The trimester started off well enough. I had a great schedule: three classroom hours Sunday to Tuesday, and five Wednesday and Thursday. I had one section--all the same trainees, and it was a high-ability section too, which meant I could get some actual learning happening. They were a little rough around the edges, but in general quite good students.
Then, a couple weeks into the semester, on of my colleagues' contract expired and he went back to the United States...so I inherited a some of his students...and they were terrible--they were loud, had terrible study habits, slept in class, etc. I had to teach them study skills. Yay.
But at the end of the day, I really liked my primary section. I was getting really into teaching them. I was even doing lesson planning at home, to make sure things were super tight, and so I could give the best lesson I could. It took a lot of effort, but I was slowly coaxing them into doing their homework, coming to class on time, and doing all of the classwork. I used every stick and carrot I had at my disposal, and it was working. I was turning the class into something almost respectable. A true feat for vocational students in Saudi Arabia!
Little did I know that some of the students were secretly conspiring to kick me out of the classroom and have me replaced! Perhaps I should have known--they had, after all, massed together to complain about me when I insisted on enforcing the school's lateness policy (more than five minutes late to class earns them an absence). So, it was to my amazement, when somewhat past the middle of the semester, my supervisor called me into his office to tell me that I would be changing sections.
Apparently, some students had secretly banded together and complained about me to whoever would listen--and were very persistent. Meanwhile I had an official classroom observation, which went fairly well, and aside from that, I didn't hear anything from anyone about my classroom performance.
Imagine my surprise when the management swapped me out with another teacher! Allegedly, it was because I "wasn't teaching them grammar right." I was upset about the whole ordeal--not just because it called my teaching abilities into question, but also, because I really enjoyed teaching that class, and felt betrayed.
I shared my feelings with several of my co-workers, and to my astonishment, THE SAME THING HAD HAPPENED TO MOST OF THEM, at this institute or another. It turned out that this was fairly common practice.
Not having had to live up to any academic standards in their entire lives, it turns out trainees will often band together and do anything they can to indict a teacher they believe is asking too much of them.
So, I had to swap classes with another teacher. The class ended up being quite good, despite being of a lower level...although I had to deal with a couple days of "we got stuck with the shit teacher that got swapped from the other section."
Shortly afterward, on top of it all, I got stuck teaching another study skills class to what very well may have been the worst class in entire school. Trying to teach those guys anything was a lesson in futility...and the curriculum was awful. So, the rest of the semester was for the most part, less than pleasant.
However, I cannot complain now, because the trimester is over, and having no actual work to do, I am writing this entry from work. Yes, it's terrible--all of the marking has been done and now we teachers must bravely stave off boredom for two days, with only the aid of the internet. Luckily it's Ramadan, and we only have to come into work for six hours.
Next week we will do professional development, and then I'm off to Korea for vacation for six weeks. So, if you were wondering why I am wasting my days living in Saudi Arabia, now you know!
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