Robert College

It might be helpful to have a little background about Robert College.  Most of what I know about it is from the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_College and I wont repeat what is there, but I thought it would be useful to add a few of my own thoughts.


The campus is huge and on a hill.  I live at the bottom of the hill directly across from the Bosporus.  I can even see it if I look sideways out of my window, but teachers with more seniority have the real view.  I live just inside a gate with guards who are there all night and all day to let you in or out. 

At this end, campus is rather narrow, following a road up the hill.  I have been told that there is a bus up the hill on school days at 7:30 and 7:40, since it is very steep and pretty long.  (I haven't walked up it yet, but even coming down took a while.)  The road and separate path go through the woods.  There are men whose only job it is is to sweep the road every day.  They do a great job as it always looks very clean.  Half way up the hill is a road to the Deanery where the Headmaster and his wife live and there is an apartment building for 8 more teachers.  They have a great view of the Bosporus and it is very quiet. 

Campus Plan for Robert College

A little bit further up there is more teacher housing and then main campus.  If you are coming up the road, you encounter the main school building from the middle and it is quite impressive.  All of the campus buildings are connected in a line.  I dont know their names yet, but I made up this sentence to help me with the order once I know their names: Someone Wonderful Made Green Salad with Extra Beets.  The science building is the only one not connected with the one corridor and it fits where 'with' is in the sentence. 

The buildings were built in 1911 with materials that came from the US on boats.  They look very stately and solid and the landscaping around them is beautiful.  Inside they are very modern, with flat screen monitors showing announcements and computer labs with new computers.  I haven't seen the science rooms in person yet, but from what I hear they are well equipped.

The school accepts students finishing the 8th grade.  Because of its good reputation it gets to be very selective.  Eighth graders take a 2 hour standardized test that covers math, Turkish, history and maybe a little science.  The scores are scaled out of 500 points and of this years incoming class 50% have perfect scores and the minimum score they are accepting is 491, which corresponds to missing 2 questions.  Unfortunately this test (and their birth date as a tie breaker) is the only criteria that students are admitted on. 

Once the students are here they have a prep year between 8th and 9th grade which is intensive English language instruction.  My understanding is that they have some English coming in, but they need a lot more help if they are going to receive all instruction in English starting in their 9th grade year.  I dont know exactly what I am teaching to whom, but I am relieved to know that even if I have a chem 1 class full of 9th graders, they will be the same age as my sophomores back home.

Today I am joining another shopping trip and they I will have some time to unpack a little more and prepare a potluck meal for dinner tonight.  I haven't decided what to make...

ttfn