I have always loved Turkey and wanted to visit. If I go I want it to be more than just a vacation though. I want to go in a cultural immersion program and live/study there for a long period of time. I am looking through programs on the internet and there are way TOO many to choose from. Does anyone know of any reputable internships or turkish language schools for native English speakers? I figured it would be best to ask people who are already living over there since websites can be so misleading. Any help would be much appreciated. I´m not too picky about the type of internship, I just want an experience and I have unlimited time to stay over there.

Hi, 

I´m an English teacher living in Istanbul. I´ve heard good things about Tömer and Dilmer language schools, both are on the European side in a neighborhood called Taksim. Here are their websites: 

Dilmer: http://www1.dilmer.com/content/view/27/89/lang,en/

Tömer: http://www.tomer.ankara.edu.tr/english/

--Dilmer is supposed to be really intense and teaches you Turkish really fast.. you apparently learn present, past and future tenses all in 1 month... 

--Tömer is suppposed to be slower.. you learn only 1 verb tense per month, and it´s good for people that have more time to really learn the language. 

I´m still trying to decide which school to go to... I know teachers who have been to both, and it just depends on what kind of student you are.... but both are supposed to be good.  

I hope this helps!  

-Diana

By the way, this city is absolutely AMAZING!! I LOVE living here. It´s wonderfulllllllllllll. It´s so beautiful, the culture is soooo nice.. I love it. And I am sure you will really enjoy it as well!!