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melbourne86
Joined: 11 Feb 2014
Posts: 2
Location: korea
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 Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:56 am Post subject: New job with Sabis in Oman |
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Hi all,
I am heading to Muscat in August for new semester with Sabis. Anyone have any information regarding the school in Muscat?. Any other teachers heading there around this time?  |
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MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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| If you mean the Choueifat school then I've only heard bad reports. It's run like a military base, if the childeren perform badly then they, and YOU have to stay late. All of the teachers from there who I've met have left after one year and sometimes less. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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This employer has a consistently bad reputation all over the Middle East. Professional teachers with any experience will hate their horrible system. (test, teach to the test, test, and then we do exams) For teachers, it is all about paperwork and following every rule to the letter by ticking all boxes. There is certainly a variation in conditions from management, but a read around at the attack blogs for this organization points out that treatment of teachers is highly dependent on your passport... (helps if you are Lebanese... or related)
If you just finished your degree and have never taught a class before, it might be useful as that first job... and consider it a chance to work on your classroom management skills... and have something to put on the CV when you escape. That said, other employers will not be positively impressed that you have this institution as your experience - you would need to emphasize that you know their limitations and are eager to teach at a better place.
BTW... the positive reviews that you see are usually from the parents. Arab parents like it because they get plenty of grades to look at... (and, of course, the grades are always high) and they appear to think that memorizing and regurgitating stuff on tests is the proper way to "learn."
VS |
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CVN-76
Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:09 am Post subject: |
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| Avoid them. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:50 am Post subject: Re: New job with Sabis in Oman |
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| melbourne86 wrote: |
| I am heading to Muscat in August for new semester with Sabis. Anyone have any information regarding the school in Muscat? |
It's always best to research the employer before even contemplating applying for a position.
Good luck. |
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CVN-76
Joined: 28 Mar 2014
Posts: 171
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 6:45 am Post subject: |
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| Indeed. Especially with the 2-year rule being enforced now. I'm not sure how one would be affected who changed his mind after getting a work visa but before he set foot in the country. One may be able to do it without any problem. One may have to wait 2 years on the next visa. |
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Whatever will be
Joined: 05 Feb 2014
Posts: 303
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:14 am Post subject: |
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CVN-76
The expat visa laws will be enforced as of 1 July so there are still a few short weeks to sort out the situation - all is not lost yet!
Besides, if the visa is only issued by the recruitment agency to be picked up at the airport upon arrival (the usual procedure), then there is nothing in the teacher's passport yet - it is still "clean".
Accepting another offer from a different company and entering Oman on their sponsored visa is an option to consider. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Whatever will be wrote: |
| Accepting another offer from a different company and entering Oman on their sponsored visa is an option to consider. |
Most likely not true because the passport will be assigned to the previous visa, so the Ministry will not assign a second visa to that same passport. That has always been true. Even if you change your mind after they have begun the visa process, you are out of luck for that year in Oman. That has happened to people in the past.
You would have to "wash" the passport - ie - get a new passport. They wouldn't have any fingerprints or anything on file.
VS |
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Whatever will be
Joined: 05 Feb 2014
Posts: 303
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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Well, passports get stolen or lost all the time  |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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| veiledsentiments wrote: |
| This employer has a consistently bad reputation all over the Middle East. Professional teachers with any experience will hate their horrible system. (test, teach to the test, test, and then we do exams) For teachers, it is all about paperwork and following every rule to the letter by ticking all boxes. |
Choueifat School director looks back on almost 40 years of expert educating in the UAE
By Naser Al Wasmi, The National | June 5, 2014
Source: http://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/choueifat-school-director-looks-back-on-almost-40-years-of-expert-educating-in-the-uae
ABU DHABI // As one of the oldest private schools in the UAE, International School of Choueifat has had a comparatively long time to perfect its educational system.
Ramzi Germanos, the regional director for the Arabian Gulf region, believed that the school had prospered because of its record of getting the best out of its pupils. Mr Germanos began his career as a fresh graduate teacher in 1960 at the original Choueifat School, in the village on the outskirts of Beirut after which the school is named. After steadily rising through the ranks, he was part of a group of teachers that came to the UAE to help establish the first overseas school in Sharjah in 1976, followed by Abu Dhabi in 1978 and then Al Ain in 1980. Since then, the company has grown rapidly and there are now more than 70 establishments in the Middle East, North America, Europe and Asia.
Mr Germanos, a Lebanese national, said the school had never shirked from the challenge of turning average pupils into high-achieving university students. “Some schools are selective, in the sense that they take the best students. We are not selective, parents bring us students and all we require is that the child can talk, if these conditions are met we take the child and we teach him and take them to a very high academic level,” Mr Germanos said.
The school’s system – known as Sabis – means almost all the material used in the curriculum is published in-house, as Mr Germanos believes that textbooks from external sources fail to effectively teach pupils because of publishers’ ulterior commercial purposes.
“We don’t use books from outside because they are not meant to take the students to the next level, these books are made by publishers, whose aim is to sell, so they put a lot of interesting things in these books. The outcome is that the essentials get lost in a sea of interesting things, you see, our books are slim and focused,” Mr Germanos said. As a karate enthusiast, Mr Germanos likened education to the martial arts, where those who practise are not allowed to diverge from form until they have mastered the skills.
“You have to perfect movement, no creativity, when you punch you punch a certain way, you block in a certain way. Only after you reach Third Dan must you demonstrate a new technique in front of your seniors, only then are you able to create new things, when you have a background.”
The school’s system also involves weekly tests to make sure pupils have thoroughly understood the subject matter. Pupils take these weekly tests on computers, then grades are calculated through a series of monitoring and evaluation programmes. The grades are passed on to heads of departments and school directors, but not the teachers. As such, these weekly assessments are as much a test for the teachers as they are for the pupils.
“We are not only bridging gaps for students, we are bridging gaps in teachers, this system ensures that students become better students and teachers become better teachers,” Mr Germanos said. In weekly meetings teachers who are underperforming are assessed to determine the reasons for their classes’ low scores. All tests are standardised, so responsibility for failure lies with the teacher for not teaching the curriculum properly.
There is a lot of testing at in the school – about 35 tests a week. Mr Germanos does not think this is excessive, saying it actually makes learning easier for pupils. “With no tests you are really moving in darkness and it’s a matter of luck when you come to the external exam. With us there is no luck, because you know you know everything,” he said. With many pupils gaining places at top universities, some could argue the school specialises only in turning good pupils into great ones. Not so, said Mr Germanos. “Students who are outstanding will pass whether they are with us or anyone else, students who are average will benefit greatly from our system, we don’t leave gaps.”
(End of article) |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| There is a lot of testing at in the school – about 35 tests a week. Mr Germanos does not think this is excessive, saying it actually makes learning easier for pupils. |
Yup we can memorize, regurgitate 35 times a week... and still manage to learn little or nothing... 
VS |
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SirAristede
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 83
Location: Salmiya, Al 'Āşimah, Kuwait
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| Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 12:03 am Post subject: |
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| veiledsentiments wrote: |
| Quote: |
| There is a lot of testing at in the school – about 35 tests a week. Mr Germanos does not think this is excessive, saying it actually makes learning easier for pupils. |
Yup we can memorize, regurgitate 35 times a week... and still manage to learn little or nothing...
VS |
So their method of choice is to teach to the test...and not even do that very well at all! What can be learned when students are constantly testing? It simply leads to testing fatigue and disenchantment with the entire educational process. You'd think disaffection would be at its height among students and families.  |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 1:13 am Post subject: |
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Actually the students and parents don't mind it. These students are great at memorizing stuff and giving it back... for them it's easy... no actual thinking involved.
The parents get lots of good grade reports, so their little darlings must be doing well. right?
VS |
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SirAristede
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 83
Location: Salmiya, Al 'Āşimah, Kuwait
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| Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 10:14 pm Post subject: |
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| veiledsentiments wrote: |
Actually the students and parents don't mind it. These students are great at memorizing stuff and giving it back... for them it's easy... no actual thinking involved.
The parents get lots of good grade reports, so their little darlings must be doing well. right?
VS |
That's exactly how many parents view things, VS, and not just parents in the ME. I've taught elementary through high school students for the past 6 years in the United States (Math/Science/General Education) and online to students abroad (ESL) and parents do think that memorization and regurgitation are all that are required for success. Higher-order thinking skills? Bloom who? Ha! |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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| SirAristede wrote: |
| That's exactly how many parents view things, VS, and not just parents in the ME. I've taught elementary through high school students for the past 6 years in the United States (Math/Science/General Education) and online to students abroad (ESL) and parents do think that memorization and regurgitation are all that are required for success. Higher-order thinking skills? Bloom who? Ha! |
Yes, it is sad to see how far the US system has fallen in the last 40+ years, but there is the fact that teaching at one of the Middle East public schools or a Sabis will make the American system look good...
all is relative... 
VS |
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