First Day of Teaching

The first day of teaching actually went surprisingly well, and surprisingly quickly.   I found my classroom and luckily, it wasn’t one of the super cold rooms with the really loud air-conditioning.  It was still a little cold, but it wasn’t frigid.

The girls arrived and we played a game to learn their names, which was easier than I thought it would be since most of them were either Bashayer or Hatha.  I wasn’t sure what their ability level would be, but it turned out they were mostly at a higher level than I thought.  Our books started at the very beginning with Hello, and assumed that they also didn’t know how to write or read English.  All of my girls could write, though with varying degrees of success, and most of them knew greetings and could handle basic conversations, so I had to quickly revise most of my lesson plan.  But in the end it went well.

I had a 15 minute break before my next class, and I spent it re-arranging the desks for group work and trying to copy down the attendance before I had to turn it in.

My second class was project based learning, and already I could tell that they were at a lower level of English than the other class.  What they lacked in skill, they made up for in personality. This class had a class clown already, and a group of girls that I dubbed “the giggle gaggle” because they seemed to find absolutely everything funny.  I also had an older student in the group.  While most of the girls were between 18 and 25, this woman was clearly in her mid to late thirties, possibly even forties, and the difference in ages was clearly a barrier.  We did a series of group and pair activities, and every time she was in a group or a pair, I could see that she was holding herself apart, and the younger girls weren't exactly going out of their way to include her.  I would have to think about what I could do to bridge this gap.
I spent my lunch  break copying down the attendance, and snacking on the lunch I brought.  I didn't end up having time to finish eating it all, but I at least I managed to finish the apple and about half of the salad.  I could see that I was going to have to learn the art of fast eating.  I had a second hour with the first group of the day, and they started arriving to class well before the official start time, so I had to put away my food early.

My final group was at the end of the day.  I’m not sure if by now, they were all just warn out from a busy first day, or if they really were just a more calm and mellow group, but either way, this group was a dream class.  They were attentive and quiet, and were more advanced even then my first group, so they were able to do more advanced work and have interesting conversations.  I was really pleased with them. I was also glad that they were my last class of the day.   Ending on a good note is really important and helped me feel energized enough to begin planning for the next day instead of feeling drained and just wanting to go home.

We had about 40 minutes between the end of the last class, and the time the bus arrived.  But by the time all of the girls left and I straightened up the classroom, there were only 30 minutes left.  I knew it would take me about 10 minutes to pack up, put my abaya back on, head over to the administrative building and sign out.  I had intended to go upstairs and try to find the staff room I had been shown the week before I left for Riyadh, but in the end I decided I could get more done if I just stayed put and finished copying down the attendance so I would have a record of the students in each class.  
I lost track of time, and before I knew it, I had only 5 minutes before the bus left.  I rushed to pack everything up, and sure enough, I was the last one on board.  Turns out, since the bus arrives about 15 minutes before it is meant to depart, most of the teachers had been outside waiting for at least 10 minutes.  I felt bad, but since I technically got on the bus only 1 minute past the official leaving time, I didn't feel too bad.
The mood on the bus was generally one of excitement.  We had made it through the first day.  We knew now what to expect, and what the students needed, and now finally, we were in our zone of expertise.  We figured that now that we had students, most of the administrative headaches would start to disappear.  From here on out, hopefully, they would trust us to do our jobs, and we would leave them to focus on the logistical side of things.  For example, getting the internet working, connecting our computers to the printers and photocopiers that had been installed, and a thousand other small but necessary details.
All in all, it was a good day, and I was looking forward to the next day.   But first, I still had to get through tutoring Joury.