Job Discussion Forums

[AbeCross]

Interchange, my favorite textbook series, is to be banned in KSA. We are using the third edition but stocks are dwindling. We had planned to switch to Interchange fourth edition, but that won't be possible now. From what I understand, the content is too racy for the Ministry of Education. That is a surprising decision because the content is very similar to that of the third edition.

[caliph]

This reminds me of the time at PCA we were told to collect the student's Kernal Lessons books, called into the conference room, issued black markers, and told:"page 5,figure 3, black it out" and so on throughout the entire book, and blacked out all the "racy" line drawings.

Welcome to Saudi Arabia.

[AbeCross]

Yes, they used to black out pages from Interchange, 2nd edition. That practice ended a few years ago, but now an innocuous and widely-used text is banned.
I guess I was foolish to think this country was moving forward.

[plumpy nut]

We have a globe at the place I work at. The Middle East in the locality of Israel has been blacked out by a board marker. Every chance I have I work to scrape the black off.

[sicklyman]

our globe had Israel literally ripped off. I was thinking of drawing it back in... but I noticed the other day that the entire globe has disappeared. Some kind of omen perhaps...

[caliph]

Our blackout session was caused by ONE Matawah student who complained directly to the Ministry of Education. The ministry came down on the Saudi administration.

Most of the other students complained when they got their "one handed" books back.

[plumpy nut]

It only takes one nutjob in some cases a couple of nutjobs to ruin things for everyone else, including the teachers.

[scot47]

I remember course books that we used at LANSA in Jeddah (and Mecca) in the 1990s. Set in a Midwestern US town, the stories were well illustrated. The pigs on the farm had been transformed into sheep and all the women acquired Abayas ! Principal task of the ELT Director was amending the illustrations in the textbooks so there would be no complaints !

Ah L..... B...... ! Where are you now ?

[peripatetic_soul]

Gotta love these anecdotes. While in ME, we were watching a cooking show where couples were competing. Each couple's dish was showcased as they explained the ingredients. This one: We prepared a BLEEP roast with baby potatoes, sweet onions and roasted carrots. The BLEEP has a crusty coating of various herbs. We also made BLEEP gravy to accompany the dish. I hope you like our BLEEP roast.

The interrogative form of Dylan's lyrics resonates: The times, are they a changin'?

[caliph]

Scot47:

L. B.. Was he the guy that sent you up to Mecca 3 nights a week to teach?

If so, I was one of those peripatetic pedagogues.


The best "bleeping " I saw was a Lacrosse game on TV.

Every time the word Lacrosse was mentioned, the "crosse" part was bleeped.

And of course all those millions of cans in the supermarkets that have recipes on the labels that include pork, have the word "pork" blacked out.

[scot47]

L.....B...... was the man who shipped us up to Mecca. His outfit was the best one to work for after our regular day job !

[caliph]

Agree, especially since it was not a violation of (my) contract, and the pay was good.

[radient one]

Bad news! Does anyone know if the ban will apply to the 4th edition only? I've found "Interchange" to be a very useful resource this year but in the company I worked for we were only supposed to use the scope and sequence for grammar and vocab, NOT the text itself, an interesting experience, to say the least. What are "acceptable" texts here in Saudi Arabia?

[The Fifth Column]