Job Discussion Forums

maryfrances · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 22 Location: Czech Republic

No, it is not all true: Oxford governors held to the way they have done things for 900 years. The PSU instigators, avaricious and stupid, include the malevolent �acting� director of PSUCW�s foundation program. All else that I posted yesterday is true.

And well, Oxford till sells MAs, something that most people can�t comprehend: a grad degree with no academic work.

I am not sue why my post disappeared from this forum. Again: Anyone who thinks this is unimportant disrespects TESOL teachers and the profession. The teachers at PSU were some of the best professionals I ever knew. But the nuttiness, the nastiness, the vicious, really, mismanagement makes the place toxic. Poisonous atmosphere. The cuckoo who runs the �ladies� program has non-native speakers running things, insults everything American (as if there were better), insults some fine teachers and okays quizzes and exams that are plain wrong. There is considerable wind about �linguistics� but a deadening setup for the investigative and expressive skills the kids need.

The hemorrhaging of women teachers is a worse sickening scandal.

To pretend that PSU students, who can�t spell CAT, can handle real university work is to discredit TESOL. Shame on PSU and Oxford, shame on anyone who accepts this as a cultural aberration. Please value our work.

tuberculosis · Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 8

I had the impression the guy I spoke with from the men's section was a moron, and this confirms it. He had a french accent and mentioned he was the head of their meetings with Oxford at the time of my phone interview. It sounded impressive to me, but the more I read about the college, the more it became clear it belongs to a rich Saudi prince and he could do anything he wants. US Ivy league universites are the same, the rich can get in easily while the rest of us have to struggle not only for the best scores but for the cash. Actually the only place that seems worth working at is BAE.

007 · Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:54 pm Post subject:

tuberculosis · Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 8

Only VIP can get in with BAE? Please explain what you mean, I appreciate your thoughts and information here.

007 · Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:43 pm Post subject:

maryfrances · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 22 Location: Czech Republic

maryfrances · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 22 Location: Czech Republic

Cleopatra · Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:07 pm Post subject:

tuberculosis · Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 8

This is really interesting to me, I am outside of Saudi Arabia looking to come in, and you people have all really helped me a lot, more than other boards. I just can't figure out why things keep getting locked, I went back and read all those topics and they were really helpful to me as I m trying to see what things are like in Saudi for teachers, and foriegners in general. I would have liked to read on and know more about the things you all are facing. Anyway, I just thought I would comment, I am not trying to get things locked up again!

Thanks all!

Queen of Sheba · Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 397

TB, the thing about Saudi Arabia, is that people who don�t understand the culture often think they need to be careful about doing or saying certain things that might 'offend' people, and then do the other things, or intentionally overlook them. More often than not, out of misunderstanding or preference, the obvious cultural faux pas are rampant, even the ones you can actually be arrested for, and then the very same people call regularly debated issues 'sensitive.' Back to your point about the forum, yes, I see your point, and I refer to aforementioned misinterpretation of cultural misnomers. Actually, discussions often get much more heated than these have and cover some of the same topics we get into in the forum that have been locked, in my class room, so I fail to see the point of locking them as well. Incidentally, this may be why many people aren't posting or commenting much lately.