Job Discussion Forums

[aliasrachel]

Please forgive the tone of this post. I'm actually a pretty mellow chick, who loves yoga and meditation. But today I am at the end of my tether with the students I teach, whom I view as rude, obnoxious, lazy, whiny, silly little girls.

I would love some guidance on how to deal with them. Never in my 20 years of teaching have I experienced such insolent behavior from such unmotivated students. They suck the joy out of a job I used to love.

[buravirgil]

[balqis]

Perhaps it is end-of-semester fever, quite normal in the Middle East, but, if you are new to to area, you may not be aware of it. It is common and runs wildly by the end of the spring semester amongst the students. The heat and tiredness also impact teachers, who become by the end of the term rather edgy, very tense and too fragile.
Plus think about ur students who are probably doing some PYP dull business-as-usual 40tieth week in sequence. Who can handle it?
And perhaps the programme your college/uni is offering is poor, and students intuitively feel it.
How to deal with it? Hard to deal with it. Understand and realize the problems underneath first. Next invent some low-key survival mode. Try not to harm yourself and try to protect yourself first and foremost. Don't blame any of the two sides involved in the drama - try not to use words like ''rude'', ''insolent'' and ''unmotivated '' about the students - they apply to the western culture, from where they come from. Affect teaching, teach through a light genre, through comedy of errors. Do what your students want you to do. Perhaps work on yoga and use meditation in class - I used meditation sessions once in Kuwait with the students, some every 30 minutes to manage classroom wild momentum, teaching a section of the unteachable girls from Jihannah. Agree in your mind that it will be a farce, and just count down days till ur time is done - the term is soon to end. It is an exam in personal survival, nothing to do with education per sei.

balqis

[veiledsentiments]

Balquis has it right. This is the time of year when it hits that life is short and we are all sick and tired of each other and the system. Perhaps have a little talk with a couple of the more sensible girls in the group and ask them for ideas... on topics... or crowd control... or perhaps even what you should do differently. It is likely frustrating for those who want to learn too.

I wish I had a quick easy answer, but this too shall pass. Over the years I had a couple groups who were just out of control. Sometimes one just survives to the end of the semester and hopes that the next group will better.

VS

[jaffa]

[scot47]

Do not be selective., become a misanthrope and hate EVERYBODY !

[aliasrachel]

Thanks for your insights (except Scot47). It's not like me to label students or to impose a Western lens...lately I have not been myself and feel I may be experiencing a frustration/burn out level I've only ever known once in my life, when I taught in Beijing many years ago. I know in my heart that the girls I work with have had a completely different experience than I've had, and that really they just can't help their behavior; it's what they know inside. I am just questioning what I am doing here, why I came here, and whether I can find the motivation to return in the Fall.

[buravirgil]

[MixtecaMike]

It's probably the approaching end of the semester. A couple of weeks back I exploded with some "unprofessional language" to a section of my least favorite slackers, even though I was on my last couple of months (Final exit in June, hooray!) Even though a few of them reported me I still more or less reconciled with them after mutual apologies. Just as well, as five of the seven have since dropped out of the college and hopefully have less horrible memories of me. I now tell the class the lazy can be lazy, just don't interrupt the students who are still trying to pass the semester. I also continually remind them (the slackers) how much they won't be enjoying the summer session during Ramadan, and have threatened to send them pictures of myself under a palm tree by the swimming pool in Guatemala.

[balqis]

A ''feeling of not being yourself'', feeling burnt-out, frustration, well, it all indicates anxiety and depression, typical for the region, many people who come to work in KSA experience, especially if you are placed in very remote location, with no diversions. If you read the net, you will find that extreme location, changing one's location to extreme climate, culture, religion etc.. conditions are top - really very top ! -conditions for depression and traumatic stress disorder. So what you experience is a typical reaction.
KSA is very tough, and not for all. Hence the abnormal turn-over of teachers there. If you think about contracts for Arabs working for the petroleum industry in the desert, it is usually 3 weeks in and 2 weeks out or so. You have no weeks out, but 10 months in in a row.

balqis

[aliasrachel]

I was born with low seratonin levels, so yes, they are definitely affected here. Fortunately, I have a western dr. who can help with that. With the students, I am never rude, never raise my voice, and always respectful toward them (with firmness). I have spoken with them about the issues and have got almost nowhere. What I'll need to do with my summer is read about dealing with Arab students, a population I've little experience with. Hopefully, next year will be better.

Is the entire ME like KSA vis a vis students? There is a possibility I can go to Oman, but will only relocate if it's for a better classroom atmosphere.

[BajaLaJaula]

At least in other ME countries you have more to do after work besides go home to your compound and read a book or watch TV....Life in KSA can be so boring.

[nomad soul]

[balqis]

As to Oman, if you choose the right location, your life will be better than in KSA. But not all places in Oman are pleasant to live in, some are very remote, lifeless, heavy to be at, with attitudes of the Omanis there somewhat guarded, if not hostile to foreigners.

As to the students, Omani boys will not give you a hard time - they will be mostly sleek and gentle, sometimes a little rakish and rough, especially the Bedouins, but all within bounds of reason and male charm, and once the class is over, they will disappear to their real local world of Oman.

The girls/women in Oman have a lot of hidden power, and locally and at the bottom they seem to run the country, men being busy with power play at the top. So females can be fussy and touchy, will press for grades and bicker about them, may also scheme and complain. Not a rule, but likely to happen indeed.
This element of ''scheme and complain'' I almost never experienced in Saudi - the problems created in class stayed in class and then vanished, whereas in Oman the females will most likely take them up and blow out, with the top management many a time.

In general, Oman stands for the Arabian beauty [ top destination for wealthy educated Germans and fussy-dainty educated French ]. KSA is a heap of modern concrete and steel, traumatic in Her grand Al Mamluka looks, so once you set your foot in Oman, you will think you set your foot in heaven. And heaven it is, for the eyes that like the Arabs and their civilisation for sure it is.

So forget your current Saudi stress disorder - who, by almost mid May, gives a damn about studying ?? - so rampant there and common amongst many, think future, and head for Oman.

balqis

[RustyShackleford]

While the topic is on...is life even in a place like Jeddah or Riyadh so damn lifeless? I was hoping to be able to at least go to a gym or take a swim in the evening.