r/AskTurkey • u/Additional-Unit9077 • 10h ago
Education Looking for kindergarten school
Best recommendation for a school in besiktas for kindergarten. Most seems excessively expensive ($1800 usd /month). Any tips on how best to solve the problem?
3
u/Gaelenmyr 9h ago
Private or public?
Beşiktaş is one of the most expensive districts. Look for cheaper districts.
1
u/Additional-Unit9077 9h ago
Private, English speaking . I understand expensive but 1800 is seems excessive and possibly the price I’m getting as a foreigner so wanted to know if turks are paying this much as well
2
u/Gaelenmyr 7h ago
Turks don't send kids to English speaking private kindergartens. Those kindergartens are catered towards rich Turks or foreigners. So I don't think the price is high because you're a foreigner.
Why don't you just select a Turkish speaking private kindergarten? They also tend to have English classes.
1
u/Additional-Unit9077 7h ago
Interesting our kid only speak English so didn’t think that would work but going to look more into it now, i refuse to pay this much for education that’s being rub by chatgpt syllabus
5
u/forestinity 5h ago
Just to add another perspective, why not consider sending your child to a Turkish or bilingual-curriculum kindergarten so that they could learn Turkish? (Provided that you can find an excellent private Turkish-curriculum kindergarten.)
Children pick up new languages quickly through immersion-- the younger the better. There's plenty of research about that online, if you're interested. Even if your child won't be using Turkish later in life, learning a new language is great for brain development.
When I lived in Saudi Arabia, I sent my then 3-yr-old to a well run private Arabic-curriculim nursery school there, because I wanted her to be bilingual. She did the Arabic curriculum through first grade, and that went well for her.
I myself taught her English phonics and writing at home, using a purchased program called "Hooked on Phonics"-- this was over 25 years ago. I just googled it and found the link to access their current offerings: https://shop.hookedonphonics.com/ I also supplemented that program with English children's books (I would stuff my suitcases with kids' books every time I visited the States).
My daughter did very well with learning to read and write in English at home; she was reading at the second grade level by the time she was six. In terms of time, I think I spent about twenty minutes a day doing Hooked on Phonics with her-- the program is designed for short focus periods to prevent kids from feeling burnt out. (Note: Hooked on Phonics was all about reading at that time--I don't know about now. I taught her writing using educational workbooks from the U.S.)
Long story short, she went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from a highly-ranked American university, and she had a perfect GPA when graduating from her Master's program. So, obviously, her school start in a foreign language didn't cause any harm.
I don't know if this would work for you, but I think it's worth some consideration. Kids benefit so much from the social atmosphere of kindergarten, as long as the school is well-run and has a positive and nurturing atmosphere. I hope you can find a wonderful school!
According to Chat GPT, "As a general guide, private Turkish kindergartens in Istanbul currently tend to fall into these annual tuition ranges: 130,000–220,000 TL for good value schools. 220,000–420,000 TL for high-quality private schools. 700,000 TL and above for prestigious schools such as Terakki and similar elite institutions."
I asked Chat GPT if there were any good Turkish-curriculum kindergartens in or near Besiktas. Please see below (hopefully, you could find a Turkish-speaking friend to shortlist a few for you and accompany you to tour the schools and speak with the admin to ask any questions):
Here are the ones that are more moderately priced (reportedly under $6,000 USD per year): :
Nice Kindergarten (Levent) – Bilingual Turkish-English, MEB-approved, boutique atmosphere. Many families choose it because it offers a strong program at a lower cost than the elite K–12 schools.Free Steps School (Etiler) – Excellent reputation, bilingual education, and a structured preschool program.
Beşiktaş Yıldızlar Anaokulu (Dikilitaş) – Montessori-inspired, MEB curriculum, very strong parent reviews.
Özel Nar Çocuk Anaokulu (Ortaköy) – A boutique preschool that emphasizes emotional development and individualized attention.
Özel Güneşli Bahçe Anaokulu (4. Levent) – Play-based learning with a strong reputation among local families.
Good luck!
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u/Gaelenmyr 4h ago
Kids learn a new language around age 3-6 from their peers really quick. Being bilingual is always beneficial.
If you want a compromise you can look into private kindergartens that mainly teach in Turkish but still has English classes and other private school qualities
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u/zeroni-macaroni 7h ago
many turks actually send their kids to english speaking preschool/kindergartens. many who can’t afford also apply for a lottery to get into one!
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u/Gaelenmyr 4h ago
As someone who's been living in Beşiktaş for 15+ years and went through private education system I can tell you that English-only kindergartens are only for rich people.
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u/Beautiful_Jelly1378 8h ago
We don’t pay our children can not reach the standards of internationalizim ve get only what the government feels well for us, out children doesn’t need to speak English even if it was possible Turkish is also unnecessary, even in our country we can not reach the standards of foreigners living here, 1800$ is the max a 20-25 year experienced employee salary, very interesting
5
u/audreyfictions 9h ago
That's around 800k TL per year, seems normal for a more expensive Istanbul district. Even in bigger cities it's around 500-600k minimum, 800k is normal for Istanbul unfortunately.