Monday marked the beginning of the school year. All 6,000 teachers (Arabic and LTs) were gathered in Abu Dhabi at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC) for a kickoff for the new school model.
I got a wake up call at 4am so I could have breakfast and be on the bus by 6am. The bus was supposed to leave at 6am sharp so we could be to the ADNEC by 10am. Not sure why we had to leave so early since it's only a 2 hour ride, not 4 to Abu Dhabi. Anyway we didn't leave until after 7. Very frustrating. I was ready to leave and on the bus at 6, but we had to wait for all the slow people. Silly me I took 6am sharp to mean exactly that. Others took it to mean around 7. Even leaving at 7 we got there at 8:45 and the meeting didn't truly start untill 11. A lot of waiting. That is so frustrating to me. The only good part was that I got to see people from Abu Dhabi that I haven't seen in 1 1/2 weeks (Kisha, Wesley, Melanie, Mary, Kate, and Michelle). That made all the waiting worthwhile.
The meeting was very boring. It was in Arabic, but we had headphones which translated the speeches into English. We had already heard a lot of what was being said. I think the meeting was more for the Arabic teachers to introduce them to the new school model, but they didn't want to say that so it was for everyone even though we've heard it before. The new school model is totally impressive, but not all Arabic teachers/principals are on board with the idea of improving education through English and student centered ways of teaching. It's a lot of change at once. We did have a really good lunch though. I even had lasagne!!! Yummy:) We didn't get home until 6:30 so it was a really long and tiring day.
Today, Tuesday, I went to a school and had a meeting with other teachers from schools in the general area of Amoriya (A-more-e-ah) Primary School. The first issue began with finding the school. I had gotten a map and it showed the general area but not the exact location of the school. The taxi driver took me to the area and then we had to search for the school. He was a really good driver because he stopped several times to ask for directions! He got me to the school and I wasn't even late. The meeting started at 9 and I left the hotel a little after 8 and arrived at 8:45.
I walked in and saw a sea of black. Everyone in their abayahs and sheylahs. It was nerve wracking to not know anyone and not be able to speak the language. I saw a group of ladies and kind of followed them, but they stopped to greet each other and I had no idea what to do. Eventually, one of the faculty heads came out and saw me and directed me to the training room for my school. The room was filled with women in Abayahs. Most of the sheylahs came off because no men were in the room. I can't really express the frustration that I felt and the loneliness of not knowing anyone and not knowing the language. I did say hi to a few of the women, but they continued their conversations in Arabic with their friends. I was eventually introduced to Amy, the returning LT. It was great to be able to talk to someone. She was so kind and helpful. She answered a lot of my questions and told me that Amoryia is a very good school and everyone is so helpful and friendly. That was great to hear, but I wasn't really experiencing that yet. I know that everyone was just catching up from summer break and I don't know them so they're really not going to talk to me yet. Amy told me that I do not have to wear an abayah! Yeah! I get to wear the lovely skirts that Pam made. Too bad I had some abayahs made already on rumors. Oh well. There are also no supplies at the school. Literally just desks and chairs; which is weird because she said that it's in a more affluent area. But that doesn't really matter here; most school have nothing. Amy introduced me to Andrea, the head of facutly, and she seems really nice. Everyone seems nice! Alice arrived later and when she got there I felt so much better; just not being the only new person is a wonderful feeling. When the meeting started everyone continued talking in Arabic to their friends. The presenter was trying to get them to be quiet, but it wasn't happening. It was frustrating to hear all the Arabic around me and not be able to pick up anything that they were saying. The presenters even wanted us to work and talk together, which is a great thing, but it was so hard. We had to use a lot of hand signals and do a lot of repeating. A lot of the teachers know some Enlgish, but it's difficult to have an intellectual conversation due to my not being able to speak Arabic and their inability to speak fluent English. We did have some humor, when they laughed at how I said "doll" they thought the /o/ sound was very funny! They wanted to know the word for puppet and they were able to say a doll that you put your fingers in. First I thought they said "door". They got their idea across by wiggling their fingers and saying "toy". Whatever works!! They seem to have great ideas and are willing to share and listen to other ideas so that's a wonderful. It sounds like they are open to the change and are wanting to become better teachers for their students.
I met Mozra, Osha, and Fatima (I am sure those are not the correct spellings, but that is what their names sounded like). Osha is very short and she ended up standing next to me at one point, so we got a good laugh about that! Mozra was probably the best at English and she seems so funny and good natured. Fatima was quiet, but was good at telling me where to go. We had lunch and Mozra and Osha asked me to sit with them. That was so nice and really helped to ease the nerves that I was feeling during the day. They found out that I am single and they told me not to worry about it they would fix that! Andrea was divorced when she arrived last year and she got married over the summer! So, they are good at finding men!! Which is funny because Osha is still single!! We shall see.
At the end of the meeting Amy, Alice, and I just talked about the school and our grade level. We kind of decided that Amy would do 1st, Alice 2nd, and me 3rd. So we will go to the principal, who Amy says is very nice and easy to work with, and tell her our idea. Amy said last year they got to decide so we'll see if that happens this year. School starts at 8:30 and we were told not to get there before 8. The principal won't get there that early and we still don't know what room we'll be in. So there is no point in getting there before that as we'll just have to sit in a room and wait for the principal to arrive and tell us where to go.
Overall, what started as a very scary and tense day ended quite pleasantly. I met some great people that I am going to be working with and I am looking forward to working with them. God is easing my fears and relaxing my nerves.
Now to get my plans finalized for tomorrow!
Remember how you felt when everyone else was milling about, speaking in their native language and you felt alone? That is the exact same feeling that so many nonnative English speakers feel when they come to the United States. It really helps to give you an authentic perspective on what they go through, and how they cope: friends who speak their language, seeking someone out who DOES speak their language, hand signals/gestures, etc. It helps you have a lot more compassion and empathy for the people, and the children, who have moved to this country. Always remember how humbling that felt.
ReplyDeleteAs far as dealing with time delays, unfortunately I think that's just something that is inherently a part of their culture. It stinks like nobody's business, but unfortunately it's not something that you can control. You CAN control, however, how you REACT to it. I've dealt with slow people, groups, meetings, etc. for as long as I can remeber, but now instead of immediately getting angry about it, I do deep-belly yoga breathing, and think about everything that I've been blessed with. Most of the time it helps, other times not so much! But as long as you try, I really believe that you'll be just fine.
Best wishes with your new school year! I'm so excited for you! You are going to be an amazing teacher!
Love,
Candace :)