Job Discussion Forums

[WellRoundedSquare]

Fair enough,

A lot of the teaching situations I have found myself in have not been inside a classroom though, which is maybe why I am more apt to use the term. When you are teaching one on one, you are much more likely to get into the realm of personal philosophies, this is not done so much with 20 kids and textbooks. Sometimes you find yourself in a position of a counselor as much as a teacher (the private's I mean). It doesn't really matter whether you're qualified or not, because you've developed a relationship more based on mutual respect than the typical classroom environment and in those cases certainly the clashing or mixing of values can come into play. And I do know for certain that my belief that the hokey pokey will slowly but surely save the world is now a value instilled upon hordes of Japanese kindergarten children.

[Neil McBeath]

Wellroundedsquare,

May I ask a question?

Exactly how long have you been teaching in Oman?

[15yearsinQ8]

i think wellroundedsquare needs to either go back to new york or leave teaching
i have reread your posts and through your incoherence believe you're woefully illprepared to teach arabs (omanis or otherwise) possibly illprepared to teach anyone.
look, through either teaching experience or a hard life , teachers realize that their best efforts don't work sometimes. get over it. you can't control the outcome ultimately of your teaching efforts. your best lessons may not work.
one poster said patience as it applies to culture shock is the key - it is the key to teaching as well. education may not 'work' until the tenth lesson or later. the student has to be willing and ready and the teacher has to be patient.
also, the role of teacher as counsellor still has validity - you may not have the maturity, experience or training to adequately deal with that, but that is part of our role as a teacher - even if we teach via 'distance learning'
and yes, teaching language is teaching culture but not so overtly in the middle east - your mannerisms, attitude, language, nonverbal clues, conservational markers, voice, etc, will come across more than the culture embedded in a textbook or your NY Yankees emblazened t-shirt....

look, enough navel gaving and hand wringing, take a vacation, then get back to work, if after 6 months it's still below your expectation, leave oman (and maybe leave teaching)

[Pikgitina]

WellRoundedSquare, there are too many assumptions made in your posts:

* Why do you assume that all MAs are in TESOL or Applied Linguistics?
* Why do you assume that some of us are not linguists and do not do research?
* Why do you assume that some of us pretend to be a part of academia?
* It seems to me that that you assume that the apologists as you call them accept their pay checks after they've taught their good little lessons, but continue to loathe the country, its people and its systems. Why?
* How do you know what Omanis who study at the technical colleges need (I taught at one of them for years)? Have you asked them what their expectations are? Have you learnt anything about/from them and their "philosophies"?

I do want to add that I agree with some of the things that you wrote. I agree that there is vast corruption and that there appears to be no real interest in the education of the local youth. However, if there is, they haven't gotten it right yet.

Think about the US education system and where it was at in the 70s when Oman was only starting to emerge from a period of extreme isolation of all kinds. Think about where they are now and how much has been achieved in less than 40 years.

You need to zoom out, so to speak, like one can do on Google Earth. Find out what it's all about, because one thing you certainly don't lack is passion. Hopefully, you'll be able to re-funnel that passion continuously as your understanding of the world around you grows. I work with people who have been in this part of the world for anything from 5 to 20 years. By asking questions and listening to them, my understanding of the Middle East, and the GCC countries in particular, is challenged all the time.

And understanding is not passive and it is not condoning nor is it aggressive, superior or forceful.

15yearsinQ8 calls a spade a spade as he usually does.

Neil McBeath probably knows more about the Omani education system and probably the country, too, than any other poster here.

If you are truly interested in what the Omanis need, you'll heed the advice offered in their posts and and answer their questions.

[desultude]

back to the comment about instilling values.

In my humble opinion, I fear for the values we are instilling. Yes, with any encounter, and especially encounters involving teaching language, values are transmitted. The English language, irregardless of who is teaching it, contains values, and a value system, which are quite different from the Arab or Eastern Asian value systems.

But we should be cautious about how we deal with issues of values on a conscious level. It is up to us, as instructors, to honor the values of our students, even when we disagree with them. I don't find my students to be at all dumb, they will make comparisons, come to conclusions, and change their culture in their own way as a result of their encounters with other cultures. In the same way, we should be observing and evaluating the values of our host cultures- there is a lot to learn there, and our Western values at times look rather shabby by comparison.

Last week some friends and I were spontaneously invited into the home of an Omani village family- our group included one man, by the way. This was a great opportunity to observe what is going on behind those high walls. There were women of all ages, a few boys, and one old man. Everyone except the old man could navigate conversations in English. Even the youngest children and the grandmother. This was a huge surprise and gives the lie to the idea that Omanis aren't learning English. They are in fact learning some functional English, even if they are way behind the curve in academic English.

The hospitality was amazing, and we saw in practice the development of the work ethic in the young girls- some 12-14 years of age, with a related child on each hip, but still running and fetching for the grandmother. We also saw the comparative freedom of the boys, and I got a better idea of why they aren't adapting to the classroom so quickly as the girls.

About corruption- excuse me, but the West has their fair share of that! It is perhaps a little more sophisticated and sub-rosa, but it is there, none the less.

There is surely corruption abroad at the university where I teach. We try to deal with it in different ways- one way being to work on the standards coming out of the Ministry, which include many we value, such as transparency, fairness, etc. This is the opportunity we have to work against corruption. I think a lot of universities in Oman are about to undergo a rigorous inspection by the Ministry, in the process of accreditation. If you are of a reform mind, maybe this is a good place to spend your time. We have, in our program, several committees working on this process right now.

In the end, if a developing country is too trying for you, you may need to reconsider your career choices.

[veiledsentiments]

[desultude]

Yes, as to young grandmothers- I have a student, 19, whose mother is 32! She has an older brother! The grandmother we met may have been 40, max.

There are people here where I teach and on the board that think that English was invented here yesterday. I never shared that opinion, but I was surprised to fine the three generations able to negotiate it.

[veiledsentiments]

[desultude]

I have heard colleagues (not all, for sure) say that their students arrived without a bit of English- couldn't even write their own names in English. While I find that their ability to use good (fair? okay?) English to be limited at times, they do arrive with some basic communication skills.

I think that English here is fast becoming widely used. I can see a day, in maybe 10-20 years, when we westerners won't be needed to teach English. I think that may be a very good thing.

[johnslat]

Dear desultude,

"I think that may be a very good thing."

Hmm, that smacks of "pull up the ladder" syndrome (except, of curse, that it'll be the Omanis, not you, doing the pulling - inshallah.)

Regards,
John

[desultude]

Damn!

You must remember that, after certain experiences, I am afraid of ladders!

[moonpie]

This post is refreshingly real considering many of the others I have read here before. The original poster brought up some valid points, and these shine through even the thickest fogbank of culture shock.

[moonpie]

This post is refreshingly real considering many of the others I have read here before. The original poster brought up some valid points, and these shine through even the thickest fogbank of culture shock. Others have brought up the reality of non-verbal language in and outside of the classroom. Mutual respect is called for when it comes to the host culture. Omanis seem to be more willing to show respect to those of us who come from the west than the others in the Gulf. We should return the favor. Their " intuitive radar" is highly, highly developed and they will pick up the slightest body signals from us. Remember that Majlis meets on fridays in every community, and during Majlis the outsider is commented on and pondered over by those attending. It is these majlis meetings that determine who stays and who goes home.

Moon

[Neil McBeath]

This has been fascinating.

Moonpie, of course, is completely correct. When people like the, I suspect newly arrived, Wellroundedsquare complain that their students "grunt", don't work, and then go on to give oh-do-amusing impressions of mispronunciation they do themselves no favours at all.

This stuff gets back. The first Omani home I ever visited was in Sur, in February 1981. An Omani officer invited me round and I met his father and younger brothers.

Twenty years later, at RAFO Masirah, a beaming sergeant who was working as an aircraft engineering technician introduced himself to me as one of the brothers. He remembered me from that one visit. Quite clearly, I had been the subject of extensive talk as he couldn't have been more than six at the time.

[hellionzap]

The Frid. "majlis meets" interests me. Do you think that certain Omanis are discussing us and whether we go or stay hinges upon their conclusions? When I first came to Oman, I was told by the Assistant Director staff that I would be "watched" and this implied that someone locally would be keeping an eye on me and my actions. I wasn't sure if this was just a tactic to keep my behaviours in line or was an actuality. This brings up paranoid visions of spies that one hears about in Gulf countries. Not to mention the camera in my classroom:-) My feeling is, they can watch me all they want to because I do nothing to feel worried about.
I absolutely agree that Omanis are very intuitive about who likes/accepts them and their culture. I love my students and they respond in kind.