Starting school.....arab style

There is so much to say about this that I hardly know where to start. The easiest thing seems to be bullet points (=

We wanted to put Lj in a local school for pre-school and kindergarten to help her to learn Arabic. I have always assumed that we'd do this and I went into the process with my eyes wide open, and aware of some of the challenges.

My neighbor, who is a local lady and a supervisor over all the English teachers in town, told me flat out to not put Lj in a local school. She said their teachers are not good, and that she doesn't want to admit that, but it is true. A Western friend I have who teaches at the school where I was planning to put Lj even said to not put her in school there.

So after much discussion and readjustment of expectations, we have placed her in a South African run International school that uses the British curriculum. The student body is almost entirely Arab and there is an Arabic teacher in each room to translate for the students especially at the beginning of the year. So it is a big disappointment in some ways but in other ways it is a great situation and we don't have MANY of the worries of putting her in the other situation.

The main drawback to local schools would be what you could describe as the "emotional climate" that is created by the administration and the teachers. Rote learning, public shaming, various degrees of swatting kids etc.

Here are some other impressions of school after one week:

***Cracks me up to see parents driving so FAST on the dirt path up to the school and into this bottle-neck that none of them can back out of. Driving in reverse is not a skill that is valued out here (= They all want to turn around. You should see this happening at 730am and 1230pm.

***Kids carry the hugest, gaudiest, most decorated backpacks/rolling bags. Wow.

***I got my parent notebook today in layla's bag. It is our way of communicating with the teacher since having parents on the grounds is not encouraged. Too bad I say....they will have to get used to seeing me!

***All the kids are given school hats so they can walk to and from the bathroom outside with a little shade on their heads. Very Bright. Very Hot these days.

***There are three thugs who run the "bus room" or whatever you call that holding station for kids who have been dismissed from class and are waiting to get on the buses. I think they are all actually teachers in the school but in order to control the boys, they need sheer physical intimidation. Yikes. I just keeping saying hello and smiling so they'll be nice to Layla if she ever has to sit in there for long (=

***Lj's room is really fun - not overly decorated which I personally appreciate. The days of the week starts with Saturday.....I tried changing the way we sing our little days of the week song but she was having none of it.