İZÜ TÖMER, the Turkish Education and Teaching Application and Research Center operating within Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, is a center that conducts research and applications on Turkish. Set on a real campus in the midst of nature, in a warm and friendly atmosphere, İZÜ TÖMER has undertaken the important task of properly teaching Turkish, in line with our University's vision of “The Promise of a Good Education”, to international students who come to our country from almost every part of the world to study and, in the meantime, learn our language.
Our Center teaches Turkish as a foreign language in accordance with the principles and methods of the “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages” prepared by European Union commissions. At İZÜ TÖMER, courses at levels A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 are offered in every term of the year. In class, the order of listening-speaking-reading-writing is followed, with the aim of students mastering Turkish equally in all four basic language skills. Classes are held on weekdays and weekends, and each level lasts approximately 8 weeks (140 hours). All instructors working at İZÜ TÖMER are graduates of the Turkish Language Teaching, Turkish Language and Literature, Linguistics and Turkish Language and Literature Teaching departments of universities. Most of our instructors have completed or are pursuing master's and doctoral programmes. Our Center believes that, with its academic staff and the programme it has developed, it will properly fulfil the important task it has undertaken.
Thematic teaching is the basis of our Center. The course materials developed by İZÜ TÖMER instructors are created based on the necessity of the themes in daily life and the relationships between the themes. In this way, students learn related words and concepts together. Information technologies are used intensively in the learning process, and information is presented to students visually, aurally and in writing, so that students can easily learn Turkish in classes held in a fun atmosphere.
In order not to think of the Turkish language only as language teaching, but also to pass on our culture to students together with language teaching, social activities are held in two ways, in class and outside class. Within the scope of in-class activities, different programmes such as speaking classes, culture classes, film hours and writing workshops are prepared, while as extracurricular activities, trips to historical and cultural sites of Istanbul and nature trips are organized.
Located in Istanbul, the cultural capital of the world, our Center, with its young and dynamic staff, welcomes everyone who wants to learn Turkish—one of the world's rich languages, spoken over a wide geography and with roots reaching deep into history—and thereby enter our cultural climate.
Lecturer Nurhilal EMRE / Acting Director