Job Discussion Forums

boonie pepper · Joined: 28 Dec 2007 Posts: 10

Hello! I may have a job opportunity to teach military students in the UAE. I will be teaching academic English to all male classes--I am female. I did a search on these boards but only found posts relating to Saudi students. Does anyone have experience teaching the military in the UAE? Any advice or insight for working with these learners? Thanks in advance for your response!

mouse5 · Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 142

That's unheard of. Be careful! Don't forget this is the Arab world. They must be very short staffed. They wouldn't let you do that in KSA. Males teach females, but I wouldn't let any of my students near a female teacher.

boonie pepper · Joined: 28 Dec 2007 Posts: 10

The program is run through a university there. I was hoping that men in the UAE are a little more liberal than those from KSA. Perhaps I am naive....

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

It is not uncommon for women to teach men and men to teach women at tertiary level in the Emirates. In the past, it was only men teaching in the military contracts, but towards the end of the infamous MLI organization they had convinced the military to accept women teachers.

As long as this is a decent organization with supportive management, I don't see a problem. Many of the women who taught at the men's colleges of the HCT system felt that the men were easier to handle than the women. Granted they were not military...

That said, I personally would probably not take a job teaching with the military unless I was old enough to be their grandmother. Laughing

What are your credentials? If you have an MA and academic English teaching experience, I would suggest looking further...

VS

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Yes - you are naive.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Well scot... at least she was smart enough to ask before rushing to accept. Laughing

VS

boonie pepper · Joined: 28 Dec 2007 Posts: 10

I'm not naive enough to paint all Arab men with one brush. I understand that how the students behave towards me will depend largely on how I present myself professionally. On the other hand, there are cultural implications that I cannot control. I guess I'm asking that if I prove myself through competence, teaching ability and professionalism, will they give me a chance? Again, any insight from your experience (or a colleague's) would be appreciated.

Early 30's, MA TESL

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Check your PMs BP, but I will post a general bit of advice on this topic. Now that I know the employer, I would ask two things of them... first, how many women do they have teaching there now... and the ability to contact one of the women directly to address your legitimate concerns because people have been warning you against this.

We had a woman poster here a few years back who was teaching with MLI in Abu Dhabi and said that she enjoyed her military students and had few problems. I recall that she had children in secondary school.

VS

Neil McBeath · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 277 Location: Saudi Arabia

The male student, femal teacher thing shouldn't be a problem if the military personnel are disciplined.

In Oman, the Royal Air Force of Oman have started using female teachers at the Air Force Technical College. I think they were driven into this by the fact that they cpould not recruit enough men, but I believe that it has worked.

The Omani RAFO personnel, however, are well motivated, and well disciplined.

There were some horror stories circulating about UAE soldiers' lack of discipline, but so many of the former MLI staff kept posting on this website, crying "stinking fish" that it was hard to work out the truth.

In Saudi, some of the cadets at TSI are completely undisciplined, but that is entirely the fault of the Royal saudi Air Force. Basic training ought to consist of a lot more than marching and saluting, but in KSA it doesn't

eha · Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 355 Location: ME

"I guess I'm asking that if I prove myself through competence, teaching ability and professionalism, will they give me a chance?"

Well, if the Military follow the example of many other regional institutions, competence, teaching ability and professionalism, to paraphrase Mae West, have nothing to do with it. If they LIKE you, you'll be fine. And in this region, as everywhere among adolescents, that has little to do with your teaching ability. If they DON'T, you might be lucky and get by just fine. Or they might find things to use against you--- in which case, no amount of professionalism, competence, etc. will help you. And if (God forbid) this should turn out to be the case, don't expect support from either management or colleagues. Sounds harsh-- and I'm not talking here about the military. Just the way things work in all institutions. Oh, and by the way, if you DO have any problem, or object to anything, don't expect other expats to support you either. Majority of them are into "I'm all right Jack" mode: brown-nosing and backstabbing are the most common survival strategies.