Category: teaching

Well, thursday was my last day in a teaching capacity. It was results day, they came back the day after the final exam to see how they did on the exam and how they did in the class. There was some bad news of course, but there were only a few that didn’t make it. It feels good to be done with work. The work itself wasn’t so bad but the commute was really wearing on me. It was also where I had access to the best internet I have seen here. So from here on out, I’ll be going to worse performing internet places. I doubt I’ll have enough bandwidth to work with to make Skype worth it…

I went over to Ryan’s place yesterday for brunch. He had a bunch of people over and it turned out really well. Lots of pancakes and he cooks a mean omelet. It also gave me the chance to say so long to some people. Meg and Ryan (a different one) were coworkers of mine at the school. He has a new gig in Doha, they’ll be there in a couple of days. It was also the last time that I’ll see Pei. She’s going to Iran today and won’t be back before I leave. She’s the classic Aussie, totally laid back and gets along with almost everyone. She’s the one that always gets invited to everyone’s wedding and house for different occasions. I’m glad I met you Pei, good luck with the rest of your travels!

Only 16 days until I’m out of here!!!

Today my students were studying the passive voice (HA! grammar joke..) and the book was using examples from the realm of art. The idea was that students would say, “The kiss was painted by…” and all of the other things in the passive voice. That’s fine, except that they were using “The Kiss” by Klimpt, “Pride and prejudice” By Austen, “Help” by the Beatles, “Schindler’s list” by Spielburg, and “Carmen” by Bizet. A few had heard of the Beatles, the rest of them were hopeless… So I explained how in the west, all of those things were important. I actually played the song “Yesterday” for them and a little bit of Carmen so that they could hear what they were all about. I do wish that these books were a little more culturally relevant to them…

The new principle wants me to come to her with a list of topics that I plan on using for my conversational English class. I’m having trouble coming up with the 20 topics that she asked for. It’s harder than you might think… There are some obvious topics that can’t be brought up due to the culture here, there are a whole slew of topics that are just too controversial here (women’s rights/roles, Palestine/Israel, etc.), but the category that is giving me real trouble is the one encompassing all of the things that are outside of their knowledge due to a lack of education and insular culture. Talking about what kind of foods they like would be a short conversation, as would where they have travelled, pets, romantic relationships, etc.

Tami ran into a similar problem with her class. One day she asked them to bring in some pictures for the class to talk about, they all brought ID or passport pictures… She was expecting vacation pictures, pictures of relatives, anything really, but she got ID pictures instead…

So I’m struggling a little. I’m sure that once we start talking, the conversations will naturally flow, but in the meantime I need some topics to hand into the principle…

The other day I was teaching an intermediate English class. The book mentioned that a couple went to the ballet. Predictably, the student reading that sentence had problems pronouncing the word “ballet,” I corrected him and asked the class if anyone knew what that word meant.

I was surprised to hear a rather derisive snicker from the teacher who normally taught the class. She’s a Russian, and I’ve been trying to figure her out. She’s always in full nikab and has made numerous references about Saudi Arabia being a good place and wanting to move there. The ONLY reason I can imagine anyone saying those things is that they are a Wahabi muslim. What happens to make someone convert to Wahabism is a fascinating topic, but she’s a mystery to me.

I have learned through a lot of interaction with people that there are some moments when you can direct people’s thoughts. Catching people off guard to the point that they utter some sort of exclamation is a pretty good indicator of one of those moments. I slightly turned so that she was in my line of sight and even though I was speaking to the entire class, I was especially concentrating on her… “The ballet is a national treasure of Russia…” Her eyes glazed over and if it wasn’t for her nikab, I’m sure that I would have seen her jaw go slightly slack, all the hallmarks of someone being engrossed in thought. She wasn’t there anymore, she was somewhere else… “All of the best ballet dancers and ballet companies are from Russia…” And then I saw it, that slight, mocking sneer/smile. You’d be amazed at how expressive the eyes are when that’s all you’ve got to see. It’s quite easy to tell when someone is smiling even when you can only see their eyes. I paused, and she kept that same expression as she turned and looked at the students. It was clear to me what she was thinking, You poor, uncivilized fools. You have no idea what culture is, you have no idea how bad you have it…

Of course those were my thoughts of her thoughts, God only knows what she was actually thinking, but it was clear that she was thinking about some combination of Russia and ballet and had a bit of a sneer on her face as she thought about those things while she turned to her students. I turned to face the class fully and the spell was broken. I use the word “spell” literally, people say that there’s no such thing as magic, but that is demonstrably false. How else do you explain the ability of making someone happy by mentioning how good they look out of the blue? How else do you explain how you can ruin someone’s day by telling them how stupid they are? How could I get that teacher to think about where she’s from, just for a moment? Language is powerful stuff, I used every technique in the book to sell all sorts of stuff, and I did it very well. I doubt that the students picked up on what I was doing, but it would have been a good lesson. I don’t think that enough emphasis is made on the power of language and I certainly don’t think that people understand the power they wield when they talk to someone. If more effort was expended on not only teaching what words mean, but the effects they have on people, I think that the world would be a much better place.

Cheap hypnosis tricks aside, being directed with your language can result in amazing things being accomplished. I’m trying to use this with my teaching, just like I did with my sales. That teacher is still a mystery to me, but I felt like I found out something about her, and she didn’t have to say a thing…

My two classes went pretty well. The students were enthusiastic and they seemed to be eager to participate. I had a few anxious moments during the beginners class, there was an exercise that didn’t seem real obvious to me. I came up with something that the class could do with it, but they didn’t seem to understand what I wanted to do. I just went with whatever they came up with and corrected their usage and pronunciation. Other than that little glitch, it was fairly painless.

We did have a break in each class. I hadn’t expected that since the classes are only 1 1/2 hours long, but they weren’t just to stretch the legs, they had to pray. Never had that issue in any of my classes before… After the second class, the teacher told me that the principle wanted to see me at 8AM the next morning for something. That isn’t going to happen, I’ll call her when I get up around that time. Anyway, as long as she doesn’t throw some sort of weirdness at me I think this will work out just fine.

I’ll have a basic and an advanced class to start out. It turns out that I will be paid by the class, not by the hour. So I’ll essentially get paid $7.50 an hour instead of the $10 I thought Iwas going to get. It’s not really a problem, I don’t know where else I can get paid like that around here. I may teach 3 classes a day instead of the two that I have now when I get back. Right now, I’ll be working from 3 to 6 every day. If I add a class I’ll work from 3 to 7:30 every day. That should give me plenty of money to do what I need to and give me enough time to still do my Arabic. It’ll be nice to have a real schedule, and it’ll be nice to be making money again…

The first class I sat in today did some drills with activities. Among them there were jogging, yoga, dancing, volleyball, and going to see a play. Some of them knew what jogging was, and they all had their own Yemeni version of dancing in mind (which was not pictured in their books), but none of them, including the teacher had any idea about the others. I’ll give the teacher credit, he knew that one “does” yoga instead of playing or practicing it… They then started to talk about an imaginary “International restaurant” and the various types of foods that it offers. The book mentioned Italian, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and even Puerto Rican(!) but once again, none of them really knew what was involved with any of them. The books that they use seem to be noticeably more worldly than the typical Yemeni…

The second class was a little more advanced and was taught by a Russian woman in full nikab. She had an odd accent that was a combo of Russian and Yemeni, but she was completely understandable. They read along with a tape of a ridiculous, by Yemeni standards, conversation of a guy running into a woman on rollarblades and striking up a conversation. That tape was interesting in the fact that they were exposing the students to different accents. They got an Argentinean and an Indian on the tape. It’s good to give them an idea that there are many different accents and they’re all acceptable, there’s no “right” one.

I had another conversation about slang today. A couple of guys stopped me after class and asked about learning slang from me. After I established that they had been listening to hip hop, I cautioned them on the dangers of using slang outside of the culture that creates it. I also told them that it was very easy to accidently offend someone if they didn’t really understand the language well. One of the guys responded, “Yeah, so I guess we shouldn’t use nigger talk…” OK, see, that’s a great example of a problem. I was a little offended, but imagine if he told a black guy that? We do have a black teacher from Canada, I’m glad they asked me that and not him….

In the last post, I mentioned some words that, “…only experienced English speakers should use.” I am of the firm belief that every word has its purpose and time to be used. Yes, every word. If you want to express what the word “Fuck” expresses, nothing else will really do, or at least have exactly the same impact. The same goes for all “swear” words. Yes, many of them are incredibly rude, violent, or just disgusting, but if that is what needs to be expressed, those are the words to use. People that don’t have a good grip on the language, or really understand the effect it can have on people tend to misuse and overuse the “bad” words. Every Italian I have met loves to use the word “fuck” all the time. Granted, I’ve met plenty of Americans that do too, but there are various cultural reasons why. The nonnative speakers seem to use it frequently because of its occurrence in movies and music. I think that if I ever have a kid, I will have a strict no swearing policy until they either leave the house or I feel that they really understand the power and impact of language.