Slowly but Surely

Sorry I haven't been keeping my blog up-to-date!  Things here have been very busy!!

School is slowly but surely improving daily.  Originally I was moving from classroom to classroom almost every period.  I would teach English in one classroom, then move to another to teach math to another group, then back to the first classroom to teach science to the first group, etc.  I had to look at my schedule every 40 minutes to see what I was teaching and where I was going next.  I was also having to carry all my belongings from room to room, including my white board markers.

I am now in one classroom all day, with the students moving from class to class.  Although this is harder on them, I can be more organized and ready to teach.  They also get a little break to move around, so it's not all bad for them!

Many of the students are working hard to learn English.  Like any teacher, I am so thrilled when they get excited about what we are learning.  This week, as I was writing a sentence on the board about the "girls," one of my students pointed out that I needed an apostrophe before the "s."  WOW!  I then tried to explain the difference between a plural and a possessive (without using those words, of course).  I am so proud that she was watching carefully and thinking about how to correct the sentence!

We had our big CAT (Continuous Assessment Test) this week in English, math, and science.  It is amazing to me how much these young girls have learned in so short a time!  In English we are working on reading a story that is WAY above their reading level, so each day we study the vocabulary on the page we are reading and try to learn them as "sight" words.  We're writing basic sentences and learning phonics (mostly beginning and ending sounds).

Science is more advanced.  So far this year we have studied plants (plant parts and functions) and magnets.  The vocabulary includes words such as poles, attract, repel, magnetized object.  They not only have to understand the vocabulary, but they also have to learn the science concepts.

Math is quite a task!  Their number system is completely different AND reads from right to left.  When I first got here, I tried to learn their numbers.  I can remember most of them, but when I see numbers with no context, it takes me a while to recall the value.  Can you imagine trying to learn PLACE VALUE when sometimes you can't remember to start on the left?!! 

I also think, as I am sitting in a faculty meeting and listening to everything in Arabic, how difficult it must be for some of my girls who speak no English to sit in my classroom all day and listen to words flow over their heads.  I am an adult, and sometimes it is difficult for me at the end of a long day to look interested in what is being said when I can't understand it. 

All in all, my life is good and getting better.  I miss ALL my family back in the states.  I am looking forward to Stephanie coming over at Christmas.  I miss my friends and my "team" at school!  I miss my husband very much and WISH that the paperwork required for his entry would be processed in a timely manner!!! 

Hope this catches some of you up on the day-to-day experiences of a teacher in the U.A.E.......

Two of my sweet girls!!