My five reasons for leaving the UAE – reason 5
This ladder at our school symbolises many things
Big sigh…. We have reached the final installment of these ramblings about why I have reached the decision throw in the towel and leave the UAE.
It’s been a very interesting journey. The comments and the support form the PLN has been amazing as always.
My family and I are looking forward to the move with less and less trepidation and more and more enthusiasm.
We can’t wait to get a chance to face real life with real challenges.
My final reason: This is just so not funny
I feel I have been the butt of a tremendous joke in very bad taste
I don’t want to
- have to explain to the father of a 20-year-old 10th grader that it’s not my responsibility if his son decides not to come to class.
- have to tell students spitting that sunflower seed shells on the floor during class is not very nice, let alone explain to teachers that going out of the classroom to spit in the flowerbeds is also not very hygenic
- witness teachers and students taking turns taunting students who are fat, mildly autistic, or just darker skinned than most of them
- accept that people from less privileged countries (mainly South East Asia) are considered inferior by the students and (even more shockingly) by the teachers. They are treated like mind and soulless automatons whose job is to carry to teachers’ bags, clean up the schoolyard after the students and be taunted and abused on a regular basis
- accept that the passport you carry, the car you drive and the phone you use defines your social status and the students’ attitude to you. Being Hungarian, as it turns out, is not that bad. Oh, no, the days when Puskas was the reason everyone knew of Hungary are long gone, now it’s NOKIA, apparently the second best sets come from my little country. Obviously driving a 6-year-old Peugeot does not look very good, but the iPhone compensates a bit (though it should really be a Blackberry). But if you are teacher from North Africa or the Levant, well, you have very little going for you, I’m afraid. This then shows in the teachers’ attitude to teaching, students, professional development, and we’ve run full circle.
I want to
- wake up in the morning and worry if my ideas will work in the classroom
- think of how I can find a way to engage-motivate-like the most demoralised-unlikeable students
- come up with new ideas, new challenges to make learning what it really should be: a discovery of something new
- help teachers who want to help themselves
- spend hours correcting papers written by students who have opinions or at least know what they have downloaded from the web
- be able to take my favourite songs/videos to class and talk about them and encourage students to do the same
- come up with ideas and have conversations about them with the administration and school management
- see students at the centre of decision making instead of cheap and easy compromises that sustain the system at the price of sacrificing the most vulnerable
- be proud of my students’ achievements and my colleagues’ successes
- get up in the morning and look forward to getting to school
I know this all sounds very easy and idealistic. I know it’s not. Teaching is a hard profession but staying a professional is definitely something I expect.
I might be wrong. Would not be the first time, and definitely won’t be the last. But I can’t wait to begin a new learning experience that will make me better as person – a teacher who has learnt something from an experience.
I feel I’ve learnt all that there was to learn here. I’m grateful for the experience. I will take it with me and use it. Has it made me a better person? I think so. Will it make me a better teacher? I am convinced.
Form an English exam by a grade 11 student
Thank you very much for following me through this journey. Farewells are always difficult. Change is always a challenge, it’s a tunnel, you don’t know what you will see when you reach the end of it. It may be just another tunnel, or an even worse place, but the train runs forward and it’s only at these stops you get to see if you want to stay on this one or perhaps take one that’s a bit slower, a bit simpler but rides through majestic landscapes.
I have a few questions about this series, about the decision and your predictions. I’d love it if you took the time to visit the survey and answered the four simple questions to let me know what YOU think.
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This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 10:54 and is filed under (Not) Teaching in the UAE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
11 Responses to “My five reasons for leaving the UAE – reason 5”
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PROUD TO BE AN
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WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU?
January 22nd, 2010 at 23:45
Sorry my last comment was erased!
Thank you for sharing this journey with us and helping us reflect. Change is sometimes what is needed for us to move forward. Often the transition is very difficult and uncomfortable. However, this is when we usually are rewarded the most.
January 23rd, 2010 at 00:09
Hi Tamas,
Each day was a great read. thanks for sharing. Changes are inevitable and if we are ready for the new challenges we can learn more. I hope you will able to find a classroom where you will be able to follow your ideals.
It worths a try.
Good luck.
Eva Büyüksimkeşyan
January 23rd, 2010 at 23:22
Thanks for sharing. Almost all the things your mentioned are things that I constantly have to think about in my own teaching context although I believe there is a bit more light at the end of the tunnel on my end (at least I tell myself this). I’m glad you didn’t get lambasted like happened to me with the whole Tell Me About Turkey debacle. I’m guessing no one from the UAE reads this blog though. The Middle East is not a place that suits many Westerners, especially for those of us that live outside expat bubbles. Teaching here can be depressing.
I’m just so happy I’ve found a job where my values and teaching standards are constantly met and where I know my students are learning and that they are trying hard. I’m lucky to be in a private school rather than the public nightmares that often constitute what passes for education here.
You made the right choice.
January 24th, 2010 at 08:34
Dear All,
I really appreciate all the wonderful feedback and encouragement I received during this exciting week.
As Nick points out, it is a bit surprising and disappointing that probably no one reads this blog in the UAE. This demonstrates more clearly than anything the lack of honest and constructive discussion of the issues.
From now on, what I am going to concentrate on is how I can be a more useful participant of the professional community wherever I am.
This has been a great and very useful experience that has contributed in numerous ways to my thinking and activity as a teacher and a person.
I’m sure this experience will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Thanks again.
I will be back very soon with “something completely different”.
January 24th, 2010 at 20:27
“Come to the cliff” he said.
“We are afraid” they said.
“Come, ” he said.
They came.
They flew.
Good luck with all your new adventures, looking forward to hearing them.
Karenne
January 25th, 2010 at 18:02
I’m reading this, and I’m in the UAE!
While I have no doubt situations like this exist (and you have to do what’s right for you and your family, of course) I think it makes a huge difference what age of students you teach, what city within the UAE, and what school.
My international school in the city of Abu Dhabi teaches an American curriculum and has about 1/2 Emirati students (maybe a little less). 3/4 of my students are Muslim (I am not; I’m an American Christian). I would not say I live in an “expat bubble,” but my 4th graders are generally well-behaved and tolerant of differences. I’ve certainly never heard anyone at my school tease anyone else about their race, nationality, car, or cell phone.
My point isn’t that you’re “wrong,” it’s to reassure anyone who might be reading this that not all schools in the UAE are like the one described in the post.
January 25th, 2010 at 19:25
Dear Marianne
I am very happy that you read the posts, and took the time to respond.
We might be in the same country but you have to take my word for it when I say that we teach in different worlds.
I realise that the situation is completely different for private-international education in the UAE, my grievance is that I expected to find the the same in the public sector.
Wish you good luck with the teaching (and congrats on your engagement).
Will keep looking at your blog with a bit of envy and a lot of appreciation.
February 1st, 2010 at 07:21
I always appreciate your honesty, Tamas, even when you’re dealing with painful truths.
Best of luck in all of your upcoming decisions. I know you’ll find a situation that suits you and your goals, and I look forward to reading about your new adventures when you get there!
February 1st, 2010 at 08:05
Thanks Barbara.
I think the series helped me a lot with re-evaluating the process, and making senses of the experience. Now it’s much less painful. The excitement of a new beginning has set in. We are making plans and things slowly fall into place. These three years in the UAE will be an unforgettable learning experience and I will always be grateful for all the things I have learnt about people, cultures, attitudes, and most importantly about myself. It’s a fascinating place to have lived at.
I’ve already promised Sophie that we will come back here when she’s 20. I can’t wait to see what we shall find here then.
February 18th, 2010 at 15:43
Thanks for this honest series. I’ve struggled with the decision to ‘stay or leave’ for a few years now here in South Korea. I guess I’ve got strong roots here because my wife is a Korean citizen but your posts have helped me put things in perspective and think about long-term prospects. Thanks again.
February 19th, 2010 at 13:03
Thanks Neil for this fantastic comment. I really appreciate it. To realise that these thought experiments are sometimes helpful to others, makes them feel a bit less “Narcissistic”. I think the “strong roots” you mention were also an aspect of our decision. It would be very easy to stay and grow those roots and – torturing the biological metaphor a bit further – grow unhealthy in unhealthy soil and develop into a strange tree-like thing that just does not look right. By this time it’s too late to replant it in healthier soil, it has to be cut down, and a completely new thing has to be grown.
Thanks again for dropping by and I look forward to finding out how you get on.