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James Bay
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 22
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 Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:33 am Post subject: Royal Saudi Airforce students.. Good or Bad ? |
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Does anybody please have any info on a Swedish company who has a sub - contract from a company in the UAE to teach students of the Royal Saudi Airforce. I am told there would be a maximum of 8 students.Course would be taught in Riyadh. I have never been to KSA,but I have been to the UAE.
Can anybody give me a heads up on what to expect from Royal Saudi Airforce students i.e. behavior,English level,etc,etc, or what to expect in general. Has anybody any info on this Swedish company whose name I am sorry I don't know. ANY INFO that relates to the above would be greatly appreciated...Thanks... |
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Never Ceased To Be Amazed
Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 3500
Location: Shhh...don't talk to me...I'm playin' dead...
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 2:25 pm Post subject: Re: Royal Saudi Airforce students.. Good or Bad ? |
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| James Bay wrote: |
| I have never been to KSA,but I have been to the UAE. |
Be ready for a whole different kind of student in Saudi Arabia!
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| Can anybody give me a heads up on what to expect from Royal Saudi Airforce students i.e. behavior,English level,etc,etc, or what to expect in general. |
Generally speaking, RSAF students are, by and large, Bedu that the government are trying to break from their free-ranging ways. Again, generally, they are highly-unmotivated, suspicious of Westerners, and have little to no classroom skills that most Western-educated instructors expect students to possess.
If it can be said that they "major" in English Language Training, it must also be noted that they "minor" in sleeping. You will learn to project with your voice. Not really bad guys, most of them, but again, basic skills/habits, like going to bed at a reasonable hour, showing up to class on time, turning off their "mobiles", having their pencils and books, having done their assigned homework, etc, etc, etc... is lacking. Remember, if you are doing your job, such as writing a point on the board with your back to the class, and a student tries (and he WILL try!) to sleep or SMS on his mobile and a Saudi military-type happens to peek into the room or walk by the open door and sees the offence...it is YOU who will be called on the carpet and, possibly, given a written reprimand...NOT the offending party. However, he may go to jail if he has committed too many offences in the classroom.
Therefore, it's all about the money. They pay well (better now that the country is gripped with terrorism), but the pay DEFINITELY is based on the fact that life will be harder than the U.A.E. and you'll have to put up with the silly disciplinary problems that I have just started to mention. You will save a tremendous amount more only because of a lack of things to spend it on.
If offered a position...good luck and stay safe.
NCTBA |
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Paul in Saudi
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Posts: 404
Location: Doha, Qatar
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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It varies.
I teach enlisted guys. They range from shockingly bad (they come to class to escape work in their sections) to shockingly good.
Further there are several Acre-Feet of RSAF schools. The Academy in Riyadh is (I guess) the best. The basic training center in Dammam (the TSI) is a factory that just cranks them out. Each base has a small school (that's me) to help people pass their promotion tests.
It varies a lot. |
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Never Ceased To Be Amazed
Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 3500
Location: Shhh...don't talk to me...I'm playin' dead...
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 4:04 am Post subject: |
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| Paul in Saudi wrote: |
It varies.
I teach enlisted guys. They range from shockingly bad (they come to class to escape work in their sections) to shockingly good. |
Yeah, Paul, I know. I once had a guy who got recycled for 13 classes. As far as trying to get off the flight line, I had a captain once in Taif who kept, obviously, blowing his ALCPT's until the Wing Commander came down to personally order him to pass. The next score was a 92.
Note that I said, the guy are not so bad as they are lazy. But even you've got to admit that you earn every riyal that gets put into your bank account.
From what I heard about the academy at the Riyadh base, it's the best and the cushiest job there is, but it's strictly for us Brits and I know of people who were very qualified to get placed there, but couldn't get past "go" because of the closed-circuit recruitment process there.
However, I stand firm in my conviction that Mr. Bay will be shocked by the difference between Emirati and RSAF students.
NCTBA |
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Paul in Saudi
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Posts: 404
Location: Doha, Qatar
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Never, are you in any way responsible for these new books were are forced to use? If so (in the words of a famous American philosopher), 'You got a lot of 'splaing to do!' |
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globalnomad2
Joined: 23 Jul 2005
Posts: 562
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:51 pm Post subject: Students |
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What make expats loony? The totality of life in the Kingdom, including the loony-tunes students. Here's a short excerpt from the Saudi chapter of my travel memoir (in progress), which has chapters about living and teaching in Holland, Luxembourg, Italy, Saudi, UAE, Malaysia and Japan, but this excerpt could only come from Saudi:
Fifteen hours of this and then I look out the [airplane] window and there is the nadir of existence�as usual, it�s two o�clock in the morning when the plane approaches�a sterile, flat dustbowl streaked with streetlights that from the air look like endless threads of yellow beads.
And then I�m back in the classroom.
�Teacher, you go corniche last night?
�No, why?�
�Why you don�t go to corniche? Veddy beautiful.�
�You think so? I don�t. Kind of dirty and smelly, don�t you think?�
�Teacher, corniche veddy nice, with many fat boy.�
�Fat boy?�
�Ha ha! Man good, woman no good, but I like young fat boy, every night I go corniche and chase the fat boys, believe me, last night I running veddy fast and I get veddy beautiful fat boy,� �smack goes his fist��he look same-same baby doll, like Toys-R-Us baby, he have the fat cheek and I running down the corniche to catch him but he run veddy slow because he fat boy so I catch him no problem and�� smack��believe me teacher!�
�Uh�huh. Let me get this straight. You chase little fat boys down the corniche?�
�Believe me, nice fat boy, spending the time.�
�And you��
Smack. �Yes, believe me, teacher, every Thursday night go corniche, find the fat boys!� |
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Never Ceased To Be Amazed
Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 3500
Location: Shhh...don't talk to me...I'm playin' dead...
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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Have I missed something?!?!?!?
NCTBA |
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globalnomad2
Joined: 23 Jul 2005
Posts: 562
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:26 pm Post subject: students |
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| perhaps I should have mentioned...these were RSAF students when I was at Raytheon in Jeddah. And I didn't make it up. |
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