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A'Sharqiyah University
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infidelicious



Joined: 23 Jul 2013
Posts: 3
Location: Ibra, Oman

PostPosted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:01 am    Post subject: A'Sharqiyah University Reply with quote

There will soon be many new openings for ESL instructors here. You will be tempted to apply. If you do, be sure you find out why there are so many openings....
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Chuma



Joined: 21 May 2013
Posts: 72

PostPosted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
You will be tempted to apply. If you do, be sure you find out why there are so many openings....


Clearly you have something you want to share about working at this university. Why don't you just give us your perspective on the matter?
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infidelicious



Joined: 23 Jul 2013
Posts: 3
Location: Ibra, Oman

PostPosted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am still working here so I can't go into a lot of detail yet. But what I can share is :

1. A teacher was just assaulted by a student here...so far no one has done anything and the "student" is still here.
2. The last time a teacher was assaulted the teacher was fired and nothing happened to the student. That same student also set a desk on fire. Guess what? That "student" is still here too.

This is not a safe place to work.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another round at Sharquiya. This makes me wonder why people bother to post warnings here, as no one seems to heed those warnings. There is information here telling all who care to research what working at Sharquiya University is like. There is also information out there on other pages. And still they go to ASU. And still they quit in droves. And still a new pool of fools goes to ASU to replace them. And still that pool quits. And over and over and over and over...
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The problem isn't Al-Sharqiya (no 'u' in there), it is that pool of applicants who either do not research or figure that it can't be as bad as many say or really need a job/salary and this is the only offer that they have. As always, it's supply and demand...

VS
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 1:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I look at sites and pages online as a way to 'test-drive' teaching jobs. I mean, what else do we have? History is what we have, and that is it. I did a search for this university online after reading the OP and immediately found two sources that would cause me to think 1.5 times about working there. After performing this search, I wouldn't come within a hundred miles of working there at Al Sharqiya. So I won't get to meet the arsonist student who apparently attacks teachers. Too bad, eh? That's actually very, very good.

I've worked at places where I was expected to pass all my students or I was fired. If teachers tried to stop students from cheating on exams at those employers, they were gone. I want to know beforehand I'm going to work at such places so I can say NO before the contract signing. I'm not a piece of meat who can be easily replaced if I don't pass my rich kids or kids with wasta power. Sources like this give ME power and should serve notice to employers--they have to treat teachers right or we won't be going to those places.

I will say THANK YOU, all, for posting what you post. It doesn't just go in one eye and out the other in every case. Some of us are reading info here and at other places and really using it to avoid making bad job moves. We're also contributing our part from time to time by giving warnings about bad apples we've taken bites of and regretted it. I have had both delicious apples and those that were rotten to the core. I've had a couple that were in-between that were almost good enough--but not quite. I want people to know about all three. If we go to work for bad employers in this business, we can damage our careers. So test driving jobs is very important. Obviously lots of teachers don't share this view and believe going into a job blindly is fine.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:27 am    Post subject: Re: A'Sharqiyah University Reply with quote

infidelicious wrote:
..........be sure you find out why there are so many openings....


Delicious, some of us have been in this business long enough to know you don't have to go any further than the turnover figure. If a teaching corps at an employer is quitting en-masse, if a department suddenly needs a large number of teachers, yet that department is not new, that tells us we need to avoid those places. And we do. Or at least I do. I don't usually try to find out why they're quitting. Just their quitting alone is enough to tell me to stay away.

If I see an ad that says something like "We need 10 teachers ASAP", I know I won't be one of the 10. Something has driven those teachers out, and I refuse to be in the next batch of quitters/termination victims. That's how you have to look at these job openings....realistically.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 4:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You are describing the reaction from experienced teachers - who have a CV that allows them to qualify for many jobs. Newbies to the field and to the Middle East often have to take what they can get... and that first job is often pretty awful. Shocked

We can warn them, but often they can't or won't listen.

VS
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Tazz



Joined: 26 Sep 2013
Posts: 512
Location: Jakarta

PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Such a hierarchical 'smugness' from the veterans sometimes here-on the one hand the 'newbies' to the Middle East are frequently warned about, lets call them problematic or difficult places to work -and god knows, anywhere that has students assaulting teachers is certainly somewhere to be avoided at all costs-however, while being warned about the undesirability of these places the 'newbies' are presumably being told they 'have to' take these positions....since they aren't qualified or experienced for anything else?!!! Confused
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 4:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not sure what you are talking about... I haven't recalled that in my years here I ever forced some unsuspecting newbie to take a crap job that we regulars have likely been warning about for years.

New teachers apply for jobs... we tell them the good, bad, and the often ugly... if they ask. They make their own decisions based on what offers they get. Those with no experience in the Middle East and only a BA and a Cert are not going to get offered the $4-5000 a month plum jobs at the best universities. Some teachers will never get a chance at one of these jobs.

It sounds to me like you are suggesting that we should lie or mislead these people. All we can do is tell them the situation and warn them when they sound like they are planning to take a position at a place like Al Sharqiya. Theoretically we are all adults here. We all have to live with our own decisions.

VS
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Tazz



Joined: 26 Sep 2013
Posts: 512
Location: Jakarta

PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

But if the 'golden carrot' is the plum job paying $4-5000 a month which requires qualifications 'beyond' the B.A. + teaching cert, coupled with at least 2 years gulf experience-there's limited choice for the newcomer, right?
You say-"we can warn them, but often they can't or won't listen." Well what choice do they have?
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MuscatGary



Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...

PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tazz wrote:
But if the 'golden carrot' is the plum job paying $4-5000 a month which requires qualifications 'beyond' the B.A. + teaching cert, coupled with at least 2 years gulf experience-there's limited choice for the newcomer, right?
You say-"we can warn them, but often they can't or won't listen." Well what choice do they have?


Yes, and is it really any different than the situation facing many NQT's in the UK (and maybe USA) where they often have to take a job in a school that the older, experienced teachers woudn't touch with a bargepole? Plenty of violence against teachers in the West too btw.....
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think ultimately the crux of the matter lies in the answer to the question “Am I doing this for the short term to pay off some kind of debt back home, or am I doing this because I really want a new career?” For those who are doing this as some sort of short-term effort, I can understand why they go to a job like Al Sharqiya, work a year, and bolt. They couldn’t care less about working conditions. They get their bucket of cash and disappear. But there are those who are interested in having a career in TESOL, yet they still stumble into the spider webs that can damage their future prospects. This is the group I’m referring to. Perhaps they are blinded by the dollar signs and that is enough to lure them.

Of course, there is the third bunch that sits on the fence, waiting for something better to come along back home. I don’t think they care much about work conditions, either. Reading about students assaulting teachers at a place that pays well doesn’t faze them. They go in anyway, the salary figures luring them like sirens into coastal rocks.
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arslonga



Joined: 21 Apr 2011
Posts: 19

PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 7:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A couple of thoughts.

1. Desperation is a powerful motivator in any human endeavor.

2. A job at a "problematic" institution may become a stepping stone to greener pastures.
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CVN-76



Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Delicious, allow me to report the intuitive leaps I've made about your posts. You have used quotes in a facetious way, and I will take that to mean the students who have committed the assaults attacked teachers who were only doing their jobs, such as preventing students from cheating on exams. I will also venture to guess both students in question have very little, if any, ability, despite several years of study. This is due to their being passed to ever-higher levels through the years because they have the power to extort from (fearful) teachers passing grades. These 'students' you refer to are immune from prosecution, immune from expulsion. I will take that to mean they are also immune from being flunked on any tests/exams, so they remain enrolled year after year after year, despite not learning much, and despite possibly being failed by their teachers. Am I right so far?
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