small scoop

**Al Ain is the small city directly east of Abu Dhabi on the border of Oman!**

So a lot of you have been asking for "the scoop" on our future in the UAE and our upcoming adventure in the Middle East, with an estimated departure date of August 2010. The contract has now been signed, scanned, delivered (by email)! (Hopefully you got that little motown reference.) I will be teaching for 2 years in Al Ain (the guy who interviewed me said we'd like Al Ain best) for the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC). I will teach early elementary (probably first grade).


Nate and I are both free spirits, in a sense, and neither one of us is deeply in love with winter... So, we decided to search for opportunities overseas. The ADEC opportunity was the best one in many ways. Most well-paying overseas gigs are in private schools, which I didn't want. Even though I will still probably be teaching a lot of rich kids, at least they will be locals who can teach me tons about their culture! I found the ADEC teaching positions listed on the Teach Away website: www.teachaway.com Teach Away is the recruitment agency for ADEC.


Anyhow, although it seems kind of insane for the two of us to be heading to the richest area of the world, the experience should be pretty incredible... They are undergoing huge educational reform (which is exciting and challenging), Nate and I get to learn Arabic, there are outdoorsy things to do (desert camping, mountains in Oman, camel rides...), we'll experience life in a Muslim country, I'll still be teaching in a public school system, and we'll be able to save an amazing amount of money (so that we can then buy our plot of land somewhere and a yurt!). Plus, I figure if we make some good money working the richest area of the world, we'll then be able to travel and volunteer in some of the poorest areas of the world.

MLK, Jr. quotation

"In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"

Each day if I have nothing in particular to write about, I think I shall search for a quotation that strikes a chord or at least makes me contemplate. I like this one, because today we did some chatting about Martin Luther King, Jr.... How he encouraged people to use words instead of fists and love instead of hate. My first graders really seemed to get that message. One of them even made a connection to another story we had read (4 feet, 2 sandals i think it was called, about a refugee camp in afghanistan), where the girls were not allowed to go to school but the boys were. I think the idea of "unfair laws" is a grasp-able concept. The Discovery Education streaming video I found was totally age-appropriate... A good pre-cursor to the book "Martin's Big Words". If anything, I have more kids verbalizing the fact that everyone should get along and make an effort to be nice to each other. One of my girls said, "I like it when people are nice to me, so I think I should be nice to everybody."

First Grade Fun

A 6+1 Traits idea is to introduce the writing process through art... My students made "creations" with play-dough, adding and making changes, then titling their creations. As a final step, students went around the classroom and left comments about each person's creation. It was a big deal-- we couldn't just write, "it was nice", because that doesn't actually say much. Anyhow, they were SO mature about it, and they took it very seriously. Below, is an example showing some comments about this person's creation (I have translated the 1st grade writing for you!)... I LOVE how they take chances spelling such huge words! :)
1."Wow, that looks so cool, and that is also my favorite color."
2. "I like it because it looks like a timer."
3. "It is great because it is very creative."