It is January already. Final exams were given, graded, and emailed to students. I am greatful for "non-teaching" hours until the end of January. I've had some time to think about the semester and here's what I've decided about the experience of English teaching in Qatar thus far:
1. Why did I think this teaching gig would be in any way similar to South Korea? There are only some minor similarities between my Qatari students and South Korean students. Both Qatari and South Korean students seem to be less mature than Western students. I state this because of the lack of responsibilities that they have. In Korea very few drove or had jobs because of public transportation and their parents desire to give everything to them. In Qatar none of my students have jobs and or drive - they import Filipinos to do much of the work and have professional, private drivers. Because of this lack of responsiblitiy and dependence on family, both groups act a bit immature in comparison to American students. However, there are some very stark differences between my Qatari students and South Korean students. My South Korean students watched US movies, bought and wore somewhat scandalous clothing, (this is relative of course) and drank like fish any night of the week. The male Koreans also participated in compulsory military duty for nearly two years, which (thankfully) matured the majority of them. However, here in Qatar the female students tend to be sheltered by family, cultural and religious expectations, all of which make them unique to any other group of students that I have taught in the past.
2. Why do you even come to school? There is a revolution going on, but strangely enough nobody here wants the revolution. Yep, I thought I'd have a classroom full women pioneers like Rosie the Riveter and Annie Okley ready to kick butt in the workplace, get married and have children (if they wished) after their undergraduate degrees were earned, and take on the world. Boy was I wrong! In fact, the statistics about Qatari female students is quite misleading. Some say that 2/3 of the high education population are female, which I took to mean that women wanted to be educated more than men. However, now I realize that going to campus for the day is really their only good option. Otherwise, because of the restrictions placed upon them by family and society, they would simply be sitting at home. Coming to campus to hang out with friends, talk, and have coffee seems like a much better option. Seeing some of the things that my students do (or do not do) reminds me of a couple very well off college classmates, who never worked a day in their lives before graduation. Honestly, I cannot blame this younger generation of Qataris for lack of motivation. They are cared for by family and in the past by way of monthly government stipends. In other words, they are not paying for their education so in my opinion they cannot truly appreciate it. And what you do not appreciate, you do not want. Furthermore, the women especially really do not need to earn a living from a job and so they do not need an education degree to put on their CVs. This is a huge contrast between Qatar and South Korea, where many large companies like LG and Samsung, as well as cushy government positions (the kind you cannot be fired from, but occupy until you die), require a certain score from a standardized English proficiency exam like TOEFL or TOEIC.
3. Why the serious face? Korean students were usually game for some fun speaking activities, but in Qatar I've found that the ladies do NOT do something that they do NOT want to do. Hence, Listening & Speaking class becomes a little heavy on the Listening. Finding culturally appropriate and fun speaking activities for my Arab ladies is one of my resolutions for 2010.
4. Same, same, but different. My current program has striking similarities to the another intensive English program that I previously worked for: professionally published textbooks, various levels based on Accuplacer, classes are kept to a minimum of 20 students (in Korea there was no limit and I once "taught" English Conversation to 50 students - a gosh darn nightmare!), and a lot of standardization within levels and throughout the entire program. That being said, there are virtually no comparisons between my experience in Korea and here in Qatar in regards to curriculm or staff.
Even though there are some challenging aspects of teaching in Qatar, I know that like most challenges they become easier to deal with after more experience. That's why I truly enjoy teaching - you find new solutions to problems and are constantly challenged.
Until next time!,
WW
