Our Americans

Our Americans are the young men and women who taught English as Peace Corps Volunteers in Turkey between the years of 1962-1971. They taught English to Turkish people not just in the cities but in the rural areas on those days. They were young Americans who were grown up with the stories of their parents who joined the Second World War, who had an idea about the planet in which they live through the lens of National Geographic, and they were adventurous, believed in J. F. Kennedy’s New America that would be constructed on the shoulders of young Americans who can speak world languages, who are familiar with cultures all around the globe, and were also hesitant to join the war in Vietnam. They left Turkey due to the Cyprus Crisis. Peace Corps Volunteers in Turkey are generally studied politically in Turkey. They were criticized very seriously but they still keep their memories and feelings alive within the organization of Arkadaşlar, an association of returned Peace Corps Volunteers from Turkey. Their impact on English Language Teaching in Turkey has not been studied. This study aims to shed light on those English Language teachers who were Peace Corps Volunteers in Turkey by getting their and their students first hand assessments on their impact on English language teaching in Turkey. In this study, 14 American English Language Teachers who stayed in Turkey as Peace Corps Volunteers on those days shared their views through emails, and so far, 4 Turkish students have shared their views and memories about their teachers who taught them English when they were at Diyarbakır Maarif College, and Antalya High School. In this presentation, the first findings related to the impact of Peace Corps Volunteers on English Language Teaching in Turkey will be shared.