the long term forcast for Kuwait, this week.mmmmm.....
Friday, 23 November 2007
Monday, 19 November 2007
adventures in teaching
What a day.
Wake up, 5am, as per usual. On the bus at 6:15, at school by 6:25. Organize my lessons for the day, go outside for gate duty from 7:00-7:20. My first class arrives by 7:30, and they do their warm-up. These French 1s enjoy talking, and talking they do a lot. To the point where they can't even sit still in my class. They don't listen to each other, they don't listen to me. So I had to be stern with them today, and explain the consequences of constantly talking and not paying attention to each other or to me, which is losing their participation marks of 15% of their final grade. This is huge. I explained that if they have a 94% in their class, and lose 15% on participation, what does that leave? (79%). And what grade is that? (C+). And I would not be boosting a C+ on account of behaviour in my class. I had had enough.
The girls were silent at this point. Absolutely silent.
And they tried arguing. And they tried being smart with me. And I tried explaining it.
I gave them their assignment, and let them to work. I had no urge to try and get them to participate in large group activities if they just were going to be that way. I wanted, for one, to see that the girls could figure it out on their own - to combat their "learned helplessness" and give them pride in their achievements. And they complained throughout the entire activity! Until the end, when they realized that they had done it, and had done it in no time at all.
I had girls writing on the board, "Je deteste le francais" (at least they learned something!) - these are my very outgoing girls, the ones who are constantly complaining that I take their marks off while talking during the lesson.
So out of 17 students, the only 7 or so who do not hate me at this moment are the few who never get to talk during class, who want to learn desperately but cannot because of the ones who crave my attention and slow down the class - these 7 girls got to answer questions at the end of class - I got to hear their voices for once - because the rest of the class refused to participate.
But it was silent.
And yet I feel bad. I don't like that I had to be stern with them, I don't like that they claimed I was mean and hated them (which I denied - vehemently), I don't like that I don't know what to do at this point. And I don't like that this will inhibit my sleeping for the next few days.
I need to find a job that doesn't require so much invested emotional and physical energy.
----
Oh, one more thing. Our first teacher flew the coop yesterday - just up and left the country, no explanation, just that she was "done". The sad thing is that at this point, everyone is feeling a little "done" and running seems very tempting - the honeymoon period is over, Ramadan is over - the girls are giving us a run for our money and making us earn every last penny. There's only 20 more teaching days until Christmas, which is coming none-too-soon.
I have to admit that I'm a little homesick at times, especially when it's tough, but I'm having more fun in Kuwait and experiencing more than I would be in nowheresville Ontario. Thank God for good friends, good fun and good shoulders to lean and cry on.
Wake up, 5am, as per usual. On the bus at 6:15, at school by 6:25. Organize my lessons for the day, go outside for gate duty from 7:00-7:20. My first class arrives by 7:30, and they do their warm-up. These French 1s enjoy talking, and talking they do a lot. To the point where they can't even sit still in my class. They don't listen to each other, they don't listen to me. So I had to be stern with them today, and explain the consequences of constantly talking and not paying attention to each other or to me, which is losing their participation marks of 15% of their final grade. This is huge. I explained that if they have a 94% in their class, and lose 15% on participation, what does that leave? (79%). And what grade is that? (C+). And I would not be boosting a C+ on account of behaviour in my class. I had had enough.
The girls were silent at this point. Absolutely silent.
And they tried arguing. And they tried being smart with me. And I tried explaining it.
I gave them their assignment, and let them to work. I had no urge to try and get them to participate in large group activities if they just were going to be that way. I wanted, for one, to see that the girls could figure it out on their own - to combat their "learned helplessness" and give them pride in their achievements. And they complained throughout the entire activity! Until the end, when they realized that they had done it, and had done it in no time at all.
I had girls writing on the board, "Je deteste le francais" (at least they learned something!) - these are my very outgoing girls, the ones who are constantly complaining that I take their marks off while talking during the lesson.
So out of 17 students, the only 7 or so who do not hate me at this moment are the few who never get to talk during class, who want to learn desperately but cannot because of the ones who crave my attention and slow down the class - these 7 girls got to answer questions at the end of class - I got to hear their voices for once - because the rest of the class refused to participate.
But it was silent.
And yet I feel bad. I don't like that I had to be stern with them, I don't like that they claimed I was mean and hated them (which I denied - vehemently), I don't like that I don't know what to do at this point. And I don't like that this will inhibit my sleeping for the next few days.
I need to find a job that doesn't require so much invested emotional and physical energy.
----
Oh, one more thing. Our first teacher flew the coop yesterday - just up and left the country, no explanation, just that she was "done". The sad thing is that at this point, everyone is feeling a little "done" and running seems very tempting - the honeymoon period is over, Ramadan is over - the girls are giving us a run for our money and making us earn every last penny. There's only 20 more teaching days until Christmas, which is coming none-too-soon.
I have to admit that I'm a little homesick at times, especially when it's tough, but I'm having more fun in Kuwait and experiencing more than I would be in nowheresville Ontario. Thank God for good friends, good fun and good shoulders to lean and cry on.
Sunday, 11 November 2007
a taste of home!
I've been trying to find Chai Tea here for the past 3 months.
On Friday, we were at Marina Mall and we decided to splurge and go to Second Cup...and I had my first Chai Latte in Kuwait and it was pure heaven.
I miss my Chai!
So much that I dedicated an entire post to it. You betcha.
super students
I am officially one of the coaches for the Academic Games. Yes, yes, the nerdo-lympics.
But I'm not going to write about that. Although I'm pretty excited about it. Even if it will take up 3 lunch periods a week for the next 4 months. Somehow, I'm excited to learn lots of new, useless trivia, too ;)
But there is one student who missed practice today because she had an AP meeting (AP stands for Advanced Placement - kind of like the old OAC courses - for the smart kids who want to be more prepared for university). She came at the beginning and said that she wanted to be there but she couldn't, so I put her name on the list and off she went.
After school, she came to talk to me, she asked when meetings would happen. I told her: Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays at lunchtime. So she said, "ah, and Tuesdays are Student Council, so that leaves Wednesday night for Grade Advisor meetings."
This girl is hard core. She plays on every sports team, she does every extracurricular activity, AND she's in AP courses. If that's not crazy, I don't know what is. She's a special kid, and I'm very proud of her - even though I'm not even really her teacher!
But I'm not going to write about that. Although I'm pretty excited about it. Even if it will take up 3 lunch periods a week for the next 4 months. Somehow, I'm excited to learn lots of new, useless trivia, too ;)
But there is one student who missed practice today because she had an AP meeting (AP stands for Advanced Placement - kind of like the old OAC courses - for the smart kids who want to be more prepared for university). She came at the beginning and said that she wanted to be there but she couldn't, so I put her name on the list and off she went.
After school, she came to talk to me, she asked when meetings would happen. I told her: Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays at lunchtime. So she said, "ah, and Tuesdays are Student Council, so that leaves Wednesday night for Grade Advisor meetings."
This girl is hard core. She plays on every sports team, she does every extracurricular activity, AND she's in AP courses. If that's not crazy, I don't know what is. She's a special kid, and I'm very proud of her - even though I'm not even really her teacher!
Friday, 2 November 2007
November in Kuwait
I think that November in Kuwait is going to be my favourite month. It feels a lot like September in Canada - the mornings and evenings are nice and cool, but it's still quite warm during the day.
I went for a walk this morning, just as the sun was rising. I even wore my sweater - for a few minutes, until I realized that I really didn't need it. It's nice to feel a cool breeze, I didn't want to cover it up!
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