Now that I have completed one full school year in Dubai I thought I would write a bit about the difference between students in American and students in Dubai.
1. My students in Dubai are rich.
At some of the schools that I taught at in America I had to worry if my students had enough money to bring a $0.60 notebook to school for math class. I wasn't teaching in a particularly poor area, just a very middle class type school with a large range of students with all sorts of socioeconomic statuses. Here, all of my students are rich, and I don't just mean they have a nice house. I mean they have luxury villas on the Palm, nannies, maids, cooks, drivers, and private tutors. All of them. It is a completely normal thing to say "Miss, I don't have my homework today, my nanny forgot to put it in my bag after I finished working on it with my tutor. I will call my driver and have him bring it." They get Porsches for their birthday even though they can't drive, they have pet monkeys, and they go on family vacations to their private islands.
2. My students in Dubai like math (and their parents do too).
On the first day of school I asked all my students what their favorite subject was and about half of them said math. I just thought they were trying to butter me up, but it was actually true. Their parents came to parent-teacher meetings and went on about how they want to do whatever they can to support their child in math because it is the most important subject and they know that they need to be successful in math to succeed in life. Whaaaat. Thank you, but whaaaaat. It was a refreshing and weird attitude.
On the first day of school I asked all my students what their favorite subject was and about half of them said math. I just thought they were trying to butter me up, but it was actually true. Their parents came to parent-teacher meetings and went on about how they want to do whatever they can to support their child in math because it is the most important subject and they know that they need to be successful in math to succeed in life. Whaaaat. Thank you, but whaaaaat. It was a refreshing and weird attitude.
3. My students in Dubai work hard.
School is the very most important thing in these students' lives. They work hard in school and outside of it. I assign homework weekly and not only do they complete it, they complete it without receiving any marks for it or it counting on their grade in any way. Also their parents regularly ask me to assign more homework.
4. My students in Dubai are polite.
My students here call me “Miss” and they say it a lot. For example, if I call on a student they will say “Yes Miss, the answer is 2 Miss because Miss if you subtract 4 from both sides Miss you get 2.” Even students that aren’t my own are polite to me. The students here don’t get in trouble that often, but when they do they apologize and are respectful. It’s a nice change from the occasional eff-you’s I got back home.
5. My students in Dubai are International.
I’ve got students from every country that I can think of. Back home it was exciting if a student was from another state, but here I’ve got students from Egypt, England, Saudi, Iran, India, England, Lebanon, Sweden, Australia...the list goes on and on. I’ve even got a few from America.
Now don't ask which students are my favorite! I love all my students equally, of course.
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