Booklet pdf

A booklet with information about the educational
system in “TURKEY”

Table of Contents
Timetable: ...................................................................................................................................................2
Subjects in each level ..................................................................................................................................2
Subjects in each level: .............................................................................................................................3
Cross-curricular issues. Ex: sexual education, drug addiction, domestic/gender violence ...........................9
Discipline, classroom management and school rules ................................................................................10
Paying attention to diversity (new arrivals to the school; blind, dead and handicapped students; social
background) ................................................................................................................................................11
School’s organization .................................................................................................................................13
Extra-curricular activities ...........................................................................................................................17
Bilingualism ...............................................................................................................................................24
Assessment .................................................................................................................................................25
Teaching methods .......................................................................................................................................27

Timetable: Subjects in each level.
(An example) Secondary Teaching In Turkey (Non-compulsory)

First class 8.40 - 9.25
Second class 9.35 – 10.20
Level Age

Third class 10.30 – 11.15 9 14
Fourth class 11.25 – 12.10 10 15
Lunch break 12.10 – 12.50 11 16
Fifth class 12.50 – 13.35 12 17
Sixth class 13.45 – 14.30
Seventh class 14.40 – 15.25
Eighth class 15.30 – 16.15

(There are classes only on
Monday and Tuesday)

Subjects in each level: 9th Grade

Subject Compulsory / Optional Number of classes per week
English Compulsory 10
Turkish Literature Compulsory 3
Turkish Grammar Compulsory 2
Mathematics Compulsory 4
Physics Compulsory 2
Chemistry Compulsory 2
Biology Compulsory 2
Geometry Compulsory 2
History Compulsory 2
Geography Compulsory 2
Arts/ Physical Education/ Music Optional 2
Health Science Compulsory 2
Religion and Ethics Compulsory 1
Guiding Compulsory 1
Total : 14 Total : 37

Subjects in each level: 10th Grade (Science Groups)

Psychology Compulsory 2
German Compulsory 2
Democracy and Human Rights Compulsory 1
Military Science Compulsory 1
Project Preparation Compulsory 1
Total: 19 Total : 37

Subjects in each level:10th Grade (Social Sciences Group)
Psychology Compulsory 2
German Compulsory 2
Democracy and Human Rights Compulsory 1
Military Science Compulsory 1
Project Preparation Compulsory 1
Information Theory Compulsory 1
Total : 17 Compulsory Total : 37

Subjects in each level:11th Grade (Science Group)
History of Turkish Revolution Compulsory 2
German Compulsory 2
Philosophy Compulsory 2
Turkish Grammar Optional 2
History Optional 1
Traffic and First Aid Compulsory 1
Total: 17 Total: 37

History of Turkish Revolution Compulsory 2
History Optional 2
Sociology Compulsory 2
German Compulsory 2
Turkish Grammar Optional 2
Philosophy Compulsory 2
Traffic and First Aid Compulsory 1
Total: 16 Total: 37

Subjects in each level:12th Grade (Science Group)
Geometry Optional 2
Physics Optional 2
Mathematics Optional 3
German Compulsory 2
Social Activity Optional 1
Total: 16 Total: 37

Turkish Literature Optional 3
Contemporary Turkish Optional 3
Literature
Analytic Geometry Compulsory 2
Logic Compulsory 2
German Compulsory 2
Social Activity Optional 1
Total: 15 Total: 37

Cross-curricular issues. Ex: sexual education,
drug addiction, domestic/gender violence,....
Since cross-curricular teaching is relatively a new approach in education, teachers are having
in-service training . We try to adapt some topics into as many school subjects as possible such as sexual
education, drug addiction, alcoholism, the role of the women in an industrializing society and violence in
family.

For example, although sexual education is one of the main topics of Health Education, in
Psychology lessons, students discuss the psychological aspects, in literature lessons they read texts or
extracts from novels or stories on the issue. We also invite experts on the subject to give seminars to our
students.

When it comes to drug addiction , alcoholism and the harms of consuming tobacco products,
they are again the topics of Health Education and biology lessons. However, in English lessons for
example, reading texts, listening materials or videos are chosen dealing with these issues. Sociological
and psychological aspects are discussed in Sociology and Psychology lessons. We have recently invited
police officers from narcotic bureau in order to inform our students about the negative effects of these
addictions and their criminal results.

The role of women in society is changing rapidly in our country since more and more women
have started working instead of staying at home and taking care of their children. So this new situation
sometimes causes problems both out and in the families. Since most people are raised in traditional
patriarchal families, adaptation problems arise. The problems of women are discussed in most of the
school subjects such as Literature, English, Sociology, History and Citizenship and Human Rights.

Violence in society and family is also another important problem in our country. Because of the
traditional structure of the family, children and women used to prefer hiding it instead of applying to the
security forces. But today, thanks to the media and the education given at schools they are more aware of
their rights. In our school we try make our students understand and use their rights in Citizenship and
Human Rights Lessons. Materials consisting gender discrimination and violence are not chosen for any
lesson.

Discipline, classroom management and school
rules
Discipline issues are solved through a regulation which is prepared by The Ministry of
Education in Turkey. According to his regulation, reward system is preferred rather than punishments.
The Ss who are successful in their subjects or social activities and appreciated because of their behaviours
are honoured with certificates which will be very useful in their later lives. These are:

- Thank You Certificate,
-Appreciation Certificate and,
-Honour certificate.

There are four types of punishments applied to the Ss who are found guilty:

-Censuring the student,
-Putting the student out off the school for a short time,(3-5 days)
-Putting the student out off the school permanently, (Students enroll another school)
-Dropping the student out of formal education.

All these rewards and punishments are applied after they are discussed in detail through a couple of
commissions comprising of teachers and students who are elected by students in the beginning of the
academic year.

When the academic year starts, the counsellor teacher of each class gives a briefing about school
rules and these rules are put on the noticeboard in each classroom. When a problem arises, firstly, class
counsellor teacher tries to solve the problem by having private conversations. If the problem cannot be
solved, school guidance counsellors have interviews with the student and their families. If the behaviour
continues, then student is sent to the subcommittee of discipline ,which is composed of students and
teachers. The student is warned and wanted to change his or her behaviour and told what is going to
happen if she or he does not obey the rules and change the unappreciated behaviour. The student is
observed for a while by teachers and the members of the subcommittee. If the problem is still seen, then
committee of discipline has right to give one of the punishments mentioned above according to the
importance of the guilt. Anyway, it is more important to prevent these behaviours so Ss are encouraged to
take part in social activities in their free times. For this reason, our music room, arts room, library and
computer classroom are available all the time. They also take part in sports activities such as basketball,
football, volleyball, table tennis. We have school teams in those branches.

Every day, at least four teachers and an administrative staff are on duty to keep order in the school.

Paying attention to diversity (new arrivals to the
school; blind, dead and handicapped students;
social background)
Students carry more than their backpacks to school. They also carry into the classroom experiences
and understandings from their world outside school. Diversity in our school presents a unique opportunity
for learning. To begin with, students can learn from each other by sharing their cultural traditions and
perspectives. In addition, the knowledge they have from their communities can be a springboard for
further learning, especially since it’s important to relate new information to what students already know.
Based on this principle,

We have collected some different teaching tips from our teachers.:

If our class includes group work, even if students choose their own team members, we insist that the
group composition must be as diverse as possible with regard to gender, race etc.

We try to pay attention to how we address different groups of students. We prefer to call all
students in the same way (e.g. by first name) as we refer to other students.We strive for as much
consistency as possible in the way we address each person in the class.

We monitor the questions and comments coming from the class to make sure that one group's
opinions are not over-represented. If people from some groups (race, gender etc.) are not volunteering
information, we ask for their opinion.

We use a random system for asking general questions or soliciting class participation so that every
student has the same chance of participating.

When students are speaking to each other, we monitor the discussion to make sure that students
show consideration and respect. Also we always try to make sure that all groups are able to participate
and we intervene if a person or group of people are trying to dominate the discussion.

If a difficult classroom situation arises based on a multicultural or diversity issue (or any difficult,
value or judgement-based situation), we ask for a time out while everyone writes down his or her
thoughts/opinions about the incident. This allows everyone to cool down and allows us to collect our
thoughts and plan a response.

When we adopt a text book, we make sure it is written in gender neutral or gender inclusive terms.
If the book includes photographs, again we make sure people of both genders, and of various races and
nationalities are involved.

If groups work on more than one task, we use a rotating leader system. Each member of the group
must take a leadership role on one task, or on a major part of the task. This assures that all members of the
group, regardless of gender, race or ethnicity, have a chance to learn leadership and organizational skills.

As our students are chosen through a national examination, we usually do not face with learning
problems. But we have some students having hyperactivity and consentration issues. In order to motivate

and having them involved in the classroom activities, most of these students are given more
responsibilities in and out of the classroom. We also have a guidence counselor service with two
counselor teachers who try to help students having problems with their families, lessons etc.

When it comes to physically impaired students, our school has a lift, lavatories specially designed
for them. And we are working on a project for designing a library for the hearing impaired. When the
project finishes, we will be able to send CDs of classical books anyone who needs them for free. Our
students are going to read the books in the studio with the guidence of our literature teachers. With this
project we aim to give our students the sense of social responsibility.

New students and their parents are invited by our counselor teachers and they have a meeting with
them about the rules, system etc. We want them to fill a form in order to know the student. This form is
also given to the classroom councelor and if the student has any problems, we have the chance to take
preventive measures.

Extra-Curricular
Activities

ERGÜN ÖNER MEHMET ÖNER
ANATOLIAN HIGH SCHOOL
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
ACTIVITIES

Bilingualism
The official language in Turkey is Turkish so, local languages are not used in education. Bilingual
students have no speaking or understanding problems in our school.

Assessment
ERGUN ÖNER MEHMET ÖNER ANATOLIAN HIGH SCHOOL
OUR APPROACH TO EVALUATION OF SUCCESS

General Principles:

Our general principle is that “each student can learn every new information in parallel with his
own development level.” Therefore the important thing is handling the learning process mutually in a
sensitive way.
Our main goal is enabling our students to develop their “learning to learn” skills, to enrich their
abilities in researching, problem solving and without drawing them into an exams-marks anxiety.
At our school, the evaluation of success is made with respect to the principles below:
All learning processes are

 Directed towards target behaviours
 Planned
 Realised in parallel with a high quality teaching system
 Evaluated in an objective way

The main purpose of exams at our school is to detect what and how much our students learning and
according to the results to take preventions to eliminate their difficulties in learning deficiencies and
mistakes. The general frame is the regulation of the Ministry of Education.

THE MARKING SYSTEM

The marking system is over five. The success is evaluated by four and failure by two marks.

All exams, term homework and projects are evaluated over 100. These marks are written on teachers’
notebooks and marking tables over 100. The end of term marks of each subject are given according to the
arithmetic average of marks and these marks are matched with 0 to 5 as follows:

GRADE İN NUMBERS MARKİNG
Very good 5 85-100
Good 4 70-84
Medium 3 55-69
Pass 2 45-54
Can’t Pass 1 25-44
Unsuccessful 0 0-24

The number of written exams must be at least 3 for subjects which are three times or more a week
and must be at least 2 for subjects which are once or twice a week.

THE EVALUATION OF WRITTEN EXAMS

At the end of each exam teachers detect at which subject and how much students are successful. If
the success is low they searche and evaluate the reasons for that.

THE CONTENT AND TIME OF WRITTEN EXAMS

The date of written exams must be announced to the students at least a week ago. The students
can’t take more than two exams on the same day. Written exams are generally consisted of a lot of
questions with short answers. In respect to the properties of subjects some exams may consist of limited
number of questions with long answers.

ORAL EXAMS

All students should be given at least one oral exam mark for each subject and this may certainly
increase.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF EXAM RESULTS

Teachers announce all exam, term homework and project results to students within maximum 15
days. They give them feadback about common mistakes and lacking points. In case of a student’s request
teachers look over exam papers once more with the student.

Teaching methods.
Our students come to our school with different levels of English and as it is not possible to
make level classrooms legally, we have to face with quite mixed classrooms. We take the course from the
beginner (A1) level so some students who have some English may get bored in the first couple of months.
To prevent this we give some extra activities for such students.

We aim to have Ss who will able to communicate effectively, accurately and fluently. We try to
design a student-centered course, so most of the time we ,teachers , have the role of monitor, advisor and
facilitator.

How we chose topics and classroom materials:

We try to cover a range of topics taken from daily life situations in order to satisfy our teenager
students’ needs and interests. These topics are also authentic in many ways. Our primary goal is to have
Ss communicate with foreign language speakers in daily life situations. Other elements such as structure,
vocabulary or skills targeted at functions.

Language Areas and Structure Sets:

Grammar cannot be taught separately when we consider a language as a tool of
communication. Our aim is not to teach grammar but to give integrating syllabus backed by meaningful
activities. That means , grammar is presented in a context from real life which gives students
opportunities to work the rule out of it. Grammar rules are also presented in various tasks for different
learning styles; Visual, Kinaesthetic, Auditory and Multiple intelligences of which we should keep loyal
to while teaching four skills. Ss feel more secure and sure about grammar structures after they do practice
tasks, workbook activities and unit tests.

Vocabulary Sets:

Vocabulary teaching cannot be considered as an independent study from other skills. It should
be conducted in a context of reading writing or listening because words cannot represent their whole
meaning in real life when we use them separately. The target vocabulary should exist in the whole context
to become more meaningful and to give students the opportunity to guess their meanings and usage. So,
we encourage Ss to guess the meaning of the words through the context instead of giving the meaning
directly or letting the Ss look them up in the dictionaries. After Ss do comprehension activities, they
should go back to reconsider the meanings of the words. They negotiate the meaning with their pairs.
Finally they check meanings referring to us, teachers, or dictionaries if necessary.

Language Tasks and study Skills

All types of skills are conducted in a context.

1. How to Conduct a Listening or Video Lesson:

-Pre-listening activities give reason and raise curiosity for listening. A classroom discussion on
the title, picture etc. are the widely used techniques to handle this stage. With videos silent watching and
then discussing the topic may be a useful .

-When Ss listen or watch for the first time, they usually work individually. Comparing with
friends gives them opportunity to focus on the material and negotiate the meaning in the second listening.
It also provides opportunity for correction. The number of listening or watching depends on the listening
activity and the need of the classroom.

-Post-Listening stage usually contains eliciting ideas from different Ss in order to raise more
attention and attendance. Since correcting mistakes all the time discourages Ss ,especially while they are
speaking, we try not to overcorrect them. Instead of student-teacher interaction, we prefer student-student
interaction but sometimes some Ss tend to dominate the lesson so we have to play the role of a moderator.

2. How to Conduct Reading Lessons:

As we aim to create independent reader with minimum usage of dictionary, reading passages
and books are tried to be chosen according to Ss’ interests, ages and ways of thinking.

-Pre-reading: This stage should be done effectively since it is the most important part of
creating curiosity and attracting Ss’ attention to the lesson. If Ss have no reason for reading, a text doesn’t
make a sense for them. Ss compare and discuss preparation questions, pictures provided with the text so
that they can have an opportunity to communicate, be familiar with the topic. At this stage teachers
should be the monitor. Unless the Ss desperately need help, teacher should not interrupt the conversations.

-While-Reading: Most of the time we want Ss read the text silently to get the general idea.
Then while they are reading for the second time, some tasks such as finding the irrelevant sentences,
finding the suitable title for each paragraph, synonyms of the words indicated in the text, classic question-
answer studies, true-false questions etc. The answers are discussed after the reading process is over.

-Post-Reading: Ss are encouraged to write responses to the ideas or problems discussed through
the discussions and the text. By this way, Ss will be able to develop critical thinking and intellectual
background.

3.Writing

As writing is the production stage of learning a language, Ss usually find it challenging most of
the time. But if some steps are followed, Ss will be able to write more effectively and realise their
improvement gradually. Moreover, Ss will be able to experience the pleasure of creating something out of
their own background as an outcome of their own learning. Also writing activities must be contextual in
order to make writing rationale. Some answers must be cleared in Ss’ minds such as “What?” (the topic) ,
“Why?” (Ss should see a good reason for writing. They do not want to write just for the sake of writing or
because we teachers want them to do so.), “How?” (formal/informal etc.) While working on a difficult
subject such as formal letters, we have to make a step by step guidance and then want them to write a
similar one at home as a homework. Some projects are displayed in or out of the classroom and that
motivates them.

Keeping a portfolio: We usually keep our students’ writings in their portfolios throughout the
academic year. This enables Ss be aware of their own progress. It also urges Ss to take their own
responsibilities. We have a correction code table so we usually do not correct their mistakes, instead we
just show them that there is a mistake and it must be corrected.

Since we think that only teachers can turn any source or course book into a perfect material,
we give priority to guidance.

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