And Another New Beginning Again

Note to reader: I'm too tired to fix these paragraphs, so I'm using footnotes to handle the really bulky asides. Deal with it. Text in red is footnoted below.

Further note to reader: What's up? You should email me, I'm lonely.

Well, after much ado, and a full week of empty classrooms during the actual first week of school, the 2011-12 school year has finally, actually begun!

Shit.

In case I never ranted to you in person about it, let me explain something about my school: my school is a fucking joke. Every day, every period, the majority of the students spend their "class" time wandering around the central courtyard, hanging out, talking, breaking things, and occasionally intruding on classes and interrupting whatever iota of momentum the teacher might have managed to generate. Any faculty not teaching during a given period are meant to usher students to class, which is impossible since there are no consequences for their behavior, so all we can do is impotently nag them, forever repeating, "Yella shebab!" while they giggle like idiots and wander around some more.

So this year, the school administration decided to change the situation by having the students stay in the same classroom all day while the teachers rotate. That way, you keep the students out of the hallways and in their seats, cutting down on interruptions and increasing class time. Sure, it's a pain in the ass for teachers to have to move all their resources, materials and equipment every period, but that can be overcome with good planning (of which most are incapable) and the right resources (which we don't have). True, the learning suffers somewhat, as the teacher is unable to make the necessary changes to create a suitable learning environment, but the gain in viable, uninterrupted class time should more than make up for that.

Except, of course, that it's a total crock of shit, and the students just get up and leave after every class and do precisely the same thing they have always done. So we are left with the worst of both worlds. This is no surprise, of course--in fact, it's exactly what I said would happen when the principal unveiled his New World Order.

So okay, I do what I can with the students who actually show up. I do some getting to know you stuff, and teach a bit about personal pronouns. A few of them get something out of it, and some of them utter a handful of sentences by the end of things. This is the best we can do in East Baniyas. To be honest, it wasn't so bad today. There was some amount of learning going on. I even got a bit of acclaim from grateful kids.

Oh, and now, because the district is grossly understaffed, they're trying to get us to take an extra class each. If I do so, it'd leave me teaching out of 7 periods a day, every day. Of course I refused, blabbing about my contract and all. So, maybe they'll fire me, I don't know. I'd have to go home and leave all this behind.

Somehow, I don't think I'll be losing much sleep.



ado: mostly playing Sid Meier's Civilization V, drinking coffee, and refusing dates (the fruit) from coworkers

momentum: that is, in the rare cases where the guy in front of the class is actually attempting to teach something, rather than the more common scenario in which the students play with their mobile phones while the teacher reads tabloids and picks his nose

Yella shebab!: If I write a memoir of teaching in Baniyas, it will be entitled "Yella Shebab!" and be so depressing it will come with a double coupon for a bottle of sleeping pills and a fifth of bourbon.

administration: really just some very nice fellows who pay the school a visit several hours each week, sit in lovely offices and drink coffee while asking the teachers why the students aren't learning anything

worst of both worlds: like paying full price to see Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes.

principal: a swell guy named Abdullah who probably attended high school himself, at least for a few weeks

acclaim: What he said was, "Teacher Adam good!" which would be cute if these guys hadn't been in English classes for 10 years already

understaffed: after firing and deporting hundreds of Arab-born English teachers last year in favor of jerks like me

all this: please refer to my previous post

Abu Dhabi Sucks

Seriously.

Next Time I'll Tell You About the Time I Whipped Three Emiratis with a Length of Rubber

April. Springtime in the desert. Not much is in bloom around these parts. Just wind and sun and dust. The change in season is mostly marked by the heat rolling in heavier each day, and all we can do is wait it out.

Waiting is the theme these days. For the end of the work day, the weekend, the summer, our exodus to greener pastures. I don't like being one of those people who spends the week counting down to the weekend, but there it is.

It's not all a drag. Had a good time camping in Oman over spring break. Went camping in the mountains, and a night camping on the beach on the Gulf of Oman. Beautiful drive and mountain views, reminiscent of Highway 1 in California, winding mountain road hugging the coast. Quiet and isolated camping spot, and a mess of stars at night. It was good to get out of the city for a while, and spend some good time with Frances away from the frustrations of being here.

Sometimes I think it's idiotic to complain about being here. I think if we had been living in some sleepy suburb prior to the move, it would be a totally different experience. I mean, we have people who come to clean our apartment for us. We have a swimming pool and a gym at our disposal in the building. My job is ridiculously effort-free and the money is good enough to allow us some leisure and luxury, for once. Life is easy, which is not exactly the same as being good, but it certainly could be worse.

I'm killing time with mostly pointless pursuits, which is my own failing. Video games fill hours, but not the void. I've started taking an online class in teaching literacy, which at least gives me something with which to occupy my brain at work each week, but it's not the most rigorous of courses. I'm so far unimpressed with the quality of online education. Rather than the connected web of academic discussion, you have a bunch of frayed lines, one way communications that ultimately lead nowhere. I'm hoping, as always, to use my time a little more effectively, but this has not historically been one of my strongest suits. Something to work on.

Recommence my study of Spanish? Make that documentary about exploitative working conditions in UAE that Frances keeps talking about? Start a Wesley Willis tribute band called Banoffee Pie? We're running out of episodes of Dexter, so I need to get going on something.

Seven months here, and we're still debating whether or not to stick it out next year. It comes down to money versus happiness, which usually I'd call a no-brainer, but it's an amount of money that could really change things for us moving forward, and that's hard to ignore. If we stay, it will be a matter of trying to recoup some happiness, one way or another.

Springtime in Abu Dhabi. If we're going to tease out a new bloom, it will likely be within.