Job Discussion Forums

elsteacherjasmine · Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Posts: 18

Hi there,

I've just been offered a position by an agency called Tulbah---to work as an ESL Teacher for Hail University/College (the Prep English section on the women's side).

However, due to some reviews online and the previous threads about Hail, I'm feeling undecided Confused

in accepting the offer- the salary seems decent enough Cool

and I wonder if it is worth going for. I am worried about getting the pay on time, the Iqama status, the quality of the life for a woman in the university and in Hail itself. Please advise me on this matter.

I have a Bachelors in English Language, CELTA: Pass B and a couple of years of experience as an ESL Teacher (teaching Middle Easterners). Would love to get a chance of working in KSA.

Thanks.

([email protected])

trapezius · Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:15 am Post subject:

windstar · Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 235

By chance, do you know of any schools for children? I mean English, monolingual or bilingual.

Chrisdaveloshoff · Joined: 06 Jan 2008 Posts: 36 Location: Sri Lanka

Single woman in Hail Crying or Very sad

??? Questionnable.

I would advise you to give it a second thought, but we are not all in the same boat when it comes to make a decision.

All in all, there are other better places and if you are really desperate Mad

, need cash, then take it for a year, do your Master's online and after move to the UAE/ Qatar/ Oman where life seems a bit better than Hail Very Happy

.

Hope this helps.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Windstar
You hijacked the thread but here is your answer
There are no English-medium schools in Hail.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Hail is a tough one. Could be a good intro to the Arab world and you could certainly save there.

Not sure about how easy it is to stay sane there.

MyTrunkshow · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:40 pm Post subject:

I've been offered a position at Hail. As one of the posters, Scot47 I believe, said, "If you can't get a job at TESOL-Arabia then you're in the wrong profession."

Well, I got two solid offers. Looks like I am worthy. I am worthy. I am worthy. My online MA will be completed next year so several universities requested contacting them to reapply then. I knew that lack of an MA was an issue before I went there. Thanx VS.

CNAQ is not an option for now. For some irritating reason, me and a few others were not given an interview and the recruiters were absent from the interview room for most of the conference. I hung around the place a lot as I was interested in a job this trip. Another highly qualified individual was assured an interview in an email before he came but they were not there. I must wonder why there were there to recruit if they were only available for a short time? This interviewers lack of presence was dismissive and pretty darn ole fashioned rude.

So the Univ. of Hail looks like the one I'm about to proceed with. I've followed Brasscats harsh comments about the people who work there. Wow, you're on a mission to discredit them. I got it.

I would like to know more. My level of letting things slide is, well, high. I don't easily get angry at beauracracy. Many times, things work out, just not the way they are presented at first.

I talked to one employee who worked at UOH who said the problems were not as bad as your experience suggests. He said the housing was great and overall there was a decent thing going on. At the recruitment fair, there was acknowledgement of too many students in the classroom as I asked the class size. The vice rector, who I had dinner with in Dubai, also told me that there is a move to hire up to 30 teachers to correct this problem. If the 30 teachers don't materialize, I do care but I'll deal with it without grumbling. I can't control the admin. so I'll I just do my job. I love being in front of people and getting them involved in group work. That's what happens when the classes get big. Empty promises exist everywhere in many cultures, not just in the ME.

I would be a direct hire rather than this Tubah (sp?) recruiter outfit that seems to have been unreasonable to some of the English teachers.

Brasscat, can you tell me the straight goods....or have you said your peace?

I EXPECT there to be problems. What are they? My gosh, I've lived abroad 7 years and have experienced lots having been threatened with a knife at my throat while naked(not from the school but at my school housing) to not getting paid to having been asked to be deported. It was an administration error from the Ministry, not the school. Had this happened to you, what would your comments be? Despite this, I don't have the contempt for the people who caused these problems in the same vein in which you are expressing for UOH.

If you respond dismissively because I don't heed your 'warning', then fine.

I would like you to enlighten me. Take a Xanax before typing. Cool

I'm going into this thing with enthusiasm, a realistic expectation of having read literally 1000s of posts about the GCC since 2001 I desire to live a quiet life with school in they day, home in the evening and camping/reading/shopping/living/exploring/socializing/studying on the weekend. I'm moving half way across the world (again) in to a very conservative restrictive traditional Arabic culture.

Help us understand instead of demonizing them. Then, if there are problems that are untolerable, I can avoid them if that's the case.

I want to know....What is your daily routine? How many hours preparing marking? Do we have to adjudicate exams? Are these outside of hours in the evenings? What's housing like? etc...

Regards,
mytrunkshow

MyTrunkshow · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 5:10 am Post subject:

Can someone answer some questions about the housing for single men?

Is there an oven? Two burner stove? What is a 'cooker' as described on the UoHails website?

Are there bathtubs in the bathrooms? That would sure be a real treat after not having a bath in my own home for 7 years.

Regards,
mytrunkshow

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

cmp45 · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 1475 Location: KSA

My flat, in an apartment building only has a shower! They removed the tub during the bathroom reno job. I guess it was to help cut down on water usage. Crying or Very sad

cooker = stove

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 6:15 am Post subject:

Hail is in the middle of NOWHERE WAHABILAND. If you accept...have fun!

MyTrunkshow · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:20 am Post subject:

Thank goodness for it being in the middle of nowhere land. My map reading skills are still up to par. At last guess, it is 620km from Riyadh. Perfect as far as my needs go. I need a big polluted city about as much as I need a Paris Hilton look-alike silicon breast augmentation. Hail has stores that are stocked as in any Saudi Arabian city I would presume. Nightlife - I'm doing my MA online still so there is no call. After my MA, I can read, read, read and make friends with the other animals in the compound. As long as there's postal service, I can get books. Besides restaurant variety, what does Hail not have?

Interestingly, during my interview, I was asked what I did before I entered EFL teaching 7 years ago. When they heard 'cook', their minds were made up about me. They, rightly or wrongly, felt cooks tend to be self-providers and independent. This helped them deem me appropriate for this fairly 'remote' location.

A cooker is a stove!!! Wow, I will have a stove again. Whoopeeee. And a bathtub. I like the accommodations already.

I can go camping again too. Here in Taiwan, it's too hot in the summer and the nights are grossly sultry. The days are cloudy, muggy and often rainy. Also, the woods are full of large and scary insects from poisonous millipedes that seem to be everywhere to all kinds of stick bugs, flying things and snakes. I hate camping in the jungle.

Regards,
mytrunkshow

cmp45 · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 1475 Location: KSA

You seem like a very resourceful and low maintenance sort of person. You should fair well in the remote area of the kingdom.

I have only trekked through jungles on day trips. I found it difficult to really enjoy my surroundings; every dangling vine seemed to look like a snake after awhile and the blood sucking leeches were really bad...can't imagine camping over night!

trapezius · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 10:03 am Post subject:

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:53 am Post subject:

Jasmine,

I'm a single woman who is basically happy with like in KSA - I've been here for several years now - and I have more or less adjusted to the 'restrictions'. Like trunkshow, I am self-reliant and can make my own fun. However, "even" I would not consider taking a job in Hail.

Granted, I've not been there, but by all accounts, it is a challenging place for a single woman, even by Saudi standards. It's not just a question of there being no nightlife - I too would not notice if every 'club' on earth closed overnight. It's more that Hail is - again even by Saudi standards - a very conservative and insular place where a single foreign woman is likely to feel very conspicuous and isolated. From what I've been told, all female employees of the university are expected to cover their faces as well as their hair, and you would probably attract a lot of attention around town if you were to wear any but the most 'conservative' abaya-ensemble.

As I've said, I've no first-hand experience of Hail, so I may be mistaken in the above. Even so, I would suggest trying for a job in one of the bigger cities like Jeddah or Riyadh. True, most of the better employers will prefer you to have a relevant MA, but with the market being the way it is at the moment, it's definately worth a try.