Teacher and Referee

       Let me begin by saying that I LOVE my job! I feel very blessed at having been placed in an awesome school with awesome LT's, Arabic teachers, and admin. I've been given the liberty to arrange and decorate Ashjan's classroom however I want. And, so far whenever she is in the classroom with me I can count on her for anything. With that being said I must also add that things work VERY differently over here and like any job it can get frustrating at times. Wow, did I have a reality check last week...
      Last week was the first week for the students. Their second week of school and my third week of work just ended. Well these past two weeks I've, along with the rest of the LT's and teachers, have been going along with the flow of things. What that means is that we really have not had a schedule to follow everyday. I'll usually find out in the morning if we have some type of assembly or activity for the kids. At the last minute the times have also been changed. For the most part I really don't know what's going on which means that my students don't know what's going on either. Because of that I'm getting pretty good at making up activities to fill up time slots. But at the same time I haven't been able to teach routines. How can I if we don't have a schedule with routines to follow? I'm sure next week will be different since we have to start teaching the curriculum.
       This week I've focused on circle time activities such as calendar, alphabet song, numbers, shapes, colors, and a name activity game. The kids have also been working on tracing their name and letter matching. It has been hard communicating with them since I don't speak Arabic. If I'm by myself the kids get up and leave whenever they want and eat whenever they want. Lol, ay ay ay they seriously don't care about listening to me. They run away, sometimes three at a time. Luckily when my Arabic teacher is there I can really count on her to help me manage the class.
       If you're wondering about this posts title and the word referee keep on reading for an explanation. Wow! I have never seen kids fight and hit soooo much! Apart from them leaving the classroom and eating when they want they also fight just as often. I'm constantly breaking up fights or stopping kids from hitting each other. The interesting thing is that if an Arabic teacher sees it they usually stop the fight and hug the kids. Even the ones who were hitting! There are no consequences for misbehaving.
       So yes, things have been very interesting. Luckily last week after having a fit and complaining about work my wonderful sister reminded me of why I'm here and ever since then things have been great. I'm constantly reminding myself that I'm not in the US and therefor have been going with the flow and enjoying myself. I'm also concentrating on the positives and all the things that I LOVE about my job.

Here is a list of some of the things I love about working here:

• Every student and Arabic Teacher can say my name PERFECTLY! (here the kids call you by your first name)
• Everyone is super friendly and helpful.
• All of the LT's are super cool young and from different countries. Canada, US, and New Zealand.
• My students are sooo adorable and cute! They hug me and wave bye to me now. 
• My schedule is the best. Sun-Wed 7:30-1:30pm. and Thurs 7:30-12:30.
• The $$$ of course! HAHAHA. 

First week of school

       This past week was my first week of work. The work week over here is Sunday to Thursday. On Sunday I had to report to my school for the first time. When I arrived I noticed that there were many cars leaving, luckily there was a security guard outside who helped me out. Since he didn't speak English he signaled for me to wait and he went ahead and called an Emirate who was already in her car getting ready to leave. He handed her my assignment letter and she immediately got off her car. As I watched her walk towards me I became to feel really nervous. She was wearing an abaya and her entire face was covered I couldn't even see her eyes. I don't know why but that really intimidated me. As she got closer she began to uncover her face and smile, a really big smile, at me. When she finally approached me she greeted me and walked me inside to meet the Head of Faculty. I was only there for about three minutes when the other new LT's and I were told to go home and come back the next day. On my way out the I saw the same Emirate who walked me in. She looked at me and told me "You will be very happy here in my school." She asked me if this was my first time in UAE and she also said "Insha'Allah you will be very happy here." Insha'Allah means God willing. The way I was greeted by her made me feel so welcomed even though I had only really been there for about five minutes I knew I was going to love it! Come to find out the Emirate is the vice principal.

       The next day I met all the other LT's, there is a total of seven of us. I also met all of the Arabic teachers who were all very welcoming and eager to meet us. During our staff meeting we also met the principal who welcomed us and told us that we would have a good year. During the meeting I was assigned KG-2, kindergarten in the US, and my co-teacher Ashjan. Ashjan speaks enough English to communicate with me. She has been teaching there at the same school and classroom for 12 years. She was very nice to me and told me to do whatever I wanted to the classroom since it is now mine too. 

       During the remainder of the week I worked on cleaning the room, organizing the furniture, and taking down from the walls anything that didn't have an educational purpose. By the time I was done there was nothing left on the walls and the tiny room looked big enough to fit 25 students. Yup, so far I know that I will have 25 students!! Boy am I happy the students leave at 12:30 everyday. Another perk about my job is my schedule. I have to report to school around 7:45, classes start at 8 and the students leave at 12:30. Sunday through Wednesday I will be able to leave around 2 and on Thursdays I will be able to leave as soon as the students leave.

       I'm looking forward to the first two weeks of school. The first week the students will be leaving at 10:30 and we will be having a welcome party for them. So far my class only has the alphabet and a few books.  I hope I finish arranging my classroom and buying all of the needed resources for my students before the end of the month. 

This is the school where I'll be working:

 Jose and I ready for the first day of work

 Pictures of my classroom

 Here are some pictures of different murals on the walls of the school 

 Ashjan decorated our classrooms door. Don't you just love Barbie wearing an abaya and long skirt?

Some more murals

      


       The first day of school for the students will be tomorrow. I know that the first few weeks are going to be tough. Things have gone so well so far that I know that sooner or later this honeymoon stage is going to come to an abrupt end... I just hope it's not for another three months.