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
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
