On the Job Front

After three weeks of orientation and training and one full week of teaching, I am finally ready to write about my job. I got exactly the type of assignment I was hoping for but was told I probably would not get during my first year. Here's the lo-down:

The Institution
Sharjah Women's College is a division of the Higher Colleges for Technology (HCT), which was founded 20 years ago. HCT is the biggest institution of Higher Learning in the UAE. We have sixteen campuses, mens and womens, around the Emirates, with six major degree programs: Education, Business, IT, Health Sciences, Engineering and Graphic Arts. Degrees are offered at the Diploma level (like an American Associates Degree), Bachelor's level, and soon there will be Masters programs available. Currently, only Emirati students are admitted and student fees are paid by the government.

The Campus
Our campus is located in University City, a giant well groomed desert village where four major Universities and several smaller institutes have taken up residence. Imagine large white stucco-colored domed buildings surrounded by wide marble plazas with palms and fountains. The Women's college, Men's College and shared Sports complex probably span five kilometers. The Women's College has about 8 buildings, mostly connected by covered walkways as shelter from the sun.

The Job
I teach English to groups of 18-20 students who are doing Business and IT degrees. These gals have already taken one year of English-only intensive courses, so they're able to converse casually and write paragraph-level papers in English. The goal seem s to be vocational and commercial English, aiming towards work-placement. The huge influx of foreigners has got the locals wanting a more prominent place in commerce, thus a push for 'Emiratization' of the work force, and the education of any willing college-aged student, with a focus on fluency in English.

Students
Most of my students are 19 or 20 years old and from large Muslim families (7-9 kids)
The dress code for students requires the abaya, a simple black robe typical of locals around town, with 'decent' clothes underneath. There is not any head-cover requirement, so the students' choice of cover varies. I teach a total of 38 students between my classes and two of them choose to be totally veiled. Two others choose no head cover at all. These two gals are usually sporting Converse brand shoes and blue jeans under their abayas, and make no effort to conceal what they're wearing under the uniform. The rest cover all but their faces or have a little bit of hair (often highlight streaked) peaking out.

My Colleagues
A third of my colleagues have been here for more than three years, another third are in their first three-year contract, and about a third just started like I did. Americans are a small minority among the faculty. The countries represented are Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, Hungary, Scotland, Ireland, England, Canada (lots of them), Columbia, Sudan, Egypt, Malaysia, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. I have a spacious sunny cubicle (will post photo later) and my cube faces the work space of Aysen (from Turkey), Scott (from Scotland) and Nikki (from England).

More to come later:

Facilities and Resources

Campus Rules

Classroom Anecdotes

Work Ethic

Calendar

Teaching During Ramadan