Culture Shock, Socializing, and Frames of Mind

I think that my culture shock, such as I have experienced it, has been mitigated over the past couple weeks by the fact that I teach in an English-speaking environment, I have a number of people from the school looking after me, and that I am here for such a short time. I have also tried to stay open-minded about the circumstances in which I have found myself, and I am continuously grounded and focused by thinking about the students that I have the opportunity to teach.

This past weekend was split between traveling with others and living on my own. While I definitely learned more with others - Bartering 101 with John and Wain, Passion processions in Azazieh with Berdj and Laura, and Armenian social life with Maria and Alig – it has been important to discover that I actually can function independently in a city where I essentially do not know the language. I can go grocery shopping, get from my apartment to the city center both on foot and by taxi, and deal with small bouts of minor homesickness. (Sam Roberts and Joel Plaskett were no small help this weekend)

I have heard from foreign hires who have taught elsewhere in the Middle East that Syria has been their most difficult placement because so few people speak English. It seems to me that there are a number of teachers looking forward to the end of their contract because the challenge of learning the Arabic language makes a deep integration into the culture much more difficult. While most teachers know enough Arabic to function, one individual told me that she felt it would take a much better understanding of Arabic to strengthen any of the relationships she shared with the Syrians she had met. The majority of foreign teachers therefore feel confined to a social circle of other teachers at the school in Aleppo and the scientists at the associated research facility.

In order to overcome the challenges of living in a small community and thrive on the international education scene, I think that a teacher needs to exhibit one of three characteristics: a solid knowledge of the local language that allows the teacher to participate fully in the host community; a true love for exploring cities, the Great Outdoors, and/or tourist sites; or a enjoyment of hobbies unrelated to teaching that can be done at home regardless of where “home” is. I want to teach abroad to engage with an entirely different community of students, but I know that I will need to bring other pastimes and interests when I take on a contract to teach outside of Canada.

Right now, I am really missing having a guitar to play. Music plays a big role in shaping my frame of mind and helping me to re-focus myself. Since I hugged my parents at the airport and said goodbye, I have constantly been evaluating how I am feeling and why I am feeling that way. I am happy to report that I have felt really good since I stepped out of the airport in Aleppo. It has been difficult to get to a phone or computer for a longer period of time, which sometimes weighs me down when I first wake up or when I am heading to bed, but as one of my associate teachers often said, the promise of “just another day in paradise” helps to both start my day and send me off to sleep.

Highlights from the Air

On my flight from Ottawa to London, I found myself sitting beside a woman who works for CIDA. I imagine that she was pretty high up on the ladder as she was traveling to the United Kingdom to represent the agency at a conference on implementing different development strategies. Initially I felt lucky to have found such an interesting neighbour for my flight, but I soon discovered that I was not going to learn much about projects to help the developing world. Sometimes the woman would give a longer answer to a question and other times her response would be curt. Her response might end a conversation, but out of nowhere she would ask another question three hours into our flight. Throughout this bizarre exchange, I often felt like my neighbour was only half-listening to me and cared little for her own work. It was a good reminder to take interest in the stories of students. (Yes – even though I am writing about my little trip to Syria , I will still be getting all reflective on you and relating my experiences to teaching!) I am also pretty satisfied to think that teaching is something that I'm willing to discuss ad nauseum

because I think it is so sweet!

Other events that deserve an honourable mention: the six eighteen-year old boys singing along to the Venga Boys while we were flying to London; discovering that the London skyline has not changed since Mary Poppins sang Chim-Chimmery; experiencing London at its soggiest, rainiest, chilliest, and greyest; and fighting off jetlag while flying across Europe by sitting with a very talkative and genuinely helpful Syrian.

Finally, I am especially thankful for the opportunity to meet with my friend Jenna, who was such a blessing in the end of a wet and tiring day in jolly ol’ England. My welcome to Syria has been very warm, but there are few things more wonderful than seeing a familiar face when you are facing the unknown!

The Queen’s University Teachers’ Overseas Recruiting Fair

This time last week I was walking into my final interview of the day at the Teachers’ Overseas Recruiting Fair at Queen’s University. It had been an exhausting day: I had already prepared for and attended four other interviews, considered a job offer, attended presentations, and imagined myself working on three different continents. Over the course of the day I experienced moments of joy, anxiety, success, nervousness, confusion, compassion, relief, sadness, and clarity. I consider the day and the weekend a success in spite of these mixed feelings and the fact that I did not sign a contract before driving back home at the fair’s end. I had gotten what I wanted out of the fair: the opportunity to practice being in an interview, to gauge my marketability as a teacher, and to simply experience TORF and what went on there.

I fully plan on returning to the fair in a few years, and I expect that I will find a school that is the right fit for me. I would strongly encourage anybody interested in working abroad as an educator to attend this fair, as it is very well-organized and run by the Placement Office at Queen’s University’s Faculty of Education.

I felt I was just about as prepared as I could be for this fair, but there are definitely a few points that I would tell anybody planning on attending TORF, and so following is a list of things to remember before heading to the recruitment fair.

There are a lot of jobs available for a limited number of educators.
Being invited to an interview is exciting; being invited to a lot of interviews is overwhelming.
Remember not to feel pressured into taking a particular position.
Be aware of your gut feelings.
Come with a friend that you can check in with throughout the day.
Bring a laptop so that you can do some quick research about a school right before the interview.
Make time to attend information presentations put on by the schools since these sessions might paint a better picture of the school than the interviewer can during the interview itself.
Interviewers will start making their offers on the Saturday afternoon.
Ask about volunteer opportunities available near the school for which you are interviewing.
Know why you want to teach internationally, in the country where the school is located, at the school for which you are being interviewed, and the grade and subject for which you are being interviewed.
Listen to the advice of the interviewers.

Good Luck!