Job Discussion Forums

[lynnknows]

I think I can really say what it was like working for MAG.
HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been overseas a few years now. I thought I had seen it all. NOT!!!!!

This program was supposed to reform the public school system. It did nothing but give the schools new teachers and new things.

Let�s start with the admin.

The vision of Larry W (Mod edit) was a great one. He had great ideas and he would have made a difference if he was allowed. Once he left things went down hill. The program still had a chance when "MB" was still working for the company. However, once he left and they put the control freak "SL" in charge the program fell apart.

They put a local woman in charge of the program and she gave "SL" full power to do as she wills. This woman has less than 5 yrs experience and it showed in her decisions. We had to do 31 page lesson plans every week. She would go to schools and yell, scream and make employees cry. She told Muslims they could not cover, she told people what to say how to say it and nothing had to do with teaching. This woman fired people for personal reasons. She said she did not want any non Arab Muslim workers in the program and low and behold all of the covering non-Arab team leaders are all gone. What does being Muslim have to do with teaching?
Last week they threw families out in the street. People went to work and came home to see all their things out doors. Everyone was told they had until July 2 to move. I guess MAG changed their minds and didn�t remember to inform people because these people are now homeless and broke because they have not gotten their last check or money to buy tickets yet.
One woman in the program asked to go home because her mother died. THEY TOLD HER NO!!!!!!!!!!! She of course left anyway. She was fired when she returned. She did not get one fill. She had 2 days to vacate her place and was not given flight money to return home.
People were fired not because of job performances. If you look at most peoples evaluations you would see they were good, some even great. However, they were asked to leave the program because �SL� didn�t like them or they dressed like a Muslim, or other admin people did not like them.

The schools

If you are a team leader it was your job to help train the MOE staff. How can you help a person that does not want help? I had a staff that would leave the class in for 20 mins to get tea, leave to the bank in the middle of class, talk on the phone for 30 mins, make copies and leave the class unattended. All of this was ok with the admin at MAG because when I complained I was told they would look into it but never did.
I had a principal that never left her desk to see what the students were doing unless someone came for a tour. This principal NEVER taught one day in her life and this woman told me that centers and circle time was the craziest thing she had ever seen in her life. She said the girls do not need to do that and should stay in their seats all day. She instructed her MOE teacher to no listen to me and to follow her directions. She would take the teachers out of class to do things for her.
In the beginning of the program we were told the principals did not have control over the program. That all changed when Larry left. The principals had full charge and they used it in every way they could. One school used 40, 000 AED to build a pretty pond and paint the classrooms. The school was going to have a visit from some important person and the principal told the team leader to buy fish for the pond. When they team leader told her she had no idea where to get fish. She told her if you do not have them in the morning do not bother coming back to work. So this teacher spent 300 AED on fish!!!!!!!!!

I would have 100 first grade students running around with no teacher. All of this was ok. When I complained I was told I HAD TO CONFORM!!!!!!!!!!!!! Conform to what ���a non teaching attitude, a lack of respect for my co workers, a disregard for children�s safety, ���I was IMO, the only professional person in the building. Until I got sick of the crap I was the only one there early and left late. I brought things we needed because MAG sure was not going to buy it. I set up centers and made sure the student were taught. I even taught them in May when all the student were gone. I had a group of girls come back and I worked with them in small groups.

This is a short version of what happened. I do not have the time to go into details right now. Give me a few days and I will. I have so much more to say�..

If you are looking for a job in UAE, stay way from MAG. Consider yourself warned!!!!!!

[moralleader1]

Thanks for your real story and I already turned down their offer. Reason: MAG is a hopeless project and invited the person in charge to read this forum. A mess for God's Sake!

Please post more.

[holyhell]

I can only back up what was said. In my case though the Arab staff were pretty nice. The other people were hell.
The team leader made out like the lesson plan had to be the main reason for living and if you strayed from script it was noted and sent in. For example if you had in your script that you would say good morning to Saeed and you said good morning to Ahmed then too bad. You were unprepared and obviously incompetent. Everything you wrote had to be proofread and marked up in red pen. Every school resource you made since there was nothing there had to stand up to her scrutiny. Everything from the colour markers to number of words you used to give instruction was measured. Use of technology in class was viewed as fake teaching. I wasn't allowed to communicate directly with the principal. It had to go through her.
The list goes on and on. Thank God I am done with this. Worst year of my life by far.

[Zoot]

At long last, people supporting what I was saying months ago! Resources being purchased by teachers and promised refunds not given - denied by wannago, at the time! Required processes and resources being deemed suitable by people whom it seemed had never been inside an MoE School. Why did all of this happen in the first term? Because the likes of Larry W and Mike B had NO IDEA of what was actually needed in the classroom, no idea of what the already present teaching staff were like, no idea of what the students were like. The result - a programme that didn't align with local needs and no wish by those who'd deemed it suitable to listen to those attempting to say this was the case. To Zayed they've returned to 'deal' with those they were familiar with!

[redeyes]

holyhell wrote --

[holyhell]

Most of the team leaders didn't have a Masters. I wonder if any of them ever taught ESL. I am better qualified than most of them.

And yes, I reached my limit. It is a wonder I didn't go postal on any of them. Any person can handle the normal run of the mill petty silliness that is life with a supervisor with who is slightly unhinged. As long as you have a support network of mostly sane people. This person was more than slightly unhinged though.

"Where are your students?" This question being asked when I am mentoring another teacher. " They are in Arabic class." " Well, they should be in your class. I checked the schedule and it is Tuesday." " It is Monday and I taught them this morning, you were in class with me." And then she cackles and walks away.

" Why do you call so and so by his first and second name?" " Because I have four students with the same names."t " You are being unprofessional. A real teacher would know her students." " I do know my students. Hence the full name to rule out confusion." " You should know their names by now." " I do..." And here she walks away scribbling in her little book.

" Why did you mark so and so's homework as incomplete?" " Because it is incomplete." " I don't believe you. Show me." Open the homework books and show her which pages are missing. " Where are the real homework books?" As if I keep a second set of homework books.

One morning I called in sick after having spent the entire weekend dying a slow and miserable death. I got called eleven times that day. After school she came to my house and demanded to see me. I was knocked out by medicine so strong I couldn't see straight. I gave her my certificate and she called the doctor to hear if he was a real person and then she questioned the diagnosis while standing in my living room looking me right in the eye. I took a few more days off all with he proper certificates. She called me about once every hour and when I switched my phone to silent she had the watchmen come and bang on my windows to make sure I was home sick.

Once we had a few parents come to school and she was talking to them because I could not be trusted to speak to anyone. Halfway through she comes charging into the class and grabs one of my students and marches him out. A few minutes later she's back and she's got another one. We were busy with circle time and needless to say the students were intrigued as was I. Moments later you hear lots of yelling in Arabic and a mother storms into my classroom, grabs her son and pulls him outside. At this point I tell the kids to go sit down and take out their homework. I go outside to see a few mothers and three very bewildered students in the middle of the yard yelling at this woman. I walk over and say my good mornings and ask what the trouble is. What happened was that my lovely team leader had taken it upon herself to write letters to the parents of the boys she felt needed extra help. I was not informed of this of course. The mothers of said boys had come to school to ask how this can be since their children are doing so well on every home work sheet, every home reader and ever assessment. She had mixed up my class and the other teacher's class and had grabbed every child she could find with the same name. It took the better part of the morning to sort all of that out. I of course could not go back to class to teach as I had to be present sorting this out. Her comment for the day? She did not achieve any of her lesson objectives, her timing was bad and she interfered with administrative business. She seems to be too friendly with the parents of some of her students which makes me wonder if she plays favorites in class.... Right because any teacher will just continue teaching while people are pulling kids out of her class without any explanation and then having them yell loud enough for the kids inside to look frightened.

The list really does go on. I wish I could forget it, but short of a lobotomy I seem to be stuck with the memories for now. I am so thankful I will never have to see that ugly on the inside as well as out woman again. She should not be allowed anywhere near children and if at all possible she should be kept away from adults too.

[redeyes]

Where was the lady from? I often find it's not the local staff who cause the problems, or who are seriously unhinged ;more often than not the local staff go with the flow and want an easy, peaceful working life-- but it's typically the vengeful, spiteful, bitter expats from UK/US/Aus/NZ etc who are the worst for making their fellow teachers' lives hell.

Wierdos grabbing at power they wish they'd had in their home countries.

[holyhell]

If only they weren't true. So well put. I keep telling myself in ten years from now I will think about this and laugh. Then something else pops into my memory and the urge to crush the life out of her returns. I know I am not the only person walking away from this with more than a bruised ego and bad memories. I love teaching and for the better part of this year that woman managed to make me hate it.

Teaching should be fun. I know it is a job and that standards must be maintained and that it isn't the easiest thing in the world to do, but it should be fun to be in front of your class and watch the progress they make. It should be the greatest feeling when you see one of your students make a connection between the unknown and known.

You shouldn't have to count your words to keep up with a script and map out your movements around the class. You shouldn't have to stop your class every five minutes to explain to her why you are teaching something the way you wrote down step by bloody step in that freaking ten page lesson plan she is holding in her hands and then get the comment in red pen on your lesson plan that you did not stick to the timing of your lesson.

And don't tell me how to spell something. If you had a brain you would know that certain words in the English language have two spellings and they are both okay. If you are going with the American spelling you need to be consistent throughout your document. The same holds true if you are going with the British spelling. Check the handbook. What country did it come from? What spelling system are they using? Would it really make sense to teach the students the different ways of spelling a word when they are still making the link between the picture of a cat and the word
CAT? I know my students are smart, but let's not overreact here. Oh, and it is entirely possible that since we are from different parts of the world there may be some slang words that I have not heard used before. Oh, and if I am talking on the phone during break time out in the parking lot far away from people that might be a sign that I need some privacy and that you can wait five seconds to tell me what you want me to do or redo.

Oh, and if you must criticize me, and you seemed to think that was a must, don't do it in front of other people. That is just plain rude. In the event that there is nothing to pick on lesson wise don't believe that this gives you an opening to say something about my hair or about my country or about my clothes. This just proves that you are not a nice person. Also never assume that silence from the person you are speaking to mean that you may continue. If you were even slightly observant you will have noticed that I was trying to make you explode using only my mind. In retrospect C4 would have done nicely, but I didn't think to pack it.

The years in therapy that I will need to recover from this is daunting. Since I have a new job and am on my way to a peaceful holiday I will just settle for writing humorous bits about my worst year of life thus far, including high school, in the hope that I will have some measure of peace. While the idea of you being consumed by guilt over your actions is comforting I am also enough of a realist to know that you couldn't care less. Whomever is so unfortunate to have you as their team leader next year do not think it will get better once she gets to know you. It will only get worse.

[boondoggle]

No surprise here. The MAG program "promoted" lots of people to Team Leader who were vastly under qualified for any kind of leadership position. Their criteria was inconsistent and there were loads of unstable personalities working in positions that they shouldn't have been.

I don't know what attracts these nut cases to teaching EFL but I think it's a combination of failing back home and frankly some expats lost the plot a long time ago because they have been abroad for so long. Their wires are totally crossed so to speak.

Holy, you're a lot more patient than I would have been. People in positions like that will try to test you. If they think you are easy to push around then they will start to bully and generally act like pedantic powertripping sh*theads. I would have told that person to f*ck off, it's just not worth it to take this type of abuse.

[wannago]

[holyhell]

You are correct in saying I have a lot of patience. I do. Believe me most days there were nothing that would have pleased me more than to tell her exactly what she could do with her red pen, but as a teacher mentor I was supposed to set an example.

Believe me your actions were well observed. In my school the local teachers were very friendly and kind and helpful, but I don't doubt that every conversation was listened to and every action talked about endlessly.

My job was to be a teacher mentor and to support the change that MAG was trying to implement in the schools. As a result I had to work with my team leader towards that goal so that the local teachers would implement the change as well.

Nice rhetoric. Who knew that I would land in school with a psychopath who scared the children, alienated the local staff, insulted the parents and acted like the sun bowed to her every whim.

In a normal world people like that would be asked nicely to leave. In the MAG world people like that seem to be in power everywhere and surround themselves by like minded people. And of course the local staff do not seem to have a say at all.

All the year's hard work at building bridges in my school has come undone. Rumors of 24 sessions to be taught and the like has already prompted a lot of the staff to leave not only the MAG program but teaching.

My ex team leader's wonderful, sparkling personality endeared her to the local staff of course and I am sure that they will work very hard to make her life easy in the year to come.

[veiledsentiments]

[Gauguin]

Apart fom all that, do you enjoy being in the UAE?

[holyhell]

Apart from the hell on earth at work I enjoyed it very much, thank you.

And very true, nowhere to go but up.

[I Rub Ruchi]

I worked for the government once and it was almost the same as Holyhell's time at MAG.

It all depends on your supervisor. Some years I loved my job and put in the extra effort for a five star performance, that was when my supervisor understood managing people and giving space. When I met the minimum requirements of my job, I was working for Idiots.

So good and bad are to be found everywhere. I always found that the good move on, just like the bad to be someone else's supervisor. Education is no different. MAG might still be an opportunity for some.