First Week of Teaching

Here it is, my official "teacher-sitting-at-desk" photo! Just in time to celebrate my first week of teaching at Koç University.

In case you were wondering, the laptop is open but shut down. I was trying to hustle to my appointment to get my real and true Turkish Residence Permit. Huzzah--another success! It now correctly states that I was born in Michigan, U.S.A., not South Korea.

Classes started on Wednesday with all the usual introductory games, boring syllabi, and exhortations to attend class faithfully. I have four classes, three preps, and three groups of students. Each group has about 21 students. That's about 60 new people in my life! (In addition to the 50+ new colleagues...)

I'm very happy to report that the students were all quite charming in the first few days. May it last! They are all Turkish, but from wider variety of cities than what I was expecting. There are only a few of them returning to the ELC for a second year. The rest of the newbies are fresh out of high school and experiencing life away from their families for the first time.

All of my classes are in one building, pretty close to my office, which is very convenient. The classrooms all have huge whiteboards on the front wall (the kind that slide up/down), wireless internet, a ceiling-mounted projector, and speakers. I've started using my backpack to carry my work laptop, books, folders, and notebook--heavy! (Still, I'm very happy that I don't have to bring my own laptop to work!)

I still have to get a handle on the big picture of what I'm teaching this semester since I only found out on Monday what my schedule was. What that meant this week is that the two sections of one class are already out of step, sigh. Next week, I have some catching up to do!

So far, so good...