategies… And we have the role-playing. They start to speak with each other, like introducing themselves and asking each other questions like ‘what’s your favorite color’ or ‘who is your favorite singer’ and things like this… The first lesson is about introducing themselves. It’s important for them to get to know each other… I promised them with other games like in the English course… If they keep active, we will play a game, or sing a song… like this…
They must feel a lot of relief…
Yes, that’s why they keep returning!
Yes, and bringing you roses!
[Laughs] We lost the program…
What things have prepared you to be in this position?
Teaching in general is motivating me. I don’t know… I have a compassion with teaching. I’m always competitive about teaching and improving my skills…
What are you doing today?
Today I’m working on the children’s course. I’m separating the curriculum because it’s for all age groups and I think it’s too difficult. Maybe I’m going to change the test… For children learning English you should start from the beginning with ABC’s, numbers, colors, shapes, weather, animals, fruit and vegetables… maybe some words related to clothes… But with the older age group, they know all that information, so you should start with some grammar, tenses, personal pronouns, making questions, something like this…
Do your students have previous experience with English? It seems like a lot of people know…
Yes because English is like a subject at school in Syria, a formal second language.
What about other languages like French?
Yes, they start to take French in the seventh grade. They start taking English in the first grade, but French is like a second language... it’s starting in the secondary school. For Turkish we have a university Turkish Department. It’s like English… literature, Turkish literature… something like this…
How was the educational system in Syria?
The education was free in Syria… and for college. We just paid one thousand Syrian pounds [~18USD] for taking the exam, so it’s cheap in Syria, it’s nothing… We buy our books and things but you didn’t have to pay to get into school. We have private universities but the governmental universities are free.
How did you start to teach and what kind of courses?
I started to teach during high school. I was giving private lessons for English and other subjects, for children. Then I started to take hours by teaching English at governmental schools. They have a system that you can take if you are not a teacher, or you didn’t enter the university, or if you are a university student… So you can teach if you take hours and we get paid for that. They will give you a small test and then you can teach.
What do you see happening with Syrian kids here, refugees? Kids aren’t going to school for different reasons…
I don’t know the whole Hatay but we have two primary schools in Kirikhan and they’ve started something for ninth grade, and for high school certification. In Syria there are two certifications, secondary certification and a high school certification…this is something basic in the educational system. But we don’t have school here because we need financial support. Those primary schools I told you about are demanding money. Not all of the families have that amount of money to pay for the children. Like, if you have five children you can’t pay for school. And the places are not like… they can’t accept all the numbers of people… I used to teach in a Turkish school but we started a Syrian school after the Turkish students finished school… after they finish the day, we started over and made our school.
In the evening?
Yes, sometimes…
Is that happening in a lot of places, do you think?
I don’t know but it happens here with two schools… but they stopped because… I don’t know why… they have a problem because it’s so crowded.
So there’s a big demand for schools in general?
Yes because we have a whole generation starting to forget about everything that they learned before. You know, and our children were learning languages and everything, and they are open to education. So that’s why we need education… The obstacle is money… money I think… and place… The government is supporting it… when we started the community center they came from the Ministry of Education and they saw the place and supported us. They came and visited, and they are supporting those schools. But I think the problem is money and they need some resources that are in keeping all the time, because you know, children need everything like school books, papers, everything… And you have to pay for teachers because they need to support their families.
Do you think the problem would be solved if there are more schools and the education was free?
The last year when I was teaching here in the Syrian schools, it was good because most of the Syrian refugees here in Kirikhan were attending. We have huge numbers of children because we were covering two areas, one nearby and one elsewhere. We also had a transportation service to go around and pick up the children… they paid of course, most of the time. So we had a transportation service, we had schools, we had a curriculum, we had teachers, and we had, you know… stationeries like notebooks… and so it was good.
But what happened?
I don’t know… the donors stopped giving money and so the school closed.
Who were the donors? International?
Japanese.
What happens to those kids then?
They stopped coming to school…
What about their situation a year from now?
I don’t know…
Given your experience, what do you see the needs of Syrian refugee kids are here?
I think, first of all they need food assistance, health care, shelter… they need education… We asked some parents why they are not sending their children to schools. They said they need to eat before they go to school, and they need to get dressed, and they need clothes, and they need everything, they need shelter. Some children last year, they couldn’t… Their house is too far from the school… from two schools. So they need to come but they couldn’t. We started the transportation service but they couldn’t pay so they stopped coming. And I got sad because of that… I couldn’t do anything. My salary was only 150 lira.
150 lira for the month?
Yes, and they consider it like a gift.
Children that are not going to school… I think fifty percent of children are not going to schools, but they are attending classes in the community center or something… or they are going to child-safe places related to another NGO. Other kids are working… I saw one of my students who used to attend Turkish classes. He said that he wanted to learn Turkish because… He was attending an English class also, so I asked him why he was attending Turkish classes and what’s his motivation for that. He said he wanted to work. He’s working in a mobile phone shop. He’s twelve years old.
What’s he doing there?
I don’t know, cleaning or something…
Children start to forget about everything they learned before. I noticed this from children who are coming to the community center… you need to make a review for them… to remember how they were studying before… what is teaching. And they want to attend… they keep coming every day. Even if they don’t have lessons, they keep coming and they are asking ‘When is our class? Which day are we going to take the class?’… They pretend that they lost the program... Yea, really… [Laughs] And we keep giving the program all the time and say that you don’t have a lesson today. Really… we have a child who keeps coming to the community center everyday. He says, ‘When are you going to start the program? I need to come to school.’ He calls it like a school, he didn’t know how to say like community center. So… And they are asking for the homework. Like… ‘Can you write for us the homework?’ Most of the children are complaining about homework. They are eager to take homework.
Are they competitive?
Yea, most of the time… ‘I finished first’… ‘I can say that’… Yea, all the time…
How do you facilitate the class?
I use different strategies in class. Sometimes I use cards and games, and sometimes I make them write on the board. Sometimes I have them color on papers, to make them memorize words and sentences.
What’s their favorite game?
For the children, it’s cards… You have two words with opposite meanings and they have to find the opposite meaning of the word. And sometimes I would, for example, divide the name of an animal into two cards and they have to find the other card… So the class started to boil. [Laughs] Yea… they say… ‘This is my card’ … ‘No, you took my card’…
Every class is different because I’m creating my materials, my strategies. So, I’m using different strategies, because sometimes if you see children who are calm, you have to create a game to make them wake-up. Most of the time I write songs, or I create a game. I start some songs… sometimes they start to sing and dance… English songs. And sometimes we figure out… I write words on the board for greetings, like ‘good morning’… And I choose someone from the class, and he is making the signs and everybody is repeating the words or the greetings or something that is related to the words that they are learning for the day. But if kids are hyper we color… because they get calm. For example I copy something for words and after they color it they choose the words form the board, so… that calms them down.
What are the struggles you face in the classroom… versus teaching years prior in Syria?
I think here you need to be careful in your treatment with children because now it’s a sensitive situation. You have to make them release the stress by using ways… like singing, painting… So that’s why I’m using those strategies… And we have the role-playing. They start to speak with each other, like introducing themselves and asking each other questions like ‘what’s your favorite color’ or ‘who is your favorite singer’ and things like this… The first lesson is about introducing themselves. It’s important for them to get to know each other… I promised them with other games like in the English course… If they keep active, we will play a game, or sing a song… like this…
They must feel a lot of relief…
Yes, that’s why they keep returning!
Yes, and bringing you roses!
[Laughs] We lost the program…
What things have prepared you to be in this position?
Teaching in general is motivating me. I don’t know… I have a compassion with teaching. I’m always competitive about teaching and improving my skills…