Job Discussion Forums

[Lima Echo]

Hello everyone,

I've accepted a job teaching Foundation students at the University of Nizwa and will be arriving a few weeks from now. Would love to hear from anyone who is there/will be there/has been there. Feel free to PM me if you like

Cheers!

[wendym]

I'll see you there!

[megone]

Wendym and Lima Echo, are you all in Nizwa yet? If so, how's the town? the university? (I might be joining you if things work out.) How are the teachers there?? Any body else at UofN this fall? If so, please respond too. Thanks.

[veiledsentiments]

Current teachers may not want to post so that they can be recognized - best to stay under the radar if you can. But, I have a friend who is currently teaching there and is happy with the situation so far. Like all ME institutions the staff is a mix that ranges from very eccentric to nearly normal. Management is mostly well meaning if not always efficient. The students are the usual Omani mix of mostly quite low levels of English. If you maintain firm classroom management skills, there aren't too many behavior problems. The housing seems to be mostly acceptable and some of the flats are great. It is luck of the draw as to what is available when you arrive.

Everyone will be very happy to see you as the teacher shortage has meant some very large classes for some teachers. This is one of the better places in the villages of Oman. Lots less grumbling than with the Ministry jobs.

And the weather is starting to cool down too!!

VS
(PS... if you do a search for "Nizwa" you should find threads about life there. It's a pretty quiet place.)

[megone]

Thanks VS!

Responders, feel free to send PM if you prefer.

[Duffy]

VS, I think, from what I saw of Nizwa, it is more of town than a village but, Hey Ho some of our students from villages call their places cities!

As for teachers lying low, not every post in this forum is contentious. Personally I don't care if people know who I am, most down here in 'lalah do.

Duffy

[veiledsentiments]

You're right that Nizwa is pretty good sized in Omani terms. Calling it a village is probably a reflection of those of us who worked in Muscat to refer to everywhere but Muscat and Salalah as 'the villages.' I don't think if it as a terribly negative usage, but even Muscat is hardly a 'city' by my definition. But, I think we already had that debate here. (to me what we call "Muscat" is more of a string of villages with no real center... I don't consider that a bad thing either... it sure beats Dubai in my books. )

I hope megone gets some PMs. There are many members of the board who never post and only use the PM function - whether they are trying to avoid recognition by their management or avoiding some of the nasties on here is about 50/50.

VS

[Duffy]

Mmm.

[Lima Echo]

Megone,

feel free to PM me

and nice to see some posts on the Oman forum! It's been very quiet of late.

[boundforsaudi]

Can anybody explain the internet situation in Nizwa? What's available, and what is the cost? DSL? Cellular? Wimax?

[megone]

Can anyone give an update on what's going at the Univ. of Nizwa as far as hiring this semester??

[veiledsentiments]

Last I heard they still need teachers.

BUT... they are typically inefficient in their hiring process. It is a place where if you are in the hiring process, you might want to send them an email regularly to see if the hold-up involves anything you might not have known you needed to do or send.

VS

[megone]

Thanks Veiled.

[SandyMan]

[Nashledanou]

I am interested in Nizwa too. From the pictures, it looks really cool - well, maybe 'cool' is not the most apt adjective, let's say quaint and charming. I might see some of you nextly.