Job Discussion Forums

crazycatlady

i have a job offer from iat, and i'm curious to know what the english classes i would be teaching are like.

1. what level of english do the students have?
2. do we teach efl reading/writing/listening/speaking?
3. do we follow a textbook? if so, which one?
4. do we create our own syllabus?
5. do we teach literature? composition?

help, anyone?

Incedere · Joined: 21 Oct 2007 Posts: 58

We teach EFL at IAT. Grades 9 and 10 (next year) will teach general English, while grades 11 and 12 will focus on IELTS related language skills.

No literature (sadly), though you do have the ability to affect the syllabus in collaboration with other teachers. I often pull in articles from the Gulf News, and the National for use in the classroom, as well as technology related articles from the New York Times or Newsweek.

Next year there will be more of a focus on integrating technical and core non-English subject (i.e. Math, Science, ICT) related language into the English program to help students in those areas.

crazycatlady · Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 4:30 pm Post subject:

what are students' english skills like? are they separated into classes based on skill level?

Incedere · Joined: 21 Oct 2007 Posts: 58

It's a great place to work (though I am quite biased...so reserve judgment until you've had a chance to suss out the place for yourself), and you will have a lot of opportunities for personal and professional growth.

The students are spoiled in that they are paid a salary, and given MacBooks (...and iPods starting next year), streamlined into internships and jobs, and paid very handsomely for very minimal military training requirements), but they are also held to pretty high standards. Grade 12's have to achieve an IELTS band 5 to graduate, and must earn their IC3 certification. That, on top of mandatory SATS (for Engineering/Science cluster students), the uniform and behaviour codes, and attendance enforcement have resulted in a school that seems a heck of a lot more like a North American prep school, than a normal high school in the UAE.

johnslat · Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 5:07 pm Post subject:

Dear Incendere,

iPods or iPads?

Regards,
John

ardiles81 · Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 71

johnslat · Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 3:30 pm Post subject:

Dear ardiles81,

Too bad they aren't "hard liberals," like me: USMC, Vietnam vet, ran the Boston marathon, do 5000 stomach crunches and 1000 push-ups a week, am a card-carrying member of the ACLU (after all, I fought to protect and preserve those liberties,) and I generally re-educate at least two soft conservatives, one "hard" one, and five delinquent feral kids before breakfast.

Regards,
John