Still Longing

My work as a Teacher in Oman ended last July 13, 2012. It has been seven fruitful years and perhaps one of the most enjoyable chapters of my life. Being a teacher in Oman is not easy at the beginning. It was a challenge for me to teach students whose level of English can be classified as intermediate or even lower. But it was always fun to teach Omani students. I embraced the culture and I learned reading and writing Arabic language and I have high respect for my students. My students were hard working (although sometimes they copied their assignments from one another) and most of my students were respectful. As my students knew that I have a Filipino background, they tried to disrespect at the beginning but when classes started and I taught them the course on a fast pace and give then challenging exercises, they knew then that Filipino teachers can be respected.

There were challenges I faced in my first job but I had proven to my detractors that I was better than them. I became a Section Head of Computer Section and after that I was the Department Registrar for three years before I left. I was given an Outstanding Teacher Award and all I can say is that in spite of my credibility of giving challenges to students yet, I was still appreciated by them. I became their adviser, helper, brother, counsellor, and even career adviser. As a teacher, I listened to their own personal problems. I even cried in front of the class showing my emotions when three of my students died in a car accident. I was invited to sit down with their parents and attended weddings of their brothers or sisters (although we cannot see the ladies). I travelled some parts of Oman and I have seen beautiful and magnificent places. I jogged and biked in the Corniche of Sohar and volunteered in the 2010 Asian Beach Games in Muscat. I owned a car and have my own apartment but later on I shared it with three other teachers.

I will and never will forget my stay in Oman. It was a wonderful place and I hope someday I will come back and teach Omani students again. 

Preparing to go Back

"Really? Are you sure?" These are the surprise questions the people I met here in Canada are asking me whenever I tell them that I am preparing to go back to Oman.

At present, I attended a program from the Toronto Catholic District School Board for Enhanced Language Training for Internationally trained ESL Instructors. ESL. I am not and never was I an ESL Instructor. So, what am I doing in the program? The Program Coordinator interviewed me before I was accepted in the program and asked me "Why do you want to attend this program?" I answered that I want to have other options in looking for a job here in Canada. Since I have been teaching for more than 10 years (not ESL), I am thinking to change my career. But in reality, my plan is to go back to Oman and teach English language. ESL teachers in Oman receives higher salary than specialization teachers. So it's a good start for me. My next move is to study courses for certification for TESL Canada. Perhaps after my certification, I can apply at SQU? I will ask Ate Alma.

So good luck to me. This is another journey in spite of having trouble at the beginning adapting and integrating myself here in Canada I guess I am going to like it here for a while...

A Reflection for the Lent Season

Yesterday was the second Friday of the month of March and I attended the once-a-month Tagalog Mass. The homily of Fr. Raul was timely with our work in the College. This week is mid-term exam and all students are not attending classes because their reason is that they have to study. For us Teachers, regardless of nationality, religion, creed, sexual orientation, status in life this is the usual situation. When students are not around, most of us come to the College to do our other tasks, Quality Assurance, Timetabling, preparing lessons and most of all FACEBOOK. Reading articles, news, sending emails to our friends and love ones was our way of escaping moments. No students coming to our office asking for marks, asking teachers "I don't understand Mr". Well we miss them for a week and by saturday, we will face them again. Anyway, going back to the main topic of lent season, Fr. Raul said, in the observant of the Holy Week, most of us Christians often neglect our duties and our responsibilities as apostles of Christ. God taught us to follow the commandments wherein the first three refers to our relationship to God and the other seven refers to our relationship with our fellowmen. We have to fast, repent for our sins and do penance for them. Fast, as Fr. Raul have said does not necessarily mean we should not take food but instead fast to keep away from sins. Fast to do penance for our mistakes. Like, "Can we live for a month or two without FACEBOOK?" I asked myself this question... Can I live a month without internet connection? As I reflected on this, I wonder, I was here in Oman for seven years and I have no permanent internet connection. I registered to an internet cafe of 100 hours of usage, but it is closed now. I went to the house of Ms. Anet to connect to an unknown network, use the internet for free for a few hours of every visit, but I dont go there anymore. Now I am using my our modem which from time to time I put one (1)  Rial for 24 hours 1 GB connection. I do farmville but the 1 GB connection is only good  for 16 hours of farming, no youtube, no downloading, no chatting since most chat have been blocked, no skype.... NOTHING... In other words, I can live for more than a month without internet. Even in the College, the ETC is promoting that they had upgraded the speed of connection from the Omantel, but the matter of truth is the college network is still slow. Displaying reports from the College System takes time. Browsing through the internet is like a dial up. Booting the computer takes around 7 minutes wherein you can still go to the bathroom and come back and still booting up.  It is just like testing your patience. Thank God (Alhamduallah) my patience is infinite as I usually have it with my students. This lent season is my last here in Oman since I submitted my resignation to my HOD already. I will try to do my very best to observe the lent. Do penance for my sins. And above all, forgive people who have wronged me in the past as I will ask for forgiveness to people I have wronged with.

Midterm Rexamination Again

The midterm examination is over and Lecturers are now preparing for the Final Exam. There were students who were absent during the midterm for some reasons which is common to everyone. Sick... Clash with other subject in the exam... etc... This is normal... But what is not normal is that there may be hundreds of students who have excuses of not taking the midterm exam. Does the College have data base for these students? It seems that the same students are doing this every semester. What does the College do in order to avoid these abesences? I may asked these questions over and over again but who will care? Who suffers a lot everytime this happens? THE LECTURER!!!!!!!!!! Why? Simply because lecturers were tasked to make another set of exams. Is it easy to make examination paper? Hell NO!!!!!!!! I can not complain now because there is no meeting for this... I met the Dean just this afternoon but I forgot to tell him regarding this matter. It is quite hard to catch the Dean for he is busy most of the time. Any suggestions?

Body Search

Have you ever been subjected to a body search by an airport security? My flight from Wisconsin to Chicago was at 10:10 am October 30, 2011. I was the last one to check-in together with Gas and Lest the Brazilian host parents of my new sister-in-law. When it was my turn, I removed my laptop from my knapsack and put it on a tray. Then I removed my shoes and took another tray. I also removed my jacket although I was chilling a bit and put it on a tray as well. I handled by boarding pass together with my passport to the ATS (Airline Transport Security) Officer. As the x-ray converyor scanned my things, I went through the entrance metal detector as everybody does. As I passed through it, there was no alarm at first but after 2 seconds, the alarm sounded. As I try to wonder what metal do I have in my body, a lady security officer told me, "Sir, you were chosen for a random security check and please step back." They asked me to enter to another door and one gentleman officer explained to me the routine on how he would check on my body. He asked me if there are any sensitive parts on my body and I said none. He also asked me if I prefer to be searched in private and I said I have no problem anywhere. Before he started, he explained to me how he would run his hands on my body. The routine was thorough and very instense. Although I have nothing to hide or to be afraid of, but since it is my first time to be subjected to such, I felt a little bit nervous. I have doubts. What if they will plant something on my bag? What if they will put some drugs on my body? Just like in the movies. Well, they found nothing except my BODY SHOP lotion. It was still full and I forgot to put it on my check-in luggage. It cost me OMR12 for that lotion. Well, what can I do? I can not insist to them to take it with me because they said it is beyond the limited amount. Rather than being detained just for the lotion, I went ahead. People were staring at me but I was not ashamed. I am even proud because out of all those passengers, I was chosen.  In fact, I admire the US Security Officers and I salute them for doing an excellent job. For what ever reason they have they have chosen me for security search, I never mind at all because I have not done anything wrong. In fact, I should be thankful for them because they are really doing a great job and it was really a nice experience. No hassle at all.

Graduation

Tomorrow Tuesday and Wednesday will be holiday ONLY for students at Shinas College of Technology. All staff members must report for work as usual... This is the second graduation and might be my last to attend to before I leave Oman. Two days without students in the College will be good for us because we can do our work like in QA, prepare quizzes and forthcoming midterm examination, to conduct meeting and plans for the Committee which I am heading, to mark all quiz papers so that students will not come to the office and ask for their marks even the exam was just an hour ago. When I returned the first quiz to my class in Computer Programming, the average mark of the students were 4 out of 10. The quiz was very easy, but I found out that they could not understand the question. WHY? Because it was written in English. The students are fond of memorizing the handout and when it comes to situational questions, they could not relate anymore. Sometimes the students make a guess with their answers. Anyway, so two days without students. What the heck... We still have to go to the College.

Student Advisor

Burden.... Is that how I feel about my student advisories? Sometimes... But with 148 students under my care, I may not be able to take care all of them. Plus having 16 hours of teaching, Coordinator of the Student Services Committee, member of the Domain 6 Quality Assurance, Time Table Coordinator, Department Registrar, Engineering website writer.... What else? Teaching... Examinations... Quizzes... Reports... Deadlines.... Patience.... More patience... Who will understand? How long is July 2012? How many months more?

It is good to know

I would like to say hello to Ms. Pradeepa. She is a Lecturer in IT and she told me that she had learned that I was writing my experiences in a webblog. Likewise to Ms. Manju. She is an ELC Lecturer and cornered me one day at the cafeteria and told me something about what I have posted recently. I thank them for somehow, they have read about my blog which is dedicated to all teachers in Oman. This is my way of expressing my gratitude, sentiments, experiences, problems, etc. with my life as a Teacher in Oman. Knowing that many people read my blog makes me stronger in writing what I feel about my superiors, Globenet - the company who hired and brought me to Oman, to my students, and to my fellow Teachers. Just to thought of it, makes me wonder... I wish I can stay longer in Oman...

Starting to Say Goodbye

A few years back, I did not expect that I will stay in Oman for more than a year. In the year 2005, I was the ONLY and the FIRST Filipino Lecturer in Musanaah College of Technology. All staff members are either coming from Jordan, Iraq and most of all India which dominates the lecturers population. After more than a year in that College, they terminated me because of politics. I was accepted in Shinas College of Technology because of Dr. Nasser who believed in my capabilities. And I never let him down. More than 5 years until now, I am still in Shinas and being one of the most respected staff member of the College. Big responsibilties were given to me and some of them i turned down in order to avoid more headaches....

As July 2012 is fast approaching, I wonder what would be my life when I will settle in Canada. Will I be missing Oman? Will I be missing my friends here? What I will miss most in this country is the serenity and beauty of its sorroundings. Peace. Jogging. 50 degress celcius of temperature. Fish market. Quezon Avenue. Dubai Travels. Quiapo. Fairview. Al Ghaseel. Hyundai Tucson. Al Anhar Internet Cafe. Carrefoure.  Safeer Mall. To name just a few.

Nine months from now... Step by step. Inshallah...

Journey to the South - First Day

Early morning of Monday, exatly 9:00 AM was our flight from Manila to Davao via Philippine Airlines. It was so tiring because I have slept for two hours only. Why? Excited. Curious. After almost two hours of flight, we reached Davao and immediately after we took our luggage, we saw Ate Alma with her husband Kuya Henry. Wow we thought Kuya Henry was his brother... Hehehehe We went straight to Ate Alma's house we eat our lunch then headed to Ate Alma's resort. It took us almost one hour or more to reach the place. And when we arrive there.... WOW as in WOW talaga... May sariling swimming pool si Ate Alma with runnning water without chlorine... The water is so cold and just acouple of minutes I immediately dived to the pool. Wow too much refreshing... Ang sarap ng feeling na maglublob sa malamig na tubig. Parang therapeutic ang spring water. Over flowing the pool. Aside from swimming pool, Ate Alma's resort also has a billiard table, a karaoke bar, a palaisdaan, a mini zoo with turtles, python and an indian turkey. Our dinner was fantastic and we the slept almost 12 midnight. We had a very good night sleep waking 6 in the morning. Roni was the first one to wake up and took a bath. I wanted to dip again in the pool but I can not take the cold water. Instead just took a shower and eat our breakfast. Hotdog, danggit, itlog na maalat with kamatis and a hot coffee was so delighted. We left Ate Alma's resort at 9:30 in the morning headed straight to Eden Resort. But when we reach the place it was raining. We waited for an hour but the rain did not stopped. Instead we went to SM Davao, eat our lunch and bought some toiletries. We went then to fruit market and bought suha. Me and Richard shipped 5 kilos of suha to Manila. We then headed to People's Park and took some pictures. People, children, lovers, families, flowers. In the evening, we eat our dinner at Jack's Ridge overlooking a night lighted city of Davao. Tomorrow, we are heading to Cagayan de Oro.

I Will Tell the Dean

This is the current scenario in one of the Colleges of Technology here in the Sultanate of Oman...

Scence No. 1

Student: Teacher, I want to repeat the quiz because I did not have good answers.

Teacher: I am sorry my student I dont repeat quizzes if your marks are low.

Student: Sure Mr? I will tell the Dean.

Teacher: Ok Ok Ok... When do you want to take the quiz? 

Scene No. 2

Teacher: Good morning class. Today we will have quiz.

Students: No Mister!!!!!!(Shouting) We did not study!!!!!

Teacher: I told you last meeting that we will have quiz on this day!!!!

Student: I did not study last night Mr. 

Teacher: Well then it is not my fault!

Student: Ok. Can I go now? I will go to the Dean!?!?!

Teacher: Ok Ok Ok When do you want the quiz?

These are few of the situations currentl and ongoing in the College. Students have power to remove Teachers, Head of Departments (Even an Omani Head of Department). The commulative grade point average to go to Diploma level from Certificate level have been lowered from 2.25 to 2.0. Students who have been dismissed from the College due to probation can go back and study again. Quality of teaching? Quality of learning? Quality Assurance? ($&%&#^$%&$^_@*$&#) Censored. No freedom of speech. Be silent. Think about your project in your country. As long as we are earning the currency, just swallow your pride. Just be close to students as what our new Head of Department told us. Give everything what they want. No questions asked. In other words, BE A SLAVE...

Rumor

There is an ongoing rumor that there will be a swap of deanship between Shinas and Musannah... If this is true what do you think of the outcome? Will it be good? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? Will it create a fair atmosphere among the stakeholders? (What's this, QA?) The power of the people. (I mean students) In one country in South East Asia, this power of the people revolutionized 25 years ago. What ever is the outcome of this rumor, I hope that it will build goodwill and friendship in the community. Are these the four way test? But I can not recall the other test... Celebrating? Not yet. Wait until the rumor becomes true. How fast the news flies... Wonderful. Exuberant.This is a rumor. It might not be true. Do not tell anyone. Keep it to yourself. No source of information. Just be silent. But why the letters are written in BOLD?

A Very Sad News

As I was driving on our way home, the Head of the Engineering Department called me. He was asking me about how the College was going, are there any students who came to the College today and I told him that we had a meeting with the Dean. The line was cut and when I arrived in my home we had a long chat on the phone. I told him what was the Dean's agenda since all the Lecturers and Staffs from three Departments were there. I told him that in one Department, the HoD have been transferred to the Ministry and then he told me he was also as well been transferred to the Ministry in Muscat. A shocking news from him which I think he doesn't deserve. The students who are complaining against him are not really the good students in the class.

What the HELL?!($&#&^^#&

Last week the Dean of the College call for a meeting for all Teaching and Technical Staff. He discussed the rules and regulations to be imposed to all the staff. He stressed that if someone wanted to take a leave from his duty he should ask permission by writing. Of course everybody do that. We can not simply leave  our post until the Head of the Department agrees. As part of the Teaching responsibility of the teaching staff he wanted to include the Quality Assurance. And other lots of blah blah blah...Most of the rules he laid out has been followed even from the previous administration. Complain against salary increase is none of his business. Complains of transportation coming to and going from the College is none of his business. But come to think of it. The College is far from the nearest city and most of the staff are staying in the city. A matter of consideration. Human heart. Humility. None of his business. I asked about why teachers should be given until 6 o'clock classes, he said this is the rule. The College should operate 8 in the morning till 8 in the night. Mmmmmmmmm. This is good. But where is the common sense? If classes can be handled and can be accommodated before 6 o'clock why not let the community suffer? When I asked this question, the Asst. Dean for Academics was upset at me. As I learned later on, this kind of question should not be brought up in the meeting. I was only asking. It is a crime to tell everyone the reason behind of putting classes classes when there are enough classrooms which can hold classes before 6 o'clock. Secondly... I suggested that as professionals, ETC should schedule their maintenance NOT during office hours or college operating hours. In their mind it was a complaint. I was not complaining about the services the ETC is offering but I am suggesting that ETC should shut down the NETWORK, when there are no classes, when people are not using the computer, when people are using the printer, when people are not using the College System... These are small things which lecturers are facing but these problems occur whenever the NETWORK is down. COMMON SENSE. Anyway, these sentiments are merely spoken for a reason that they are not listening at all. One thing I have learned from this. STOP. ENOUGH. Allah kareem....

Truth or Fact

Dictators in the world are now in trouble since people are revolting against their government. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, Morocco, Algeria and other Arab countries are now in the verge of people power revolution. The people of these countries are angry and wanted to have political reforms. Changing of constitutions, minorities should be represented in forming the government, rising of unemployment rate and the likes are the major issues the people wanted to change. But unlike these countries, people can revolt against their government. In one of the Colleges located somewhere in the world another kind of dictatorship is emerging.  Teachers, students and technicians must end their timings and classes at 6 o'clock in the evening even there are free rooms and the rooms are not even maximized. Quality Assurance are being done by the Lecturers which is not even part of the Duties and Responsibilities, having more than 50 Advisees, more than 20 hours of teaching load. What can you ask for more? Come to think of it. How many people in the world do not have jobs? How many people in the world can afford to live and sleep in a comfortable home? How many in the world can eat regular meals everyday? Count your blessings. Just keep in mind the CURRENCY you are receiving every month. Are you happy? Are you satisfied? Do you have other options? Whew!!!!!!!! When will I learn?

Who needs a "Thank you"?

Most of Filipino teachers in Shinas College of Technology, are having too much task aside from being a teacher. My main responsibility is to teach, and that is according to the By-Laws of the Ministry of Manpower. But the last duty and responsibility stated was "Any other task assigned by the Head of the Department"... A BIG DEAL. Can not say NO. In my more than 6 years of staying in Oman, did I ever heard of someone from my superiors "Job well done", "Good job", "Keep up the good work"... One time I was so dead tired of writing a report almost no sleep because we have to meet the deadline, the Dean of our College back then was an Iraqi. I was part of domain number two in QA and the Dean asked for the report of the Engineering. When he asked regarding tables and representations and description and summary of the report, a female teacher went to him to direct him where the dean can find what he was looking for in our report. After the Dean was satisfied of our report he made a comment "She is good" and that instant she was made the "Employee of the Month" even she did nothing on the report. But I never complained because God knows it was my work. I was assigned to formulate the schedule of the engineering department for both teachers and students for almost 4 years now. In my experience, no one ever told me "Hey you have done a great job". Instead, what I heard from my new HOD is that the Assistant Dean was not happy because of wrong projection of sections. we have 36 courses total from certificate, diploma and higher diploma levels. Out of this 36 courses, only 3 has courses have unbalanced registered students. The Assistant Dean concluded that I had a wrong projection. Three out of 36 is wrong projection. Did he ever say "Thank you for doing a great job". NEVER!!!!!!!!! Instead you made a mistake of making incorrect projection.

Thank You Muscat Beach Games

(From Left) George, Francis, Anet, Ronet and Jovy

As of yesterday my official duty as a Protocol Assistant for the 2nd Asian Beach Games here in the Sultanate of Oman ends. My client went home already going back to Korea. The four days of working as Protocol Assistant in a luxury hotel of Shangri-La was fantastic with a superb food and a breathtaking view of the Gulf of Oman. At the beginning I was a little bit scared of the road because not only it is zigzag but very steep as well. Wet hands and shaking knees was all I can say when I had my first trip going to the place. But as the days went through I was able to gain confidence on my driving and maneuvered the roads easily. I took lots of pictures which will be treasured from this journey but one thing I enjoyed the most is the food. A variety of choices, vegetables, chicken, potatoes, rice, noodles, breads, desserts, juices everything is overflowing. Three times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I only stayed in the hotel enjoying and savoring every minute, I did not go to the venue of sports with my client, but instead I was able to finish my timetable work from the College while surfing the internet for free. I had some souvenirs and pins from other countries, (Excuse me Sir, do you have pins?) this was the pick up lines of Anet and Ronet. There were Filipinos as well who represented our Country and was able to chat with them for a short period of time. Everyone asked me "Where are you from?". I replied, "I was born in the Philippines and now I am a Canadian", in a slang pronunciation. Many of them I fooled and we all laughed together. Four days of fun. Four days of endless food, Four days of free internet (very very rare in Oman). Four days of excitement. I hope there will be another big international sporting event to be held here in Oman. Thank you Muscat Asian Beach Games Organizing Committee.

Salary

For some Filipino teachers they are very thankful and very grateful for they have been given an increase in their salary. There are some who have been decreased in their salary for reasons only the company knows. But what exactly is the basis of the Agencies in increasing the salary of the teachers? Are they fair in giving such salary increase? Do they evaluate the performance of the teachers? Does the Head of the Department or even the Dean of the College recommends teachers to be given a salary increase? In the case of Bahwan Cybertech, the teachers are "fighting" for their right to get salary increase. Teachers MUST go to their offices and talk to the owners of the company and can negotiate with their salary increase (by raising their voice to their employer?). If they are lucky, their company will give them increase. For Globnet on the other hand, they are not open for negotiations. You either sign your contract, otherwise you will not get your salary at all. The door is NOT open for negotiations telling their teachers "TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT". In fact, they even reduced the salary of their teachers by 30 Rials telling them this is for their gratuity. For CECNE, they gave 25 OMR salary increase to their teachers. The Ministry of Manpower is very active in implementing "QUALITY ASSURANCE" to all Colleges of Technology in the Sultanate. But what happen is far from reality in dealing with "STANDARDS" from among the Colleges. Teachers are supposed to have a standard salary, regardless of their agency. Next, there is a performance evaluation from the HODs, but what is the use of the evaluation if it does not reflect in salary negotiations. There are hard working teachers and there are teachers who just go to the college to sit in their chair and surf the internet. No advisories, no QA work, no responsibilities, just take 18 hours teaching load, that's it. Some even have less teaching hours. Not all Teachers have been given a lucky break.

In spite of all these blah blah blah for salary increase, what most teachers must do? Just want to share some unsolicited advice. Be content of what have been given to you and if you think the world is unfair of not giving you a salary increase, then go back to wherever you came from. The company has the right to do what ever they want and teachers are suppose to teach the students. Nothing more nothing less. Read the Ministry of Manpower By-Laws regarding Lecturer's duties and responsibilities and you might be wondering why you have many works aside from being a TEACHER. Read the last paragraph of the duties and responsibilities and you will know why Teachers are loaded with too much work. On the other hand, where else you can get the amount of salary you are receiving now as compared to what you have back home? Three times higher of what you are receiving now. Be thankful of every blessings you received. Be grateful to His Majesty for giving us the opportunity to be here in Oman. Be honest with your work and do good deeds to other people and whatever sacrifices you have, God will bless you as you make a difference in the lives of your students.

Getting To Know My Omani Students

The first day of my class in Computer Programming was setting rules in the lab. Students were very attentive, curious and might be asking themselves "What would be my mark from this teacher?" or "Shall I pass in this class?". Questions like these are very common for all my students. Either in certificate or diploma level.  Upon giving them lectures on Introduction to C Language, there lies ahead the usual problem. "Please repeat teacher". "I don't understand teacher." "Can you give another example Mr.?" I taught my students how to fixed errors after compiling their program. The very first error we encountered was "Unable to create output file "noname.obj". To fixed this error I simply told them "Save your file. Every time you have this error just SAVE YOUR FILE". Second exercise, I let them write their own program. ALT + F9. Error. Unable to create output file. "Teacher!!!!" shout one student. "I HAVE ERROR". I asked, "What is your error?". The student replied, "I DONT KNOW MISTER!!!!!!!!!". I tried to compose myself, keeping my cool, spending my INFINITE PATIENCE... "Shabab, do you know how to read? If you have error in your program what will I do with your error? I will drink or eat your error?" "NO MISTER.... But i can not run my program because I have error." I asked, "What does the message says?". "Mister it says here - UNABLE TO CREATE OUTPUT FILE" ... I wanted to crushed the computer but instead I just smiled. Typical Filipino teacher doesn't get easily irritated by students inattentive behavior in the class. As a Vincentian Teacher, it is great that I have this virtue in my life. It was just one example on how I deal with my students. It might be the same experience for another Filipino teacher in different colleges of technology here in Oman. Lucky for me, my students have tolerable behavior. Are they afraid of me? I don't think so. I earned their respect as I am teaching them not only professional skills but as well as personal skills. One rule that I gave to them is put in their heart and mind the GOLDEN RULE... "Learn to say.... THANK YOU.... PLEASE.... and EXCUSE ME"... Until now, they do...

New Dean and Administrators

For a while we were anxious during our first day of reporting to the college for the fact that there will be changes in the College Administrators. We have a new Dean who came from Ibra College of Technology. His name is Dr. Qasim. We also have a new Asst. Dean for Academic Affairs and his name is Dr. Ali. We also have a new Asst. Dean for Administration and I am sorry to say that up to now I was not able to meet him personally and know his name. It has been three weeks but until now most of the College personnel have not met these Administrators and were not formally introduced to all the staff in the College. I may not be an administrator but I guess it is only proper to introduce themselves so that when we meet them at least we can greet them and say some words to them. On the other hand, classes have started already and last Wednesday there was no electricity in the College. It is really ironic that people who wanted to do some work in the college are not doing it either after classes or during the weekend. They do not  mind if there are no electricity in the college and ask to continue to hold classes in spite of sweating inside a dark caravan or workshop. As a Lecturer, what we can do is to follow these instructions otherwise we might be reprimanded and it might cause termination of our services. What about students? I have normally an average of 27 students per class. This is common to all classes in the entire college. We have sometimes teaching more than 20 hours where according to the Ministry of Manpower By-Laws should take a maximum of 18 hours. We have other tasks assigned to us, like Quality Assurance, Student Advisory which reaches up to 60 students, preparing lessons, marking quizzes and examinations, student project and other tasks assigned by our Head of Department. The salary of the teachers are not equal, where the English Lecturers receives more salary than the specialization Lecturers, Bahwan Staff members likewise receives more salary than their counterparts, Globnet decreased the salary of their employees saying, TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT and is not open for negotiations for the salary and the only agency that holds the passports of their employees, CECNE paid only half of the September month salary of the Lecturers but upon complaining to the Ministry on this matter, reversed their decision and paid the other half month salary of the Teachers. There are no standard level of salary, evaluation, increment of salary from among these agencies but rather making rules on their own and staff should obey otherwise if they are not satisfied, they can leave. AUTHORITATIVE... Another requirement of the Ministry is that only the so called "NATIVE SPEAKERS" can teach English Language. In my opinion, there are teachers from the land of the so called "native speakers" who are indeed very very good in the language. But when it comes to work like teaching the students on technical writing and technical communication, the so called native speakers can not even write one whole paragraph. Their grammars are not correct, the punctuations and the words used do not coincide with the thought of the subject. I may not be a native speaker of the english language but I can do better than them. (This is my own opinion.) So please better change this concept of hiring native speakers but rather hire the real "TEACHERS" who knows english whether it is by listening, reading, and most of all WRITING.

For A Start

It has been a while since the Sultanate of Oman had started to hire Filipino Teachers to teach ESL, Engineering, IT, Business and Applied Science courses in this oil rich nation. Many have tried and much to their surprise, Oman is a very peaceful country that has high regards to Teachers regardless of religion, gender, educational attainment and in fact sexual orentation. Filipinos Teachers are well regarded as professional in dealing with their work, hardworking and an infinite patience with the Omani students. This blog is dedicated to all Filipino Teachers teaching in the Colleges and Universities in the sultanate of Oman