Job Discussion Forums

[abufletcher]

BTW, I'm now in Japan because after 12 years in the Gulf I didn't see any strong reason to commit the rest of my life to living there. I also wasn't single and my wife didn't work. And I had three children.

So I took a low paying job at a Mexican university as a professor of linguistics and that job ultimately got me my current tenured professorship at a small Japanese university which is much cushier than any of my jobs in the Gulf ever were -- but that has it's own sorts of downsides.

[abufletcher]

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

[abufletcher]

My example is invented, which is probably why it sounds artificial. The studies, however, are very real and come from the field of ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis. The studies I refered to deal with various "help desk" situations some involving native speakers seeking assistance and some where the assistance seekers are primarily non-native speakers.

Again the general finding across a range of studies (and a range of situations) is that the overt doing of a request is a dispreferred action and participants in talk-in-interaction do considerable work either to create a situation where such a request is in fact rendered unnecessary via the production of a pre-emptive offer or utilize a range of pre-sequences to check on the possibility that the intended recipient might be open to granting to a request. Far and away the most commonly observed way to solicit help is to state a problem or deficit -- as the OP did in his post.

As for my "Teacher, I don't have a handout" ...well that's just something I teach my Japanese students to say when they find themselves lacking some key bit of paper (often because I frequently hand out fewer copies than needed on purpose to precipitate a communicative event).

Did my Saudi, Kuwaiti, and Oman students say this. No. But that's probably because all I ever ended up teaching them seemed to be useless bits of grammar and vocabularly from textbooks. Thank god I don't have to use textbooks any more.

[veiledsentiments]

stejskalova,

Thanks for filling in the blanks for us. I think that Abufletcher has covered the Gulf options very well. My only quibble is that teaching hours have been rising, and many places are closer to 20 now. You should be able to qualify for one of the better universities in the Gulf area. He and I agree about Oman and the best choice there is still Sultan Qaboos Unversity.

In the Emirates, you should look into places like the Higher Colleges of Technology, Zayed University, UAEU, and the American University in Sharjah - seem to be the best there. Qatar has its university and a number of new places many of which are connected to US universities. Bahrain also has a university. Kuwait University is not one of the better places, and there is a new American University in Kuwait.

None of these jobs are military or oil and in none of these countries are you likely to live on 'compounds' in Saudi terms. Most of these university jobs are teaching academic English - mostly reading and writing as these are their weak skills. So emphasize any experience related to that on your applications.

If you are interested in using your language skills and live more within a Middle East environment, but still be in an academic environment, there is the American University in Cairo and the American University in Beirut... also Lebanese American University.

All of those establishments have websites... google up easily. Most of them also have on-line applications.

VS

[helenl]

does require you to live on campus - however, it's not a compound by Saudi definition at all.

As far as I'm aware the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi is a prized position (I'm acquainted with 2 teachers there), the contact hours, benefits and salary are better than the universities and colleges mentioned previously.

[younggeorge]

[abufletcher]

The Petroleum Institue is not a company job -- it's a (new) four year university. Granted it is a highly specialized university with a limted set of technology majors with poweful ties to ADNOC but it is very much a university. From what I read on their website they are affiliated with the elite Colorado School of Mines (one of the best geopetroleum universities in the US) and their goal is to get US accreditation.

The position announcements on their website state they are looking for someone with a Ph.D. in TESOL or Communication (or related field) to be teaching a sort of high flown oral communications skills (including PowerPoint presentations) to first year students.

I wouldn't imagine there are many jobs available or that they would have to recruit too vigourously to get all the applications they could possible want for the next 10 years.

[helenl]

Abufletcher, PI has been in existence for at least 6/7 years and is associated with ADNOC - they have advertised in the Gulf News and on their website in the past. Positions, as you say, are limited and they can afford to be choosy. With the package there, the positions have been much sought after amongst TEFL people that I know.

The two people I know who work there, 1 has his Phd and probably 10-15 years experience and the other a Masters with enormous experience (even more than the Phd guy) specifically in the Middle East and is a published teaching English text book author.

AUS has advertised on their website and also in the Gulf News - I don't know about outside the Gulf area though.

[abufletcher]

[zenzuata]

I think Helen might be confusing two Institutes associated with ADNOC. The Petroleum Institute (University) opened in August 2001; the Training Institute (for would-be technicians, but also for general grunts who couldn't get on other post-school training places) has been open and training a few years longer - but I'm sure somebody out there, or in there, will clarify - but not from their workplace, else they'll get - erm - into trouble !