On Thursday, I finally met Gemma, the HR woman I had been coordinating with for help with transferring my visa. I told her that I had my passport with me now, and asked what progress was being made on transferring my visa. She didn't seem to know. I asked if I should be doing anything, or if I should just wait and let them handle it. She told me I should probably go to my old company and try to get the final exit. I was a little surprised and reminded her that before she had advised me to just get the passport back and they would handle the rest. She said, well, it's best if you can get the exit visa.
I knew that next week we would have orientation week for the students, and that we wouldn't actually start classes until the following week, so If I was going to get this done, it would have to be next week or never. I figured I would try on Sunday to call my old company and attempt to get answers without having to miss any work. If I didn't get any help that way (which was very likely) I would go in person. Better to miss orientation than actual classes.
So on Sunday, I went to work as usual. First thing in the morning we were showed up to our staff rooms. Our team was on the third floor. There was furniture in the room. Bookshelves lined the walls, but stood about a foot away from them. I assumed it was because they hadn't plugged anything in yet. We all had desks that were arranged in rows with one teacher desk up front. It felt like a classroom, just with bigger desks. The chairs were fancy looking, with a very sleek modern design and touches of neon green and purple. I figured they might be ergonomic or something, but when we all sat down in them to try them out, they were anything but comfortable. We all sat for a moment trying to adjust them and taking in the space. Well, I said, guess it won't matter much if they are comfortable. Not like we will be spending much time here anyway, since we only have 40 minutes of planning a day. Everyone chuckled and nodded in agreement and we wondered back downstairs to await the training they had planned for us that day.
I was anxiously watching the clock waiting for 9am to roll around so that I could call the office and see what I could find out. Finally, and frustratingly at the same time, it was 9am and our 8 am presenter arrived. Luckily, they needed to set up a tiny portable projector, so I had enough time to step out and call the office. I was not surprised when no one answered.
For reasons no one really understood, they set the projector up in the room with the loudest and coldest air conditioning on the entire floor. We all sat teeth chattering while the man in charge of curriculum development gave a powerpoint that more or less took us through the whole theory of standards based curriculum. He dropped so many names of renowned educational theorists that I was worried we would need an industrial size broom to sweep them all up. I kept waiting for the part where he would tell us why it all mattered specifically to us. I was waiting to hear practical things, like, what books we would use, or what standards we would go by. Instead, we got more theory, and a song about No Child Left Behind, which was strange not only because it was irrelevant to Saudi, but also because there were only 3 Americans in the room, so the other 24 teachers were more or less lost during the whole thing.. Meanwhile, it was getting colder and colder in the room. I'm convinced that in a time lapse photo of the training, you would see sweaters being put on, scarfs pulled over ears and chairs moving slowly together so that we could share in each others body heat. We opened the windows to try to feel the heat from the sun, but even the Saudi heat wasn't enough to penetrate the arctic tundra being created by this loud AC. Eventually, I actually crawled up into the window to sit halfway outside. My fingers and lips had actually turned blue. Finally, at the end of his two-hour tour of educational theory, we were allowed to ask questions. As much as we all wanted real answers about what exactly we were going to teach starting next week, and how much progress we would have to make with these students, I couldn't stand being in the room any longer. I figured I would ask the other teachers to fill me in on his answers later, someplace warmer.
I also took the opportunity to call my old company again. This time, someone answered, but he didn't know what was happening with the iqama so he told me he would ask someone else and then call me back. So I went back in, and thankfully, they had decided to switch rooms for the second presentation. This guy was going to talk to us about the project based learning curriculum. The girls would be getting about 6 hours of language class every day, which would be divided into three classes. First they would do General English, then they would do English for Academic Purposes, then they would do project based learning. This guy at least had obviously been in a classroom in the Middle East, which is more than I can say about anyone else I had met from the company so far. The trouble was, he had only been in a men's classroom. He talked a lot about why project based learning was useful and important, which, as teachers, we all already knew. What he conveniently left out were any details about which projects they were going to have us do, and in what time frames they were going to do it. He kept saying it was all on the company shared drive and we could look at it later. During the Q&A, he mentioned a few examples of what we would do, for example, they would make a virtual tour of the college for next years prospective students. When we pointed out that while that would be great for men, Saudi women can't be photographed, video taped, or, in some cases of very conservative parents, even have their voice recorded.
Sometime in the middle of this discussion about what women could and couldn't do and how that would affect the kinds of projects we would be doing, my phone rang. I quickly ran out of the room to take it, knowing it would be my old company and the chances of connecting with them again if I didn't take the call were slim. To be more accurate, I sort of shuffled out. See, the thing is, I had bought a new pair of shoes for 5 SAR or about $1.50, at the hyperpanda the day before. They were kids shoes, and while they fit just fine, like all new shoes, they needed breaking in. Also, I hadn't warn socks. So I was developing blisters. I had taken my feet out of the shoes during the lecture to give them a little time away from the chafing and just had my feet resting on top of them, which obviously mashed down the shoes. When the phone rang, I didn't want to take the time to re-insert my feet into the now crushed shoe, so I just sort of shuffled out, and then mid-way across the room, I lost one of the shoes and had to go back for it. In retrospect, it would have probably been less disturbing to take the time to put the shoes on properly, but live and learn. To be honest, the presentation needed a little comic relief.
The answer I got on the phone was not really an answer. I basically needed to come to Riyadh again, since I still had my passport and they actually couldn't issue the iqama without it, so I was stuck. I would have to go to Riyadh again, and chances are, I would be there all week. I was sorry that I would miss out on the orientation week, but thankful in a way that I wouldn't be around to deal with all the last minute issues of trying to get the place open, for instance, still not having any chairs in the classrooms, no whiteboards or projectors yet, and having to develop a curriculum from scratch among other things. I hoped that by the time I got back, all of that would be sorted out.
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Training at the Hotel
Since the internet and toilets at the College are still not up and running yet, the next two days of training will be held at the Double Tree Hotel so that we can learn how to use the online attendance and grade system. Its a nice change. The professional development we had at the University of Dammam had been in a freezing room on the mens side of the campus, and we were lucky if there was water around to drink.
When we arrived we were ushered up to the top floor by very friendly hotel employees. Since it was only six stories, and because there was a huge line for the elevators, I asked if he could show me to the stairs. He seemed surprised and told me again it was on the sixth floor. I told him I knew that and he just shook his head but led the way. Once we reached the stairs I expected him to carry on with his duty, but instead he insisted on going up with me to make sure I would find it. I thought that was a bit strange since in my experience stairs only went in one direction and didn't offer many opportunities for getting lost while climbing them, but I figured it was just really excellent hospitality. As it turns out, he was right. There is no hallway connecting the rooms on the sixth floor to the conference area on the sixth floor, so you actually have to leave the stairs on the fifth floor, walk around to the middle of the hotel and then take the elevator up one flight of stairs to the sixth floor. Now I felt kind of bad for making him climb all those stairs. Who knows though, maybe he needed the exercise as much as I did.
If I didn't need it before, I certainly needed it after I got to the room. They had provided us with an amazing spread of coffee, tea, fruit juice, and a smorgasbord of delicious breakfast desserts. It was incredible. I had a cheesecake and a croissant and I would have had more if I could have gotten up from the training table without anyone noticing what a pig I was. We started the session by getting in groups to come up with three things we thought the company had done well so far and three things that hadn't gone so well. We had kind of a variety of experiences in our group. One girl, who like me was coming to the Khobar Female College (KFC) from her old company had sent a lot of emails and called many times to find out where she would be staying when she finally arrived in Khobar, but never got any response and no one met her at the airport. Just when she was deciding maybe she should stick with her old employer, she got a phone call and was sent to the right place, but still, it was a nerve-wracking experience and one that worried me, because it was just the kind of thing my old company would have done, in fact, did do to me. The other woman had the opposite experience. They met her coming off the plain in Bahrain, got her all set up in the hotel, worked out all the visa stuff and then brought her into Saudi without a single problem. The one thing we could all agree on was that there were too many teaching hours and not enough planning time and that the curriculum should have been developed prior to our arrival, and that having no internet after we had been told there would be was kind of a skunk move. We also all agreed that the accommodation was wonderful and that our IT lady, Fozia, was amazing and really knew her stuff, and that what KFC was trying to do with raising the standards for women's education was admirable. Most groups had similar complaints, but we didn't get all the way around the table when the general manager arrived.
He wanted to just give a quick hello, and a background on the company, which is a British organization that focuses on job training programs and welfare to work systems in the UK. They are apparently very successful there and are hoping the model will work equally well in Saudi. He explained that the underlying motivation for the Saudization project is ultimately economical, but that there are social interests here too. He also said that the company is not non-profit, and they are paid based on student outcomes, which, unfortunately are measured 90% by attendance and only 10% by student outcomes. He kept it up beat, and focused on the difference we would be making in the lives of the women we would teach, and the future generations they would raise. Underneath it though, it was clear the focus was ultimately on attendance. I was starting to get the sinking feeling that at the end of the day, all the rhetoric about engaging students and dynamic teaching was a secondary hopeful outcome, and that attendance was really all they cared about. We were being hired to be glorified babysitters, and if some learning happened to happen in the meantime? Great.
After the general manager spoke, we heard from the quality manager. She talked about the quarterly observations we would have, the random "learning walk" observations that would be drop in for 5 minutes or so, and the annual institutional review. I was actually quiet happy about the observations. I have not been officially observed in a long time, and I would personally welcome the feedback. Most of the other teachers weren't happy about it, and I can see how it would be scary and unfair if the observations led to teacher dismissal. The process she outlined for us was that if there were areas for improvement you would be asked to do professional development and make a plan for improvement and re-observed after a month. I think if they stick to this plan, and give you both the time and resources to improve, the observations can only be a good thing. I wondered though if these observations were like our lesson planning time.... something they wanted to do and do well, but that they hadn't sufficiently planned for. There were 32 teachers, and one person doing the observations who also happens to be the vice principal and head of student affairs, and we were all supposed to be observed once a month. I'm not sure when she is going to fit this all in.
After this we had lunch. It was a buffet set up on the first floor of the hotel and it was amazing. There was so much food and it was all so good. I stuffed myself, and probably would have eaten more If there had been more time. The waiters even came around with warm chocolate chip cookies. The service was definitely outstanding. I found myself wishing we could just remain perpetually in training at this hotel. I could get used to fast internet, snacks, buffet lunches and friendly staff. I didn't even mind sitting through the session when there was tea and coffee available.
We ended the day by trying out the online system for attendance. I was anxious to work with this database and find out what it was capable of doing. It turns out, it really just captures attendance and weekly test scores and that is about it. It didn't seem particularly user friendly. I was hoping I could use this system for everything, and that the students would be able to check their own grades and attendance through this system, but they will not be able to access it. It looks like I will need to use a free online learning portal for my classroom purposes after all. Which is actually ok because I had already started to make one for my University of Dammam classes, so it is already partially done anyway, and I can just re-use it.
Too soon, the day was over and we all pilled back onto the bus. It wasn't so hard to do knowing we would be back at the hotel tomorrow for more training... I was really looking forward to some more hot chocolate chip cookies.
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| Waterfall display in the Lobby of the Double Tree Hotel |
If I didn't need it before, I certainly needed it after I got to the room. They had provided us with an amazing spread of coffee, tea, fruit juice, and a smorgasbord of delicious breakfast desserts. It was incredible. I had a cheesecake and a croissant and I would have had more if I could have gotten up from the training table without anyone noticing what a pig I was. We started the session by getting in groups to come up with three things we thought the company had done well so far and three things that hadn't gone so well. We had kind of a variety of experiences in our group. One girl, who like me was coming to the Khobar Female College (KFC) from her old company had sent a lot of emails and called many times to find out where she would be staying when she finally arrived in Khobar, but never got any response and no one met her at the airport. Just when she was deciding maybe she should stick with her old employer, she got a phone call and was sent to the right place, but still, it was a nerve-wracking experience and one that worried me, because it was just the kind of thing my old company would have done, in fact, did do to me. The other woman had the opposite experience. They met her coming off the plain in Bahrain, got her all set up in the hotel, worked out all the visa stuff and then brought her into Saudi without a single problem. The one thing we could all agree on was that there were too many teaching hours and not enough planning time and that the curriculum should have been developed prior to our arrival, and that having no internet after we had been told there would be was kind of a skunk move. We also all agreed that the accommodation was wonderful and that our IT lady, Fozia, was amazing and really knew her stuff, and that what KFC was trying to do with raising the standards for women's education was admirable. Most groups had similar complaints, but we didn't get all the way around the table when the general manager arrived.
He wanted to just give a quick hello, and a background on the company, which is a British organization that focuses on job training programs and welfare to work systems in the UK. They are apparently very successful there and are hoping the model will work equally well in Saudi. He explained that the underlying motivation for the Saudization project is ultimately economical, but that there are social interests here too. He also said that the company is not non-profit, and they are paid based on student outcomes, which, unfortunately are measured 90% by attendance and only 10% by student outcomes. He kept it up beat, and focused on the difference we would be making in the lives of the women we would teach, and the future generations they would raise. Underneath it though, it was clear the focus was ultimately on attendance. I was starting to get the sinking feeling that at the end of the day, all the rhetoric about engaging students and dynamic teaching was a secondary hopeful outcome, and that attendance was really all they cared about. We were being hired to be glorified babysitters, and if some learning happened to happen in the meantime? Great.
After the general manager spoke, we heard from the quality manager. She talked about the quarterly observations we would have, the random "learning walk" observations that would be drop in for 5 minutes or so, and the annual institutional review. I was actually quiet happy about the observations. I have not been officially observed in a long time, and I would personally welcome the feedback. Most of the other teachers weren't happy about it, and I can see how it would be scary and unfair if the observations led to teacher dismissal. The process she outlined for us was that if there were areas for improvement you would be asked to do professional development and make a plan for improvement and re-observed after a month. I think if they stick to this plan, and give you both the time and resources to improve, the observations can only be a good thing. I wondered though if these observations were like our lesson planning time.... something they wanted to do and do well, but that they hadn't sufficiently planned for. There were 32 teachers, and one person doing the observations who also happens to be the vice principal and head of student affairs, and we were all supposed to be observed once a month. I'm not sure when she is going to fit this all in.
After this we had lunch. It was a buffet set up on the first floor of the hotel and it was amazing. There was so much food and it was all so good. I stuffed myself, and probably would have eaten more If there had been more time. The waiters even came around with warm chocolate chip cookies. The service was definitely outstanding. I found myself wishing we could just remain perpetually in training at this hotel. I could get used to fast internet, snacks, buffet lunches and friendly staff. I didn't even mind sitting through the session when there was tea and coffee available.
We ended the day by trying out the online system for attendance. I was anxious to work with this database and find out what it was capable of doing. It turns out, it really just captures attendance and weekly test scores and that is about it. It didn't seem particularly user friendly. I was hoping I could use this system for everything, and that the students would be able to check their own grades and attendance through this system, but they will not be able to access it. It looks like I will need to use a free online learning portal for my classroom purposes after all. Which is actually ok because I had already started to make one for my University of Dammam classes, so it is already partially done anyway, and I can just re-use it.
Too soon, the day was over and we all pilled back onto the bus. It wasn't so hard to do knowing we would be back at the hotel tomorrow for more training... I was really looking forward to some more hot chocolate chip cookies.
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