Job Discussion Forums

[bb2]

Just a little blurb about working at Abu Dhabi University:

I presently work at ADU and am totally disappointed.

If you have a MA TESOL/TFL or MA in a related field such as Applied Linguistics....don't work at AD University. You will be disappointed. There is no curriculum, no objectives, no competent person who can create valid and reliable tests. And as a result, it is the students who suffer.

However, if you are a backpacker, don't really care about teaching, then ADU if for you.

It's unfortunate that people with good credentials are hired because they are not used appropriately. Furthermore, working with people who have a BA in some unrelated field and a TESL/TFL certificate is frustrating, as you can not converse with your colleagues and use vocabulary in the field like "authentic materials".

ADU will give you the run around. They will tell you anything just to sign you on.

[colt]

This is typical of private universities. When students are "challenged" (by the relatively low standards of the gov't schools,i.e. HCT, UAEU), they are willing to pay substantial sums to go to these private uni's. They expect to be just passed along from year to year and get their piece of paper.

Just shut-up and take the money and put it in the bank.

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

With the press this place gets, it might be more appropriate to say ...

... 'don't work at this place even if you don't care about teaching' ...

[Shakhbut]

[bb2]

Ok. But the students aren't paying for this program, the government is. You think they at least might care a bit about how their money is being spent. But then again, we are in the UAE....

As far as being elitist, I don't want to teach with people who don't know what "authentic materials" are and can't design a reliable and valid test. I spend enough time with my students and I don't get paid to do teacher training. I'm tired of working with teachers who think that there are 7 and sometimes 24 tenses of verbs in English, and that you should give a written test to assess a student's speaking abilities. That's just plain stupid.

[Candid Kandura]

I agree with bb2. Although the tones of the posting might seem slightly offensive to some, I fully understand the problems of having to work alongside so-called 'colleagues' who have no idea what the job really involves. By that I mean all the creeps with Tefl/Tesol certificates who think their job begins when they enter the classroom and ends when they leave it.

If they had bothered to train properly, in order to do the job properly, they might be better respected. But having to teach your co-worker how to do their job, and at the same time do yours, is very frustrating, to say the least. A written test for speaking - laugh!!!!

In all, ADU sounds like one of those places to avoid in the UAE - and that number appears to be growing, sadly.

[bb2]

Sheik's right, even if you don't care about teaching...ADU is not a great place to work. We can just add ADU to the list of places not to work.

And this just in: the provost of ADU (MOD edit) who was fired from Northern Arizona Uni (amongst others) for sexual harassment, has had a complaint filed against him for sexual harassment at ADU. The funny thing is, that the President sent an email with the complaint letter from the students as an attachment to everyone at ADU! Then he sent an email shortly after asking us all to disregard it....

I wonder what's coming next.....

Oh yeah, and regarding the point that colt made that the students just want to be passed along.....speak for yourself or someone else you know. There are students who want to learn but unfortunately have to deal with poorly trained teachers who AREN'T creative and resort to Grammar Translation. BTW, anyone with a BA can do GT, and in fact, I have students who can teach these classes. Who cares about the students who don't want to learn? And as I said before, if the government is paying for the program, then the teachers should be top notch. The whole point of the program is to give these students language training in hopes of localizing the private sector, which can't be done with poor English skills.

[sandy gallop]

...

[Candid Kandura]

If you REALLY care about teaching, the UAE is best avoided, period! Most of the country's 'institutes of education' are based on the primary school principle of keeping them occupied, rather than building their intellect. Colouring-in would be a challenge for some of the students I had to teach there.

It's very much a case of "our students will pretend to study and learn, if you will pretend to teach them". And they'll all do some pretend exams at the end of each semester, which the teachers will pretend to mark and grade, as we all know very well that what really counts is WASTA and the numbers game!

"More graduates - good! Less graduates - bad!" Or "Never mind the quality, feel the width"...

But for 5000 bucks a month, it might just suit some.

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Where in the Wide, Wide World of ABC Sports can you get 5000 bucks (assuming USD) a month working at a joint like ADU in the U.A.E.?!?

[bb2]

It must be 5000 dirhams because I know the salary max at ADU is 8500 DIRHAMS for people with an MA, which is not 5000 dollars.

[kuberkat]

An advanced academic qualification is a many-splendoured thing, and I am the first to admit many TESOL qualifications aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Still, I am sure the quality of a person's work is not determined by pieces of paper. I have worked with admirably dedicated TEFLing backpackers who are keen to learn more about the field, and with apathetic, toxic, blundering PhDs who have held back keen students. If I were an employer, I would think twice about hiring many of my past and present colleauges, but owing to the quality of their work more than their qualifications.

[bb2]

Kuberkat: agreed.

I'm working with someone at ADU who has an MA in TESOL and thought that there were 24 verb tenses in English, hence, your point is taken. Having a PhD is certainly not a teaching qualification, especially if you're PhD is outside of education. Maybe where you get your qualifications is what matters, maybe not.

However, I'm not all that convinced that experience is as, if not, more important than having the qualifications. I work with another teacher who doesn't have any TESOL qualifications, and she has lots of experience and doesn't know what she's doing. All she does is Grammar Translation. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Maybe it's all just a glorious combination of experience and qualifications. I guess we'll never know....

But, I guess this is what we (more specifically, I) have to deal with when teaching outside of Western educational standards.

[BajaLaJaula]

All this talk of qualifications....c'mon....success depends more on teaching experience, intrapersonal and interpersonal skills.
There are plenty of PhD's in Ed who can't teach worth a lick...Knowing the latest theories in language learning doesn't necessarily ensure that students will listen and learn.....These guys can on for hours explaining about the modal auxillary verbs...and bore the students to tears.
Good teachers have the knowledge plus the skills needed to keep students interested in learning a second language.

[kuberkat]

I think Baja La Lausa has the key. one could even put it more simply. I think it's about- yes, heretic me- love. People who love their students, love their colleagues, love the lanugage, love the job, they are the ones who make things happen. I have worked with and without this force, and I know that without it I am nothing. Whatever it says on my fancy CV.

Oh, and of course it helps if you can put some theory behind this. A bit of hard work might help. too.