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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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 Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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| You should try teaching adolescents in Europe or N America ! |
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psychedelicacy
Joined: 05 Oct 2013
Posts: 180
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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| plumpy nut wrote: |
| MixtecaMike wrote: |
[
Let's be fair, sometimes even the nicest of supervisors loose it. I once (in Korea) shouted at a teacher in front of of staff and his students that he wasn't capable of training monkeys in the zoo. |
In some places in KSA teaching English is not unlike training monkeys at the zoo. I just got pulled out of one such position and placed in a fairly high quality government training facility. My replacement is about to find out the meaning of "teaching monkeys at the zoo". |
Since you've raised the topic, this is yet another major pitfall at JECPT/Algonquin - the students. There are, of course, some excellent learners there who are desperate to better themselves and escape Jazan, but unfortunately the majority are just there to collect their cheques. Indeed, many of them are borderline illiterate (and some totally illiterate) in their L1. We know this because, in approximately May/June 2012, a placement test (in Arabic) was introduced. It tested reading comprehension, spelling and grammar. The results were poor to say the least.
Although the government is now investing in Jazan - the Economic City, Aramco, etc. - it has clearly been neglected for many decades and Jazan is therefore more like Yemen than Saudi Arabia. |
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BretHarte
Joined: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 94
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| Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:19 am Post subject: |
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| The food in Jazan is good. Once I learned the students were mostly illiterate in Arabic the school made much more sense. |
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grayskies
Joined: 03 Dec 2013
Posts: 67
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| Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 5:03 am Post subject: |
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| In my experience, the students always have the last say. They are fully aware of the axe they can grind against any teacher. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:27 am Post subject: |
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| That is why they hire foreigners. Easier to kick @ss ! And like with managers of the national football team, you can blame the foreigner when things go wrong ! |
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2buckets
Joined: 14 Dec 2010
Posts: 515
Location: Middle East
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| Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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One of the primary things that unhappy students come out with is that they smell "alcohol" emanating from the teacher.
How is that possible? There is no alcohol in the magical kingdom, and how would the students know how it smells.
As far as hiring foreigners, what choice is there? One would be hard-pressed to find ONE Saudi (male at least) teaching English in SA. |
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crewmeal1
Joined: 08 Jul 2010
Posts: 75
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| Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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[quote] There is no alcohol in the magical kingdom[/quote]
Are you sure about that? |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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Teaching English, like Cleaning Toilets or Selling Gasoline are low-status jobs unsuitable for a Saudi. The same applies to Managing the National Soccer Team.
Last edited by scot47 on Tue Feb 18, 2014 10:08 am; edited 1 time in total |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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Dear 2buckets,
"One would be hard-pressed to find ONE Saudi (male at least) teaching English in SA"
I worked with about a dozen or more over the years at the IPA, and there's have been many more teaching there since I left.
And here's the real shocker: almost all of them that I worked with were pretty darn good. 
Regards,
John |
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cmp45
Joined: 17 Aug 2004
Posts: 1475
Location: KSA
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| Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 8:21 am Post subject: |
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| I support Mr. Slats comment. Contrary to popular belief, there are Saudis teaching English. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 10:10 am Post subject: |
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| The ones I came across had problems with the idea that they had to turn up for class when timetabled, even if they had something else to do. |
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RobertinOman
Joined: 31 Jul 2010
Posts: 60
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| Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 1:38 pm Post subject: Alcohol |
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| Alcoholics always find a way. One of managements favorite teachers began drinking upon returning to the compound - a compound he shared with a senior administrator - and stayed drunk until he passed out by the pool. Jizan from what I hear has not improved. |
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psychedelicacy
Joined: 05 Oct 2013
Posts: 180
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:30 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| One of managements favorite teachers began drinking upon returning to the compound - a compound he shared with a senior administrator - and stayed drunk until he passed out by the pool. |
He was threatened with the sack when I was there and begged to keep his job. This was when the new boss arrived and was so appalled he wanted to get rid of the worst underperformers. And he (the alcoholic) wasn't even the worst, at least in my opinion. Scary stuff.
| Quote: |
| Jizan from what I hear has not improved. |
Even if Algonquin dramatically raised standards, Jazan is the least desirable location in the whole of the Middle East. |
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Sheikennotstirred
Joined: 30 Sep 2011
Posts: 28
Location: Saudi Arabia
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| Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Even if Algonquin dramatically raised standards, Jazan is the least desirable location in the whole of the Middle East. |
Wow, that's quite the statement. Care to back it up? |
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mahdi1432
Joined: 22 Aug 2013
Posts: 43
Location: Ar-Riyadh, KSA
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:20 am Post subject: |
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I like Jizan.
The locals are very welcoming and always wanting to help you out.
Jizan still offers some of the big city shops with less traffic.
Airport is close by and you can travel to anywhere in the Kingdom for few hundred riyals. |
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