The students are doing a unit on animals in class and I gave them a crossword where they had to match the description of the animal to the animal itself. The crossword was given to me by another teacher and was out of a workbook, so it was not developed specifically for students in the UAE. On the list were animals like a yak (which I myself couldn't remember how to describe) and a few common examples like camel and falcon. One of the clues was "Beast of burden" and the answer: donkey. I told the students to have a "burden" is to have something you MUST do, having no choice, and you are not happy about it.
In order to help the students guess, I suggested that the beast of burden would commonly carry things for people. Upon hearing this description the first student naturally said "a camel!" I smiled at her (obviously) correct answer in this cultural context, but told her we were looking for another animal that carries things. After another moment a student said "A horse!", extremely proud of herself. Again, I told her she was right, but there was just one more answer to think of. "Think of something that carries things for humans" The last answer was for sure my absolute favourite and FULLY culturally appropriate. The student looked right at me and said "AN SUV!" I couldn't help but laugh and just give them the answer, telling her that a Cadillac Escalade was not actually considered an animal.
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We had parent-teacher meetings this week, which for us means meeting the girl's mothers. I hear that the fathers may have an opportunity to come in on a different day, but it is much more difficult since most of the staff of the school would have to veil and it would therefore make it quite difficult to know which teacher to speak to. The mothers were all extremely sweet and came over, saying "Miss Karen! My daughter love you too much! She tell me to come to you first and see you because she love you and your class." Of course, this is one of the best things a teacher can hear. Some teachers have the policy of being strict to show their students they mean business and are serious. I just can't force myself to believe in the whole "don't smile before christmas" bit, it just doesn't jive with my personality. They also told me that their girls really like me because I listen to them, help them and show them I want them to learn. Pretty simple in my mind, and exactly what a teacher should do, but I guess this may not be the same for everyone. All of my colleagues heard similar professions of love from the mothers and it made me feel very lucky to work with a group of awesome teachers who really care about their students.
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A last note to say that despite the fact that I live in the desert, it goes down to about 12-15 degrees Celsius at night and it feels DAMN COLD! I may need to buy a space heater. Oh, how things change!
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