After coming back from vacation a month ago, we teachers spent the first week doing very little. We cleaned our desks, we proctored re-sits for students who had failed to show up to their exams the previous month. Our schedules weren't ready, so we couldn't preview what we would be teaching so, I spent most of the week drilling Arabic vocabulary.
At the beginning of the second week I got my schedule, and to my amazement and delight, I had a mere nineteen classroom hours. Additionally, I would be teaching classes wherein the trainees would not be given grades, and in which I could significantly alter the syllabus. I have zero responsibility to make the students test-passers, as they will not be tested on material taught in my class, which means we can have some fun!. I take teaching seriously, but I believe that classes should be engaging. This semester, I could really test that theory. I could see what works, and what doesn't, and hopeful get they students excited about learning.
To make matters even better, in addition to teaching a section of level three students, I got a section of new recruits, which are for the most part very bright and well-behaved. They are so well behaved that I'm starting to feel less like a baby-sitter and more like an actual honest to God teacher.
The first four week went fairly well...
And now because of Eid al-Adha, we're all on vacation again. Originally, I thought it would only be ten days, but it turned out to be fifteen. So, I've been relaxing in Rabigh since last Thursday, studying Arabic, doing Yoga, practicing meditation, wandering around, and all of the other things I enjoy that are legal in Rabigh. Tomorrow, I fly to Sri Lanka, where I'll spend the next ten days, and do some things which are NOT legal here.
When I get back, we will have eight more weeks of classes, and then we will be off on vacation once again...and if decide not to renew my contract, I'll have just over a month after that until I am free to wander the world, go back to visit Canada, or go seek employment elsewhere.
Coming soon: Sri Lanka
Can you handle the pace?
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