SEV Connect - Kış 2018

70 CONNECT KIŞ EFSANE ÖĞRETMENLER BACK THEN MY GENERATION believed we could make the world a better place; a better place than the world our parents had grown up in during the Second World War. We were politically aware. We believed in making our voices heard in protests against the proliferation of nuclear arms, against apartheid in South Africa, and against the VietnamWar. Our songs were songs of protest, our favourite rock bands caused outrage and, in America, inspirational speakers led the fight for civil rights. A career in teaching was a chance to make a difference. It was a decision that certainly changed my life. Why Turkey, and ACI? In 1969 my older brother had driven a bus all the way from England to India and back again as part of a global cultural and arts project. He and his passengers were all students at Liverpool University and their role was to perform as a Beatles tribute band at festivals and university campuses in every country they passed through. My brother returned full of exciting stories of the exotic places he had seen but one thing stuck in my mind. He described how he had driven his bus onto a ferry boat to cross the Bosphorus (before any bridges were built!) and how everyone had felt the significance of the moment – leaving Europe, arriving in Asia! I longed to do the same…what could be more thrilling? Back in those days there were no international job fairs or Skype interviews. I saw an advertisement in a teachers’ newspaper, applied and was accepted. Great! I was leaving Europe for Asia! I was off on my own adventure. I had not the slightest idea that the adventure would be getting married, settling down and bringing up a family in Izmir. I had no idea that I would teach at the same school for the next thirty years. But wait…the same school? Not quite. The same campus, yes, but I have actually worked at three distinct schools. The all-girls middle and high school I started at morphed into a larger mixed school which then changed into a smaller, dynamic high school: three schools, with a lot of change and challenges along the way. Flashes of memory back to my first days recall learning about the proud history of the school, the sense of tradition and continuity, the commitment to social service as well as the high academic standard to which we were to hold our students. I remember the grand opening ceremony in the amphitheatre on that first day, the parade of students, the flags, the speeches. I had never seen anything like it. And so I began teaching English to Prep, Orta and Lise students. Guided by my helpful Turkish and American colleagues, this was excellent training for an inexperienced teacher. As time went on, I found myself as Head of the English HELEN ÖZBAY I made my decision to become a teacher when I was only 17 years old. But why? Was it because of the expectations of family and school? Was it simply an easy decision to study for an English degree and then teach it? Or a ‘safe’ job with good holidays? Trying to recall my true motivation for becoming a teacher, I need to remember the era I grew up in. A chance to make a difference