The Turkish as a Foreign Language Education Association (YADOT) is a non-governmental organization formed by teachers, specialists and academics working in the subject of Turkish as a foreign/second language. YADOT is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey, and is officially recognized by the Turkish Interior Ministry. Founder members have arranged events, workshops, and meetings at various institutions in and around Istanbul since 2012, until the association was officially founded. Consequently, even though we are a young organization, we have a lot of experience in the area. We wish to connect people who work and train in this field together, encourage cooperation and sharing, develop professional unity, and lead activities, publications, and initiatives that will benefit the field. The administrative body of the YADOT is composed of seven educators: Atanur Memiş (the head), Dr. Necmettin Özmen (secretary general), Dr. Himmet Sarıtaş (communication executive), Nuray Kaşıkçı (accountant), Fulya Doğru Şahin (web editor), Dr. Mustafa Çetin (journal editor) and Metin Çelikten (secretary). They work as a team on all projects and have a solid educational background with a diverse range of academic, teaching, and social experiences.
On a regular basis, we hold events/workshops in which teachers and academics may discuss current issues and concerns in the field. Institutions that collaborate with YADOT host these sessions. We have had 34 workshops at 17 different universities up to this point such as İstanbul University, İstanbul Bilgi University, İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim Univerity, İstanbul Aydin University, İstanbul Medeniyet University, İstanbul Sehir University, Kocaeli University, Bursa Uludag University, Sakarya University, Biruni University, Fatih Sultan Mehmet University, İbn Haldun University, Bahcesehir University etc. and put lots of academicians, teachers and students together. In those meetings, we discussed and find solutions on not only Turkish Language Teaching methods, but also on various problems of the teachers and academicians who work in universities’ academic centers, in language courses; foreign students who need orientations in abroad; immigrants who are facing lots of issues, children who need pedagogical approach in their learning process.
Our mission:
• To conduct research studies on the development of Turkish teaching methods, as well as to develop
teaching materials,
publish books and carry out online training activities,
• To support studies and research on Turkish as a second language, in addition to organizing workshops,
seminars, and
conferences in this field.
• To bring together individuals and institutions that teach Turkish as a L2 and conduct research in the
field at home and
abroad, as well as cooperating with them,
• To offer a safe working environment for the accomplishment of the goal which includes the necessary
technical tools,
equipment, fixtures, and stationery.
He is a lecturer in İstanbul Bilgi University (2000-Current) on Second Language Acquisition of Turkish, and Turkish for native speakers on survey of Turkish language, creative writing, contemporary Turkish novels and poetry, literature in social media etc. He started Turkish language teaching career in Taksim TÖMER (Taksim DİLMER) in 1999 – 2000. He also taught Turkish for Bilgi Eğitim, Nortwestern University Summer School, International companies such as Ericsson, Johnson&Johnson, HSBC Bank, City Bank, Microsoft, DHL, Roche, Reuters, Bosch, Nicholson International, OneWorld Consulting, Statkraft, Laureate International Universities, DFDS, and others. He participated in seminars such as “The Content and Methods in Turkish Proficiency and Level Tests” by Yunus Emre Institute, Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner Program with Ralph Watson, Teacher Training: “How to be a Teacher Trainer?” with Julie Wallis, Teaching Turkish Worldwide in Ankara University. He is the manager of İstanbul Bilgi University Turkish Language Teaching Application and Research Center-Bilgi TÜRMER (2013-Current) and the president of Turkish as a Foreign Language Education Association - YADOT Eğitim Derneği (2018-Current).
Himmet has been teaching Turkish as L1/L2 for 12 years. Currently, he is a teacher at the Beşiktaş Science and Art Centre and a board member of YADOT in Istanbul, Turkey. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Celal Bayar University’s Faculty of Education. His master’s degree in teaching Turkish as a second language (TSL) is from Dokuz Eylül University. He received his PhD in TSL at Marmara University’s Institute of Educational Sciences. His main research interest lies in the interdisciplinary field of applied linguistics and concerns pedagogical, linguistic, and social aspects of multilingual/multicultural education. His educational, teaching, and research experience are related to applied linguistics, second language acquisition, first language teaching, corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, and conversation analysis.
She is an instructor for teaching Turkish as a second language in Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University - TÜMER. She is also the manager of TÜMER. She started her career in 2010 at Cairo Yunus Emre Culture Center in Egypt. After she moved to İstanbul she worked in DİLMER as a teacher and also gave private lessons to individuals. She has teaching experience with young learners and adults at all levels. Her special interests are preparing tests and exams, assessment and evaluation and Turkish for academic use.
She is a language instructor in the School of Foreign Languages, Pamukkale University, Turkey. She teaches English as a Foreign language and Turkish as a second language. Her major research interests lie in areas of bi/multilingualism, identity research, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, and study-abroad.
She is a lecturer at Bartın University Language Teaching Application and Research Center. She continues her doctoral studies in the field of teaching Turkish as a foreign language. Her main research areas are pronunciation, the use of technology in language teaching. The researcher worked in various centers of Yunus Emre Institute such as Jerusalem, Khartoum, Mostar and Ankara for about 8 years. She was also the publication coordinator of many works such as "Turkish Speaking Guide for Foreigners", "Yunus Emre Turkish ABC Teaching Set", "Delicious Stories", "Voice of Turkish Yunus Emre", "Mini Library Set" published by Yunus Emre Institute; She gave various seminars such as the use of technology in teaching Turkish as a foreign language, writing skills, reading skills, speaking skills, and vocabulary teaching in different centers of the mentioned institute.
She has been teaching Turkish Language, Turkish Story and Novel, and Turkish to Foreigners in Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey since 2001. Her bachelor’s and master’s degrees are from Boğaziçi University, Department of English Language and Literature, and Turkish Language and Literature respectively. She is also a PhD student in the field of Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language in Hacettepe University, Ankara. Her major research areas are L2 reading skills, academic skills and mobile-assisted language learning.
She is a lecturer at Eskişehir Technical University Language Teaching and Research Center. Damla Okyay completed her master's degree in Turkish Language and Literature. She continues her PHd in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. Her main research area is preparing digital teaching materials in language teaching, measurement and evaluation in foreign language teaching, and productive skills in foreign language teaching. World Health Organization and T.C. she took part in the training project, which was converted into external health aid by the Ministry of Health. She has publications on teaching Turkish to foreigners.
She is a lecturer at Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University. Se continues her PHd studies in teaching Turkish. She works on teaching Turkish as a foreign language and bilingualism. She gave seminars on speaking and writing skills of certificate programs in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. She took part in the project of teaching Turkish to refugee health workers supported by the World Health Organization and the Turkish Ministry of Health. She is interested in the field of preparing digital teaching materials and teaching Turkish to foreigners. Also she has publications on teaching Turkish to foreigners.
She is teaching Turkish as a foreign language via online sessions after having worked at universities and language schools in Istanbul. She is Spanish-Turkish interpreter, and she teaches Spanish. Her research interests are designing writing tasks, material design, colonial studies, translation, legal translation, language in media, cross-linguistic studies and multiculturalism. .