So, You're On Your Own....

Well returning from spring break was an interesting experience.  I will blog about London at a later time, it's just too much to write about and I can't seem to get myself to sit down and do it.  Anyway, returning from spring break as I said was interesting.  Here's what I mean by that, I was actually really excited to see my kids (as much as I complain about them, they completely have my heart) and the staff I hadn't seen since break, especially my co-teacher.  I was became concerned when I didn't see my co-teacher and quickly figured out that she wasn't at school.  I was interrupted by the vice principal/substitute teacher during English.  She, in the best way possible, tried to tell me that my co-teacher would be out for 3 weeks and that she would come in to teach my kids Arabic and Islamic.  I later found out that she had a hysterectomy.  From that moment on, I started to change how things were run in my classroom.  Being as I look at it like the classrooms in our school are the Arabic teacher's, even though we teach the kids more than they do, I have just kind of gone with how she runs things.  Well, since I am on my own with them for 3 weeks, I made some new routines and have STUCK to them unlike how the Arabic staff runs things.  I am shocked they don't understand or care that routines for kids are very important and can really help students succeed.  I have quite the morning routine down with my kids and they love it and are used to it by now.  We finish morning assembly, they grab their money from their backpacks and come sit down on the carpet.  I start by taking their orders for breakfast followed by them choosing what job they want for the day.  Once someone has picked to help me pass out the breakfast food, they get to put our money container on the shelf for the cleaners to collect later on.  The line leader and "teacher" get to wear their badges, my attendance student does their job, seeing who is here and who isn't, and my day's of the week student says the days of the week to which the rest of the class repeats after them (in English first and then Arabic).  We also write the date on the board and review our schedule for the day.  I can't tell you how smoothly this goes and how much they listen and are engaged in it all.  I know my co-teacher will appreciate this, and it gets the students settled before teaching begins instead of running around the classroom while she talks to other teachers.
So, these past two weeks have gone pretty good, I moved my tables around so I have one long group and a smaller group set up which makes it easier for me and the kids benefit by sitting all mixed up.  I had one student who has had my heart since day one, work harder than I have ever seen him work, but knew he was capable of doing so.  He was sitting next to my busy bee and wanted to do as much work as she was doing, so of course I let him.  I was so proud of him, I let him put his paper on the board and he couldn't have had a bigger smile on his face.  I even sent a message to his mom telling her he had a great day and worked super hard, she was excited to hear this and thanked me for telling her.  
I have been communicating with some of the parents in my class, sending them pictures of what we do throughout the day.  The other day I sent pictures of the kids gluing popcorn kernels to for numbers and one of the parents sent a message back saying I was a good teacher for the kids.  This simple statement made being here worth it.  It is amazing what a thank you or a you're doing a good job can do.  
That same student I mentioned before that worked really hard, was the recipient of an award from me for eating healthy for the months of February and March.  I contacted his mom to let her know he would be receiving it on Thursday morning and if she could make it that would be great.  She unfortunately had to work, but I took pictures and she was overjoyed that I sent them to her.  Another student of mine was also the recipient of the same award, and her mom was able to come and watch her receive it.  
Tuesday of last week, while I was lining my kids up to go into the play area, the Arabic HoF came into my room and said I needed to go into the meeting room, all the teachers needed to go in there.  She told me to take my kids into the play area with the bus moms.  I walked into the meeting room to a huge spread of food!  We found out that our principal was thanking us for doing what we do.  We all received a rose and certificate.  The food was great, but it's so heavy I couldn't eat much of it.  It was nice to be appreciated for what we do.  
Last weekend, Rebecca and I had ourselves a stay-cation in the city.  We stayed on Yas Island at a nice hotel, lounged by the pool all day and celebrated my friend Melissa's birthday in the evening.  It was really relaxing and a great way to spend the weekend.  This weekend, I stayed with Melissa and we went to the Macklemore concert.  That's right, that Thirftshop Seattle boy came all the way to the Middle East to preform!  It was an amazing concert!  I cannot believe how close I was to the stage and what a great show he put on.  He was literally dripping sweat during the show, even though it was nighttime, it was still 90 with about 50% humidity!  Everyone was sweaty and sticky, but it was worth it!  Melissa and I took our friend Marc with us (I am friends with Alecia, she was the second person I met when I arrived :)) and met up with Lindsey, Danny and Gary (he's from Gig Harbor!).  It was a great time, I can't wait to see Justin Timberlake in May!  
Enjoy the pictures!

This was the picture I sent to the mothers to remind them their child needed to bring sunglasses the next day for a performance in front of the school.

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Stay-cation!

Our appreciation buffet!

My certificate and rose.

My healthiest eaters!

Look at the little boy's face,  he couldn't be more proud/happy to be getting this!

Macklemore!!

Another Week Down.....

Last week involved teaching (obviously) but with a few minor burps in the schedule.  We started the week with Color Day which was put on by KG1 and was also supposed to be held at the local park.  Since the weather wasn't the greatest, we had a change of plans (shocking) and held the events in our indoor play area.  The events consisted of tug-o-war, various competitions that I would play with my PreK and K kids last year in PE, as well as a banana eating contest.  They sang songs about different colors and painted pictures in their color groups as well.  The day was fun, but not exactly organized, which seems to be how most things go.  Later in the week we took a field trip to the public library.  This library was beautiful, the kids section was so cute, the chairs were unique as well as the tables.  There were lots of books in English as well as Arabic.  The librarian took my class into a reading room, read them a book about feelings and had them pick from a fish bowl different faces with expressions from the book.  The kids loved it, and the librarian even invited me back with the class so she could teach them an English lesson!
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity (last min.) to go to Fujairah which is one of the seven emirates.  I stayed at a resort, swam, relaxed, ate amazing food, tried Moroccan tea and watched the filming of a show called Abu Dhabi Top Ten.  This show highlights various things you can do around Abu Dhabi and in this case a weekend getaway.  The sea was absolutely beautiful, not too warm and not too cold.  I of course put my feet in the water multiple times, you can't go to a body of water and not out your feet in, anyone who knows me knows this.  I also visited one of the oldest Mosques in the Emirates.  It isn't built like any other mosque I have seen here.  I also walked up to the watch towers to see where the watchmen would look out for the pearl divers to come back as well as if any enemies were coming.  This part of the emirates is very mountainous which was very strange to see since all I have seen here is sand.  On the way back, I caught a ride with Casey and Anna back to Abu Dhabi from Dubai.  Casey and I shopped a bit at the mall before I headed back west.  On Saturday, Rebecca and I decided to head to the Tilal Liwa Hotel and use their pool.  For a fee which we LATER found out would have been cheaper if we had told them we were teachers (they told us it was too late).  The pool was very relaxing and we also enjoyed some afternoon tea.  Rebecca informed me that real afternoon tea (AKA in London) is nothing like what they have here and not to base this experience on a true afternoon tea.  I can't wait for London and to have real afternoon tea.  
This week started with almost a full class (not too sure why they are coming to school since we have been told that attendance will be down due to this being the week before the holiday, but oh well. Hopefully by tomorrow the kids will dwindle in numbers.  I always have my UNO deck with me just in case!  Enjoy the pictures!

My students sitting in our reception area waiting for the bus to take us to the library

Such cool furniture!

Denise and I doing a colored sand project for a PD

6 Months

Well the past few weeks have been a little hectic to say the least.  We have had a snake problem that resulted in the students going home early, taking them to a beach festival for the day and not showing up in fear of the snake.  The snake problem was "solved" by spraying chemicals outside which seeped into through the doorway and into our lungs.  We left the school in a hurry; hopefully it was fast enough. 

Last week we had low numbers because of another snake sighting over the weekend.  I was supposed to be observed by my principal on Sunday, the day I signed up for, however she had other plans and so I was pushed back to another day.  I am not too sure why a sign up sheet was sent around if it wasn’t going to be followed, but whatever.  My co-teacher was observed on Monday and she did an excellent job as always.  One of the EMTs that was in the room during her lesson commented to me that she didn’t need any translation because she was so animated she was able to understand what she was saying to the kids.  I told her that she is almost always like that and I actually learn a lot from her because of it. 

My observation finally came on Thursday.  I didn’t prepare anything special for this lesson, I have always been a believer that when someone comes to observe you, they observe how you normally are, not the person who puts on a show for everyone.  I had my “small teacher” as we call them (student that acts as the teacher during the lessons) show picture cards of things that start with the letter B.  He did an excellent job of this.  He apparently thought that I did a good job as well because he took the sticker my co-teacher had given him during Arabic and put it on my arm to tell me I did a good job.  I just melted when he did this, so sweet.  The kids were actually really well behaved when all 5 people were in the room watching me.   The other teachers were going around asking them questions about what letter was on their paper and what each picture was on their paper and they all answered correctly!  Proud teacher moment! 

This weekend, Rebecca and I took on the challenge of having a Harry Potter marathon.  We thought we could finish it in one day (at least I did) boy was that ever false!  We started Friday at about 9 and finished for the night at about 11:30.  We resumed our marathon Saturday morning at about 9 I think and didn’t finish until 7:30.  I am good on watching Harry Potter for a long time. 

It is only 2 weeks until Spring Break and it cannot get here fast enough!  I will be going to London for 8 days with Casey.  I am really excited to see what this great place is all about!  We have quite the list of things to see and I am certain we will find some other gems that aren’t on our list.  

Side note, on March 13, I celebrated my 6 month anniversary in Abu Dhabi.  I cannot believe I have been here for that long.  I remember the day I received the illusive email.  I woke up to missed calls and texts from my sister telling me that my itinerary had come and I was supposed to leave the next morning!  I was shaking as I went to my parents computer and opened the email, responded to it and repeatedly calling my parents to tell them as they were on their way home from the gym.  They of course didn't answer their phone (why have one if you never answer it!?!?!).   Anyway, that day was filled with text message notifications, eyebrow appointment, saying goodbye to Justine, my sister and Moe :(.  I can't tell you how many times I repacked my suitcase and put it on the scale to weigh it.  How can they expect  you to move across the world with two suitcases weighing 70lbs each?!?!  I didn't sleep that night as I had to be up at 3AM to go to the airport where I said my tearful goodbyes to my parents as they flew to CA and I flew to Abu Dhabi.  Two days later I arrived in Abu Dhabi, stinky, sweaty and exhausted.  I was so exhausted I scared myself when I saw my reflection in the mirror of my hotel room.  The only things that made me feel comfortable was knowing that when I woke up in the morning, I would be greeted by familiar faces I had been conversing with over the summer on Facebook.  The next day when I woke up (actually that same day just in the afternoon), I went to Lindsey's hotel room, she opened the door and greeted me with the BIGGEST hug!  I will never forget that, a hug can do so many things for a person and that one hug made me feel safe, comforted, not alone, and welcome.  Every time I see Lindsey, she greets me with the same hug, it's one thing I will always be grateful for!  I cannot imagine doing this without the love and support of the people I have met here who have instantly become my family and the love and support of the people back home.  Here's to another 1.5 years!  

Enjoy the pictures!

Beach Festival

Beach Festival

Beach Festival, yes that's the Sea in the background

Moe came when I called him!

Thursday shopping trip with my staff and Rebecca!

The Oreo Truffles have become famous here!

Biggest slide I've seen!

Here We Go Again!

Well, this past week was interesting to say the least.   Nothing too exciting happened at school with the exception of one day, and I’m not completely sure which day it was exactly, I think it was Wednesday.  I could tell that my coteacher wasn’t feeling well on Tuesday, however she is so dedicated that she never misses school unless she is deathly ill.  Since I could tell she didn’t feel well, I prepared myself on Wednesday and came with some new fun things to do with my kids.  I did have the luxury of having the art teacher teach my kids Arabic so I could at least have a break during the day.  I finished taking money for breakfast and then left her with the kids.  When I came back, we went over the number 14 which we had been learning this week for math.  I had brought my box of Cheerios with me to use either as an incentive to listen and behave or use as some sort of art project.  Well, I had them glue 14 Cheerios on their paper and the copy from the board (didn’t really translate well) “This is 14”.  I couldn’t help but laugh when they write this sentence completely backwards on their paper and some of them just kept on gluing the Cheerios.  This is a prime example of why a coteacher is needed, this was a very simple task and the directions were lost in translation.  I did have some students who made the number 15 out of Cheerios which I thought was cool.  They loved doing this, so much so that the next day when my coteacher returned, they all ran to their cubbies and grabbed the papers to show her what they had done. 

The weekend brought relaxation (recovering from the week) and trying new recipes.  I made a banana bread pudding breakfast thing.  I saw Chef Simon make it on an episode of The Chew and had to try it, however it calls for croissants and those are hard to find in MZ without cheese or Zatar in them, so I had to use a type of dinner roll instead.  It was ok, but I think using croissants would be better.  I also made some pretty tasty nachos as well, ground beef with bell peppers, mushrooms and onions and of course Windy’s Saucy Taco Seasoning.  Check out her website for some amazing spice blends and rubs for meats. http://fortheloveofspice.com/

This past week I also decided to try a recipe that my sister told me about, two bananas, a cup (I think) of oats and 1/3 cup of chocolate chips, mix it together and put it in the oven for 20 mins at 350.  I also made my Oreo truffles.  They were delicious, even more so than when I make them in the states.  I think it’s because the cream cheese here that I used was a tad sweeter than Philadelphia Cream Cheese.  I brought them to school for the EMT’s so I wouldn’t eat all of them. 

This week started normal, Sunday was a normal day of teaching, my students listened and worked well with each other.  Monday brought a meeting with our cluster manager whom we talked to for about an hour.  We talked to him about our frustrations with the lack of communication and how we find things out last minute, which prevents us from making the most of our teaching time.  He complimented us on the fact that all the concerns we had concerned the students and their learning time.  My students were also well behaved today, which makes the teaching very easy and enjoyable.  Today brought a meeting in the morning while the kids were in the hall playing.  Our meeting lasted for about an hour and fifteen minutes.  The meeting was to discuss what the cluster manager talked with us about.  There was quite the fuss from some of the Arabic staff (mainly the ones who are never in the room to translate) about having to be in the room to translate everything.  I made sure to compliment my coteacher for always being in the room and translating what I need her to translate.  When I am teaching, if she can tell the students might not know what something is, she will translate it to them, but they are mainly listening to me when I talk.  She also translates directions at centers for me as well which helps.  Some of the other teachers are never in the room after they teach their lessons, which leave the English teachers on their own for the whole day.  Boy were their words been thrown around about that!  We expressed our concerns and at least our principal listened to us, hopefully she makes sure that it will actually be put into play, but who knows.  Yesterday I also exposed them to Sesame Street!  I found this wonderful video of Usher singing the ABC’s with some of the characters.  There are movements for each letter.  I have been practicing the dance so I could do it with my kids.  So I told my students that I had something fun for them to do if they could be good listeners, well the ones that understand the most English knew exactly what I said and came right into the classroom for English and sat down nice and quietly on the carpet ready to go.  I played the video for them twice and they loved it, they giggled at the characters dancing and were yelling out the letters they knew.  The third time I played it I had them get up and do the dance with me, my girls were totally into it, some but not all of my boys were too.  They were all just amazed I was dancing and so had their eyes glued on me.  I played it again and they danced more, this will be a treat for them if they are good listeners during English. 

I received my other package from my parents with my Ellen sweatshirt and my iPod stereo, now I can play music while they are working. Oh, how I have missed this!  Back home, I always had music playing while my students were working and they actually worked better with it on, some would stand and dance while working, which I didn’t mind as long as they were working.  Today I put the music on for the kids and they were relatively quiet and working.  It’s amazing how music can change the mood of a room.  I always have to have music playing, I am not sure why, but I have always been that way. 

Ok, here’s the most important part of this blog post.  After almost 6 months of me being here, the Starbucks in my town has finally OPENED!  It opened Saturday, minus the AC, but Rebecca and I sat outside and just watched people.  I have been there everyday since just sitting and watching people.  It’s a two-story building, so we found that sitting upstairs provides the best view to see everyone come in as well as being quieter than downstairs.  The baristas already know my name and my drink (that’s a good thing right….?).  I couldn’t be happier to have a nice coffee shop to sit at and work or just talk to people.  It also has a drive thru which is amazing and wonderful, but I won’t be stopping every morning, I’ve gotten used to my home brewed coffee in the mornings and it’s also cheaper! 

Please enjoy the pictures!

impromptu falcon demonstration at our school

Notice that my name is spelt Collin, each day the spelling gets closer to being correct

"Look teacher, Ninja" -no words....

The Inspectors are Coming, Quick Put on a Show!

Well, I have learned my lesson, I should not wait so long to blog because I have forgotten what happened last week.  I do remember that last week was actually a good teaching week.  I had my co-teacher in the room pretty much all day, my lessons were prepared and engaged the students.  My students make me laugh.  Here are some examples why they make me laugh.....
I have a student that I have talked about before on here, I call her my "busy bee".  She challenges me every day in the patience department.  She is super smart, both in Arabic (from what I can tell) and English, Math and Science.  However, she works so quickly on her center work that I have a difficult time finding something to challenge her with when she finishes.  My co-teacher requested that I make laminated pictures of each student so we could put them in different spots in the classroom.  When students finish their center work, they will know what they can do afterwards, either play center, blocks center, reading corner or computer.  I put her in the reading corner which she was thrilled to go to (thank goodness).  There is a constant battle each day to be the second student in line.  I always have a line leader and they know who that person is, so they fight to be second.  I cannot get it through their minds that it doesn't matter and we are all going to the same place, but I don't think I've ever been able to get that through to my classes.  Anyway, my "busy bee" is so busy that when she stands in line, she cannot for the life of her control her body enough to stand still and quiet.  She flails her arms, shakes her head and makes a joyful sound all at once.  It cracks me up!  I remind her how she is supposed to stand, she can do it for .5 seconds and that is all.  Frankly I don't care how they walk in line as long as they are in a line (not possible for my class) and quiet (again, not possible).  I feel like I have gotten off topic, but I think that from now on I am going to have them do arm exercises as we walk in line, that way they are paying attention to me and hopefully (fingers crossed) quiet at the same time.  If anyone (especially my principal) says anything to me I will gladly explain I have an extremely busy class and this is the only way I can get them to walk in a quiet line.  I will keep you posted on how this goes.  Oh! I remember what happened last week, towards the end of the day, my co-teacher was doing a review of Arabic when her phone rang.  Normally her phone is in her purse and tucked away, however today it was out and the ringer is set as loud as it possibly can be set.  So, as per how things go around here, she answered it and proceeded to have a 10 min conversation with someone.  As this was happening, my students went a bit nuts.  They were up, touching things they weren't supposed to be touching, moving around when they should have been on the carpet.  Well, I decided to just watch all of this because I figure if you decide to answer a phone call while you are teaching, you kind of deserve this behavior.  In the middle of her call she looks at me and says "Miss Colleen, Sultan Yousef, in English is he good?"  I was thrown off a bit, thought about it and said he was actually doing really well.  She proceeded to tell me it was his mother on the phone wanting to know about how he was doing.  Ok, two things wrong with this picture, one obviously is answering the phone while teaching and two, the mother calling knowing darn well that her son is still in school.  After the phone call, my co-teacher got after the kids for their behavior which I kind of found humorous based on what she did, but oh well.  
This week started out very calm which freaked me out because we had inspectors coming to evaluate our school based on what the education system in this country says we should be doing.  There was lots of prep for this week, not since the beginning of the year, rather the past 2 weeks, great preparation if you ask me......  I did hear a screaming match between one of the Arabic teachers and the principal which was quite shocking to say the least considering the staff room door was closed and the classroom it occurred in was a ways away.  The argument was over the fact that the principal wanted all shelves cleared of teacher supplies in the classrooms before the inspectors came.  This didn't need to be done I found out later from the inspection team.  
Monday - Wednesday were very interesting teaching days.  It was as if I walked into a brand new school, the Arabic teachers were on time to lessons (some showed up period which was an improvement), there was a large adult presence in the play area during break time and the same in the lunch room for breakfast.  It makes me laugh that the Arabic teachers were so stressed during this time, there's nothing to be stressed over if you are doing your job correctly and to the best of your ability.  I didn't change a darn thing when they came to observe me.  This happened during my math lesson, the kids saw someone new in the room and were in rare form if you know what I mean, but I carried on as if I didn't even seen the man in the room.  He talked with me for a bit after I sent the kids to break and had he seemed to understand that our job is to say the least difficult.  The last day they were at the school, they wanted to see how we conduct a fire drill.  I actually thought it would be interesting to see myself since we hadn't done one all year.  I was pulled into another teacher's room who wasn't at school that day to walk her kids out during the fire drill.  Being the team player that I am, I obliged and walked them out, however I had know idea where they were to stand.  I was also told to take the class list to make sure they were all accounted for when we got outside, that's great and all however I don't know every one's name, so the list did me no good.  The fire drill was really entertaining, the fire department came and sprayed the school with water and then brought out the water cannon on top of the fire truck and sprayed the sand surrounding the school.  The kids loved it!  We were told to go back into the school, I decided I was going to follow my school back in and stay with them since I hadn't had a chance to teach my students English as I was interrupted in the middle of my lesson to take my kids to breakfast before the fire drill.  I was quickly pulled from my class yet again and told to watch the other class.  So, having no materials to teach them anything, I let them have free play.  I was doing an alphabet puzzle with about 4 of the students when the inspector came in and sat down.  You have got to be kidding me?!?!?  After finishing the puzzle, I went over to talk with him again.  I explained that I was not their teacher and was asked last minute to watch them and I had no idea where their Arabic teacher was.  The gentlemen talked to me again about how things at the school ran and my opinions, etc.  I was irritated that I wasn't with my class and no one informed me when I would be relieved (I hadn't gone to the bathroom once and really needed to go).  I looked at the schedule and saw that they had library at 11:30.  Thank goodness for this, I had them clean up and line up to walk to the library.  I entered the library and the librarian looked at me funny and said she didn't have a class right now.  I told her this was another teacher's class and it said they had library on the schedule.  She informed me that she was asked to switch them to the morning, so she had already seen them today.  GREAT!  So, I lined them back up and was going to take them to the play area but KG1 was in there, so back to the classroom we went and outside to play on the playground.  I dismissed them to the buses when it was time to go home to.  As a result of this, my students did not receive their Science homework I had prepared for them.  This really irritated me, mainly because our principal has stressed we need to send homework home every night (these kids are 3-5 BTW) and because I was taken from my class, this didn't happen.  
Thursday turned out to be another normal day at school, oh wait no it wasn't.  I was yelled at by the "vice principal" to go to a meeting with the principal while she watched my class and the class next door.  All the teachers needed to be in this meeting that took place during our teaching time.  I am sorry, but we have a morning routine, a routine it took a while to get the hang of and you are disrupting it, so I will come when I am finished taking breakfast orders and money from my kids.  She apparently did not like that I wasn't jumping up right then and there, so she continued to yell and I yelled back telling her I was coming.  I am a coworker of yours, please show some respect and don't yell at me.  I got all of the money and orders completed and made my way to the meeting room.  We sat for 2 hours (our school day is only 4 hours long mind you) to talk about what the inspectors wrote up about our school.  We were pretty much thrown under the bus as an English staff, being told we weren't doing what we were supposed to be doing.  My blood was boiling 10 mins into this meeting.  After the meeting, my kids went to break, then had breakfast, my co-teacher wanted to teach them Arabic and then they went to library and home.  I taught nothing, however I was mentally exhausted from this day.  I went home, gathered my things and made my way to Abu Dhabi.  I spent the afternoon with Casey, whom I felt like I haven't seen in way too long.  We went to dinner at Jones the Grocer (she owed me dinner from the bet we made that the Seahawks would beat the Saints when they played...) which was delicious, then to Ikea and Ace.  I made my way to Dubai where I spent Friday exploring.  Dubai really is a real city, it reminds me of Seattle, only the buildings are so much taller.   The area I was in reminded me of Orange County as well, people sitting outside enjoying food and coffee while the beach is just across the street.  Here are some pictures from the past two weeks, I hope you enjoy them!

Footprints vets hosted a BBQ for the new arrivals! 

Moreeb Dune

Ibn Battuta Mall

Dubai as seen from the Palm Islands