1st Grade in Abu

Well the boys are great. I love them a lot and am enjoying this whole crazy thing that is teaching in the Middle East. My Arabic is moving forward “shway shway” little by little or slowly. My few years of teaching back in California are in some ways very similar and a lot of ways totally different! Kids are the same. No matter where they come from. They love competition, (especially boys) enjoy being loved and praised and everyone loves to sing! So that’s what we do. For about 30-45 minutes in the morning during “circle time” we do all of those activities. Before I came into this class they hadn’t used or sat on the big square carpet before. So training in sitting nicely and staying in your individual square is still happening. You kinder/1 teachers know exactly what I’m talking about! Currently the classes favorite song is 1-2 buckle my shoe, 3-4 shut the door, 5,-6 pick up sticks, 7-8 lay them straight, 9-10 a BIG fat hen (in my funny deep voice)! They love it. So we sing that about 3+ times and move on to another song. Itsy bitsy spider is another fav.

The biggest incentive is candy. Everyone eats, breathes and sleeps chocolate here. SO the kids are very used to getting it whenever they want. So I’m not here to change the whole UAE so I jump in too. But I brought Cookie Crisp cereal to school for ‘C’ week. Well, little did I know walking around with a huge box of Cookie Crisp was going to change my life with these little boys. All I have to do is pick up the box and they shape up so fast. They sit down quietly, they participate and LISTEN to what my very small vocabulary with them. And get this…I only give them 1-3 little tiny pieces of the cereal and that is just fine with them. It is magic! They say, “4 Ms. Emily, 4” And I shoot back a firm and loud, “NO.” or “LA” Then they are okay with the 2 pieces I gave them. (Don’t worry yelling here is part of the education;)

The ticket here for me is to teach English. Yes I am supposed to teach Science and Math but incorporating all these activities to focus on a specific objective for the week is really my personal goal. And teaching science to a bunch of kids who don’t know English is nearly impossible. This week I’m teaching about the life cycle of a plant. HHAHAA ya right, all we’re doing to planting seeds and focusing on the words seed and plant. They have no idea what I’m saying if I do an actual real lesson. So altering your mind as a teacher here is to think like an ELL (English Language Learner) who really has no idea what even English is. Especially in 1^st grade.

This is the huge courtyard in our school. All the boys (over 700) getting ready to celebrate and believe me this is nothing to what was behind me or what the kids look like!

December 2 was UAE’s 40^th anniversary!!! So it was crazy to say the least. Kids came to school Sunday, Monday and Tuesday…that was it. And Tuesday was performances, festivities, a gun show (yes a gun show, here in UAE we LOVE guns) and celebrating. So I just stood back and watched all morning. Then the kids went home by 10:30 and we teachers left shortly after that. I did have my first real authentic feast that day. It was so good! Because myself, Caroline (the other woman teacher) and the nurse, Iman, are the only females in the school we ate together while the men ate next to us. The cooks spread out a huge mat across the gym floor. Then a plastic wrap-type piece over it. The huge platters of food come out. The men take off their shoes and squat down and begin eating on the floor, on the mat. They have one foot under and then they are leaning on the other. It is offensive to show the sole of your foot to another when sitting, so they tuck their leg under their body. Then they palm the rice with a small dollop of yogurt to keep it together, liver and usually lamb with their hands. So I jumped in and tried it for awhile. I was told by Iman, it is okay for women to sit cross-legged because it’s more comfortable and we were in skirts. The rice is so, so, so good. I could eat that all day. I did NOT touch the liver; the first and last time I ate that was at Stephen’s house when Kent, his dad, made me eat it for initiation into the family, eeww. And the lamb was good too but I stuck to the rice. Then my new wonderful friend, Iman said, “halas”…which means, “we are finished!!” We had enough of eating with our hands! So someone came and brought us women a spoon! Yay, we were quite happy!

The men eat like they have never eaten before. Iman described to us that it was each man for himself. She said when the food comes men only see the food, they do not see others or hear anything! When you are done eating you go. That is it. Halas! It is so funny because no one waits for others to be served, no one has manners and you just inhale the food. Although I very much enjoyed it…I do love the table etiquette my mom always taught us ;)

I have no doubt I will have many more feasts like this one. The men at school both Arabic and other LT’s are so friendly, kind and very inviting. I feel as if the feast bonded the two groups. We jumped into their culture and their rules. I think some appreciated it a lot. And so did I. And Iman…she now calls me her sister! I do love her so much already.

FYI: I would love to show tons of pictures of my class, kids etc. but I have to be very careful what I post with "evidence" of my kids and school.