COVID-19 in Qatar

I really had no intention to write about my experience with COVID-19. I mean, the whole world is going through this. Why would anyone care about my perspective? However, several people have made a comment about looking forward to reading my blog post about it. The more I thought about it, I figured I should go ahead and write about it. One, it will be fun (or not) to re-read what I wrote in one, five, ten years from now. Two, most people who are going to read this probably don't know (many) people living in other countries, and it might be beneficial to hear from someone they know about how this pandemic is affecting people all over the world. I will break this up into sections: personal and professional.

Personal
Thanks to social media, I am acutely aware of all the happenings of home. Just like at home (Jasper, Indiana), things in Doha are changing day-by-day. Within about a one week span, pretty much everything closed. As of the date I am writing this, March 22nd, just about the only things left open are banks, pharmacies, grocery stores, and restaurants for take-out or delivery. However, the one major difference I am seeing between Doha and home is the lack of mass-chaos and hoarding here. Grocery shopping is never a fun event for me. It's usually always busy, and I get cart rage very easily. However, people here are not being extra crazy at the stores. I went shopping on March 19th, and this is what the shelves looked like.

We have stocked up on food and all other essentials, so I'm feeling pretty good about things. We are self-isolating as much as possible. It's a little hard to do, though, when all of your friends live in the same apartment building as you.

Professional
Just as a reminder, our work week runs Sunday to Thursday. On Monday the 9th, the government announced, at the end of 6th period (we have an 8-period day) that schools were closed indefinitely. We had been anticipating that something like that would happen, but not during the day. It was chaos for the last two periods of school. We had two days to prepare our lessons for online learning, and our first day of distance education started on Thursday the 12th. All last week, teachers had to go to school. We are doing a modified block schedule, and we are required to Zoom in with students for every class. Today was the first day that we were allowed to work from home. Full dress code for teachers is enforced.

Zooming with my students.

We, obviously, don't know if/when we are going to return to school. Our spring break was scheduled for April 3-18. Thank goodness Zach and I didn't plan on going anywhere for break! And, Ramadan is supposed to start on April 24th. We have a shorter school day during Ramadan. There is speculation that we probably won't go back until after Ramadan (middle of May), but it's purely speculation. For us, the school year ends on June 25th. Our plan has been to go home for summer, but we will have to see what happens before we make any definite plans.

Professional - Teaching
I have to say, I am definitely coming from a place of privilege. I have joined some teacher groups on Facebook, and I am shocked at some of the things teachers back home have to deal with. All of our students in grades 6-12 are required to have a device. We are a 1:1 school. I am very confident in saying that all of our students have internet at home. As a school, we already use Google Classroom on a daily basis. It's been shocking, to me, to see that teachers are struggling with the technology side of distance learning. Believe me, I realize that they are struggling because it is not something they deal with on a regular basis. Not to brag (but I'm pretty proud to say), but I am also a Google Certified Educator. So, I feel extremely fortunate to be where I am during this extremely weird time.

Anyway, that's my update. I know it's not much different than anyone else. But, that's the point. Even though I'm in a different country, I am experiencing similar things to people back home. We are all in this together. Stay safe, everyone!

Breaking Down My Time At School

Today I was told that I would not have my 3rd and 4th period classes today.  I only have four classes on Fridays so that means that I would finish my day at 10:30 a.m.  Got got me thinking of how much I actually work.  You may think that I'm bragging.....

......I AM!

So, here is my schedule.  I have to be at work at 8:40 a.m. and I can leave at 4:40 p.m. Monday-Friday.

I "teach"* 17 40-minute classes, 2 50-minute classes, and 2 20-minute classes.  That equals out to me being in the classroom for 14.5 hours every week.

* I put teach in quotes because my co-teacher wants me to plan a game or activity that lasts 10-15 minutes each class and that is all I am required to do.  Except for kindergarten where I am in charge for the whole 20 minutes.

That leaves me 25.5 hours each week to plan my activities and do whatever else I want with my time.  I've never really broken it down like this before.  I have it pretty cushy here in Korea!

School Picnic

Today, my school had a school picnic.  Actually, the term 'picnic' is a little misleading.  Basically, the students went on a field trip.  Each grade or group of grades went somewhere different.  One of the grades went to an art museum.

For school trips, the Native English Teacher (NET) is usually required to sit at their desk and desk warm.  The only other people in the school are the maintenance/cleaning people.  Usually it's pretty boring to desk warm, but today I had plenty of things to keep me busy.  I have one more month of homework to do before the end of the course and I can always plan my lessons for the upcoming weeks.  However, today, I spent most of my time cross stitching.  (I am working on a secret project so I can't so you the whole picture.)  I can listen to good music and not have anyone bother me.  I definitely don't mind getting paid to do this!!  :)

Problems in Paradise

No, this is not a post about marital problems. Ha!

For the most part, I love living in Korea!  It truly is an easy life.  Yes, there is the language barrier that can be frustrating at times, but it's not always an issue.  I don't have much work to do even while I'm at work.  My housing is paid for.  I get to save a lot of money.  I get to travel to other countries (soon!).  However, there is one specific thing about Korean life that I cannot stand.  It's the education system.  When I was working in middle school, my eyes weren't open to the way the system works.  I never saw my co-teachers in action.  I taught the whole class by myself.  I tried my best at all times to teach them as much English as possible.  It's way different in elementary school - at least in my school.

Here's how a typical class runs (3rd-6th grade):
1.  I greet the class and ask them how they are, what is the date, and how is the weather.
2.  My co-teacher "teaches" for 20-25 minutes.
3.  I "teach" for 15 minutes.

The way my co-teacher teaches is he has everyone get out their dialogue sheets.  These sheets have English, Korean cheats for the English words (phonetics of the word written in Korean), and the Korean meaning.  He says a word or phrase and the students repeat after him.  Why is that not my job?  The kids are repeating bad English when they repeat after him.  He then has them self-study the words and phrases.  Then, he says the Korean word/phrase and they say the English equivalent.  If they get it wrong, he bops them over the head with a toy hammer that makes a squeak sound.  That's all he does for 20-25 minutes.

Then it's my turn.  My job is to play the CD that goes along with the book.  We spend about five classes on one lesson.  If I am able to finish the book before those five classes, I am able to create my own material and games to do in the class.  I think this is fairly typical in most classes with a bit of variation depending on the teacher.

Corporal punishment is technically not allowed in the classrooms anymore, but my co-teacher definitely still uses it.  He hits kids on the head with a small stick, hits them with the toy hammer, etc.  He also has them stand in the back of class with their arms straight out in front of them.  The kids that get this type of punishment are usually the ones who don't do their homework.  However, not all kids have homework.  If a student answers a question in class, they are exempt from homework.  The kids that don't answer questions are usually the ones who are struggling in the class or have learning disabilities, etc.  So, the kids who struggle are required to do homework that they don't understand.  When they don't do it, they have to stand in the back of class and suffer while class continues.  While they are in the back of class, they don't have their books in front of them, they can't answer or ask questions, etc.  It's such a vicious circle!

I've even been told to ignore students.  The students that I'm supposed to ignore are the ones with learning disabilities or the students who act out or don't try.  I definitely do some ignoring - ignoring my co-teacher, that is.  Instead of ignoring students, I think we need to give them attention.  I agree that I shouldn't focus all of my time and energy on one or two students, but I am definitely not going to ignore them!  I had an "I told you so moment" with my co-teacher this week.  One of the students he told me to ignore, I definitely didn't.  I helped him find the right page to be on and even gave him a pencil when he couldn't find his.  The next time I had him in class, he volunteered to answer two questions and when I pointed at him to answer, he got them correct!  I am just finishing my 6th week here and not once has he raised his hand to answer before.  I just wanted to stick out my tongue to my co-teacher and say I TOLD YOU SO!

I know that not all schools and/or co-teachers are the same as mine, but there are some basic similarities.  I know there's not much I can do about it except be the best teacher I can be for 15 minutes every class.  I just feel sorry for the students who are lagging behind because they are probably not going to have a chance to ever catch up.  It just makes me sad how we are failing these students.

Other than these issues at school, all is well!