TURKISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT
In order for our students to further practise the objectives they study in Turkish lessons and develop and exhibit the language skills they have acquired, contests, poetry recitals, panels, interviews with authors, short story competitions and Turkish Theater studies are organized.
Author Interviews
In his/her short life, a human being tries to understand the world and life. To do so, s/he contemplates on a variety of issues and questions them because he/she knows that a life not questioned is not worth living. As the Turkish Department, we aim to meet with students as they encounter a whole new journey into countless worlds as they read books; with each grade level, students are brought together with authors - sometimes in an interview and sometimes in a workshop environment - and are provided with versatile ways of reviewing a book. By doing this, we intend to improve their view of the world.
Competitions
For four years, the Guess What competition has been organized for the 7th grades. It is a competition aiming to develop thinking, comprehension, sorting, classification, questioning, relationship building, criticizing, estimating, interpretation, analysis-synthesis and assessment skills.
In addition, our students are directed to national writing contests. In the last four years, our students achieved top ranks in Turkey.
"Carpe Diem" Theatre Community
Our Turkish Theatre Community Carpe Diem with its renewed staff every year enacts either a domestic or a foreign play. Theatre studies provide our students with the opportunity to work as a team, gather information on authors and their work and to express themselves on stage. Our students bring on stage both Turkish literature and world literature such as Aziz Nesin and Moliere.
We also bring our students together with theatre plays. They have the chance to see the play MOMO, a book adaptation, and also Karagöz and Hacivat as well as the other plays which are in line with the themes of their lessons.
Elective Courses
The main aim of the Turkish drama lesson is to develop socialization and abilities by allowing students to express themselves with games, drama and theatre. With the weekly drama education students receive, the students will encounter activities where they will develop their skills using their bodies and voices, the will learn to use facial expressions, gestures, to develop their creativity, learn how to improvise and to talk in an accurate and effective manner.
Writing is an individual’s tool to discover and learn about himself/herself. During the Authorship and Writing elective, activities are planned in a way to take advantage of the students’ imagination in order to come up with different ideas, to get hold of freedom and to write with courage. In this process, students undergo workshops together with authors, translators and critics.
Dreamer Workshops
Imagine! A mysterious world on the border of poverty and wealth. In this mysterious world, the real and unreal are combined. Pages, words, images, and countless ideas. We have started our workshops to live the moment and to leave a mark for the future. We have been experiencing the delight of being together with many of our valuable authors for two years. With the “Dreamer Workshop” that appears with different themes every year, our goal is to get every student to attend the workshop at least once until the end of 8th grade.
Story Day
As the Ankara METU Development Foundation Schools, we are on the road with the slogans "With the presence of stories the world will turn!" and "Stories make the farther closer!". As we poured our ideas from our hearts and minds onto paper, we merged our dreams to our words. We cuddle our pencils with excitement with all levels. We come together on February 14, on "World Story Day". Every year, one of our valuable story writers also becomes our master, showing us the way.
Poetry Recitals
Poetry is the sound of Âşık Veysel, Nazım Hikmet, Necip Fazıl, Fuzuli, Yunus Emre and many other poets. Poetry is a nation’s folk song, the heartbeats. Poetry is our emotions, dreams and excitement. Verses of poets that have occupied Turkish and World literature are shared at poetry recitals where teachers and students attend together.
Publications
The process approach is adopted in all work of writing. Activities aim for students to gain a critical perspective and to develop their creative thinking skills. Our students’ writings are shared via the Birikim magazine, prepared over a course of 10 years and our departments’ blog ‘Dreamer Words’ in order to reach a wide audience. http://hayalperestsozcukler.blogspot.com.tr
Excursions
Reading is the gate to freedom. The biggest step on the road to think, to question, to establish is to come together with books. Therefore, our students are provided with the chance to participate in book fairs, and excursions to libraries are organized. Also, in order to ensure students use the school library efficiently, reading and book sharing sessions are organized.
