First Few Weeks of Teaching...

This will be a fun fact filled entry... My elementary school has 800 lovely uniform dressed boys and girls! The town of Ruwais is a large petrol processing area that draws the majority of its labor and management from outside the UAE. Which is why the students come from over 40 different countries around the world. Glenelg School of Abu Dhabi is 1 of 3 schools in the area and has made a good name for itself since starting in 2010. As Ruwais grows quickly there is always building going on, in and outside the city limits.

They just started building the annex to my school, because of the demand and future projections for the area. My elementary school has 2 floors, about 30 classrooms, a swimming pool, a music room (with 28 guitars!), a library, a canteen (lunchroom), and 2 teacher lounges, copy rooms, and science labs. Murals are painted throughout the entire building, which gives great color and ambiance to the hallways.




I teach a wonderful class of 27, 2nd graders who come from all over the world (India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Finland, Sudan, Jordan, Turkey and the UAE). We start school in an assembly every morning at 8 am and then head to class, finishing at 2:30 pm. I teach English, Math, Science, and Social Studies with lots of supplemental learning and differentiation as all of my students have English as their second language. I love my class!

Picking up and moving to a different culture and part of the world, has sure given me a greater sense of empathy and compassion for others who have done this or are in the process of doing this. We (the new teachers) continue to work with HR to take care of government and company policy requirements in order to get our residency visa and housing. It is a long and daunting task, especially when you do not understand Arabic. We have a great team of people working  at Glenelg to get us through as fast as possible.

In the meantime, we have been well taken care of by being put up in a nice hotel. Although we get on the bus at 6:30 am and finish the day getting off the bus at 4:40 pm, we are provided meals, laundry, internet, transportation, and a gym and pool. This communal living (which Kaaren and I have been used to)has also allowed us to create better connections as we have lots of time together on the bus, at the dinner table, and around the pool and weight room. We also come from all over the world, so everybody brings such a rich background and perspective to the table for some fantastic conversations. Great times, great people, great expectations!