First Day

Wow!  What an awesomely amazing, stressful, and challenging day.  I can say that it was awesome despite the challenges.  There were many more positives than challenges.  I didn't really experience any negatives. 

I arrived at school at 8 and school starts at 8:30.  Amy arrived right after I did so she showed me around and introduced me to many people who were all very polite and greeted me with a "good morning".  I was really excited to see Mozra and Osha and eagerly went up to them and said that I was glad to see them.  Little Osha was so cute when I saw her; she really smiled and lit up like she was excited to see me.  That made me feel really good!  I can't wait to get to know her more and hopefully we'll develop a friendship.  At about 8:25 Amy showed me to my classroom for the morning.  As of right now I do not have a classroom. 

Here is how the school day works.  I have one group of kids for 3 periods in which I am to teach English, math, and science.  Then there is a break.  The girls take their lunch outside and eat then play.  The break is only 20 minutes.  Then I either have a planning period (which I did today) or I teach another 3 periods to a different group of kids. 

So I get in the place that is my classroom for the morning and there are already about 8 girls sitting quitely at desks.  There is another teacher in the room who introduces herself to me, but I can't remember her name.  The names are so different here that it is going to take me a long time to get them.  Her classroom's AC wasn't turned on last night so it was hot in her room so she had her kids in "my" classroom.  After her room cooled off she took her kids. 

My first group is of 15 3rd graders!  I was so excited to be put in 3rd grade for the morning.  The girls were so cute in their green jumper uniforms.   They were all smiling and laughing when I was talking to them.  I introduced myself and asked the girls to tell me their names.  I remember Noff, Shamma, Shamsa, and Meera.  Other than that I have no idea.  The girls would laugh when I would try to say their name.  Part of the problem was I couldn't hear them as the AC was so loud and they were quiet, but honestly the real problem is the language and the difference of the names.  I tried though and I will continue to try and one day I will be able to correctly say their name.  After we introduced ourselves I wrote my name on the board and a lot of the girls wanted to write their name on the board as well, so I let them.  Then they made their name tag, but who knows if that will come back.  It was fun to watch them draw and talk to them about their picture. 

We then played a little game to practice introductions.  I threw a ball and the girl who caught it was to say "My name is______" and then they were to throw it to someone else.  Most of the girls would say "My name _____", I will have to work on the "is".  There were a few who said the full sentence.  We did this for a while before I changed it to "My name is____ and I like ____".  I shared first "My name is Sara and I like cats."  Well, all  my girls like cats!!!  I guess that means that they really didn't understand what I wanted them to do.  I think they had difficulty with "like", but at least they tried and they were practicing English and saying all the words.

We practiced colors, shapes, letters, and numbers.  They are a pretty smart group of girls!  When I wanted them to make a rectangle in the middle of the room they were able to do it without much assistance from me.  One of the little girls kind of took over and was moving the others.  It was so cute!  They are good with counting, but when writing numbers greater than 10 they reverse the digits; 41 for fourteen. 

When I wanted them to draw a picture of their family, they all had families like mine.  They had copied my picture.  Again, they didn't know what I wanted them to do even though I showed them an example.  They may have thought that I wanted them to draw my family. 

I had a fun morning and I think the girls did as well. 

At 10:40 the girls went to breakfast/lunch and I went to the teachers' room.  Most of the teachers were already there.  One of the teachers that I met yesterday told me to sit and eat.  They had lots of Arabic food laid out on the table and everyone was sharing, as is the typical Arabic meal everyone eats from the same plate.   One of the teachers noticed the look on my face as I was eating my lunch and she said "Try".  So I had to try.  There was foul (fool), not sure what this is exactly but I did not like it.  I also had a falafel that I did not like, but at least I tried.  Tomorrow I will eat my lunch.  The other teachers were very friendly and were asking me a few questions; where I was from, am I married, is this my first time in the UAE.  Nice people!  After lunch/breakfast I had my planning period so I just stayed in the teachers' room.  Amy and Alice left because they didn't have their planning until after the last period, so I was alone.  Well, not alone but I felt alone because everyone was speaking in Arabic to their friends and I couldn't talk to anyone.  I was sitting at one side of the table and everyone else was at the other end.  The Arabic teachers would come and go as determined by their schedule and whenever someone would come in the room everyone would greet her.  It was interesting to watch, but I felt out of place.  I was hoping that I would be able to be with Amy or Alice, but that was not to be.  I will have to try to be more interactive with the other teachers tomorrow.  It was just that lonely feeling again.  I couldn't wait for my planning period to be over, so I could get in the classroom with the girls.

My afternoon group was 8 1st graders.  I was so not prepared for these cute little 1st graders.  They are super cute, but they are super loud and chatty.  Plus they try to leave the room.  That was difficult.  I tried many different activities; drawing, jumping, running, letters, numbers, Simon says, head, shoulders, knees, and toes, reading a story, and coloring, but each activity only lasted about 5 minutes.  I did not have enough to make it through the 1 1/2 hours that I had with these little girls.  A lot of time was spent getting them back in the classroom.  The 1st graders are really kindergartners because they have never been in school before.  So different and challenging.  Their language is definitely not as good as the 3rd graders, so that is a huge issue.  When I gave them paper and crayons they didn't know what to do.  They couldn't understand draw.  Even after I drew something on the board.  They wanted to copy.  A lot of them did circles, we had just drawn circles, so they continued on the other paper.  During the second period I had a mother come into the classroom to watch.  That did not bother me and actually she ended up helping me because she was able to translate a lot of what I was saying to the girls.  She was here to pick up her daughter, but didn't want to leave, she just wanted to check on her.  No problem.  After the bell for second period I thought the day was over, so I told the girls to get their bags and go.  The mother took her daughter and went to get the older one.  She came back and told me that there was one more period to go.  I can't believe I did that.  I was so embarrassed.  The mother was so nice and understood that I was new and didn't know.  I am so thankful she was understanding about the situation because she could have been very mad.  I don't even want to think about what would have happened if she weren't there.  I do not want 1st grade, but if I end up with that grade I will do it, and I will do my best.  It will just be a huge challenge.

School ends at 1:50 or 2:00.  I send the girls out and they go to their car, wait for their car, or wait for their bus.  I do not have to do any monitoring of them.  The school hires people to watch them while they are waiting.  It's nice to not have any duties other than teaching.

At 2:15 I finally meet the principal, and she welcomes me to the school and then leaves.  I had been warned that she's not really social and she is usually the last to arrive and the first to leave, but I hadn't expected that on the first day.

So, as of right now I do not have a classroom and I do not know what grade I will actually be teaching.  Tomorrow I will be doing 1st grade in the morning and 3rd grade in the afternoon.  Hopefully by Sunday I will have a set schedule and a classroom.  The principal really wants the LTs to have a classroom.  I can't get into a routine or introduce rules until I know what group of girls are going to be mine for the rest of the year.  Tomorrow I have the same groups as today, but that may not be the case on Sunday.  A lot of confusion, but it will get settled.

The physical layout of the school is neat.  Everything is centered around this huge outdoor space where the girls have their breakfast, where they play, where morning assemblies are, and where they wait for their bus.  It's a neat idea. 

Interesting side note.  There is only 1 actual toilet in the school and it doesn't flush properly.  All the other toilets are literally just holes.  Not sure I can get used to that!

I am looking forward to another interesting, exciting, and challenging day tomorrow.