Locker

I've got this one student. Let's call him Mr. I. He's already taken a few of my higher level tests and failed each and every one of them. He came to a month long series of classes and still he failed the test. I don't like the fact that he isn't at the required level and I'd rather that he passed and be done with. To that end, his boss and my boss decided that he should get one-on-one remedial class at a lower level of English then work his way up to the higher level. I have an hour a day with him and have being doing that for 2 weeks now.

He's doing my head in.

That's the long and the short of it. Unprofessional, yes, but he really is. His English isn't that bad but my goodness, does he lack common sense and even the basic skills to study. We would do some example sentences in class orally first or some important grammatical point that would help him the in future. A good student would know that whatever is covered in the class, notes of it should be taken and written down somewhere where you wouldn't a. forget or b. know what the notes refer to. He just doesn't seem to have that knowhow. I have had to tell him on a number of occasions, that it might be in his best interests to write this or that down. And he's like 'oh yes, yes, good idea'. Why do I need to tell him all of this?

Then there was the issue of homework. I gave him 2 sheets of paper. On one was the 'theory' and some excellent examples, the second sheet was an exercise giving practice of the 'theory'. I asked him to read the first sheet before attempting the exercise and have it on hand when he did the exercise. The next day, he had completed the homework but it was mostly incorrect. I asked him why this was the case, as he really should be able to do it. He replied that he had quickly read over sheet 1, then went straight to sheet 2 and quickly completed it because he 'knew what he was doing'. I beg to differ. He just hadn't taken the time to read everything over, get everything into his head and then do it. Oh no, that would be too easy. Instead he bashes on thinking he can do it.

I said to him, why don't you have the first sheet on your left and on the right, the second sheet. That way, you can refer to them both. 'Oh yes, that's a good idea' was the reply.

Urrrrgh.

How can I help him, if he isn't able to help himself. He maintains he knows all 'these things' and that they are in his head. The evidence suggests otherwise. He has to prove it to us all and that is what he quite clearly isn't doing. The irony is that if he doesn't pass this lower level there ain't any chance of him progressing through the next 2 levels and with it, he can kiss goodbye to his pending promotion.

And on that note, all I'll say is: you can lead a horse to water...

Panel

The interview!

I had asked for the CV of the person that was up for the English. Clearly, being prepared was the best approach to take for the interview. Just as well I did because there were definite queries arising from it that I wanted clarified one way or another.

There were 4 of us on the panel. Oh, how I remember the days of trying to impress a panel. Not easy. Anyway, the person came in and we all spoke about the person's previous experience and qualifications. I also spoke about the job that we needed a person for. In the course of the interview, it became clear that this person was indeed a teacher. A kindergarten teacher who teaches 3 year olds with little ESL experience. Indeed, the person didn't even really have a formal teaching qualification. Oh dear. In some ways, I'm glad that that came out in front of my boss (one of the panel). To my mind, though the person is very nice and came across well, the person isn't what we are looking for. I probably won't have the final say but I really hope that I'm listened to. It wouldn't make any sense for this person to join us. If this person went away and got an ESL qualification, then we could talk but not right now. I sat in on a further 2 interviews for positions not directly related to me. Interesting, interesting.

No formal questions were laid out before hand and the questions that were asked tended to relate to what was said by the interviewee. I was quite surprised by that in some ways. People always troll the net to find 'typical' interview questions. Granted, there are certain questions that may come up but if this interview process was anything to go by, the best thing someone could do is have a number of practical examples 'no hand' to relate. That certainly seemed to be the way to go. Oh, make sure that what you say is consistent and truthful. You'll get found out!

Viewer

I had my first real taste of the interviewing process over the last couple of days. Generally, I have been the one that is being interviewed but on this occasion I was asked to come and sit in on interviews for the positions in our department. The reason I was there specifically was that one of the people called was for an English teaching position and this person would report directly to me.

The first day saw 8 people engage in one of those group discussions in which they are given a problem and they are to solve it the best they can. There is generally no right or wrong answers exactly and because of it, the people have to make their decisions and then justify them. I had to monitor 2 of them, the others being monitored by others. By 'monitor', I mean, sit at the back of the room and see how they interact. Not exactly the easiest task. It was interesting to see it however. It's funny how the dynamics of the group are quickly established with the 'leaders' asserting themselves and the others, becoming 'the others'.

The second thing that the 8 people had to do was a presentation of their choice. It was to be 15 minutes in total. I only had time to stay for one of them - the person up for the English teaching position. It went fine, mostly. There was a concern about part of her spoken English. Quite a basic and as it turned out, a consistent error. Other than that, the person was confident and presented themself well. It was decided to take this person onto the next stage, the actual interview. Not all of the 8 got that call though. I think only 4 did.

More of that tomorrow!

Bowler

I can't honestly say that I'm a massive Radiohead fan. I haven't ever bought one of there albums for example but there are certain elements of them that I like. For example, I do like Kid A as I've mentioned before somewhere. I felt it was a big, bold 'experiment' after OK Computer and one that confounded a lot of people, no question of it.

This week saw them announce that in 6 days time, their new album would be out. This caught a lot of people unawares. I'm not surprised. They have tended to do things their own way in any case. Hats of to them for it.

I went to youtube to try and watch the video for Lotus Flower - the 'single' from the album. Inspired or utterly ridiculous? Whatever you think, you'll have an opinion on Thom Yorke, alone strutting his stuff. Personally, I think it's a wonderful video. Visually, it's very strong and it certainly takes courage to commit something like that to tape. The song isn't quite what I expected either. It is something of an 'electronic' song which, I'm all for!

Have a look here: Lotus Flower

Yellowball

We had not bad seats at the tennis yesterday. I took this before the 'action' started. We had managed to get a completely uninterrupted seat in which we could stretch out our legs. Nice.

In the first match, the world number one Carlina Worinecki (spelling?) beat Jelena Jankovic to reach the final. It was a pretty good game actually. A lot of twists and turns. There were quite a lot of supporters for each lady and they were pretty vocal with it.

The second game was a bit more one sided. This time Svetlana Kutsnesova beat Flavia something or other. There were mistakes by both but towards the end Flavia got a bit flustered and gave away too many 'easy' points. She stormed off court at the end without saying anything to anyone.

In between games, Novak Djokovic was on court practicing for next weeks men's event. He seemed in good form actually. He's very fast across the court as is his serving. One to watch, I think. Like I know much about tennis!

Same time next year then.

Statue

Dubai is 'renowned' for it's Friday brunch's. It seems almost every hotel offers something that could be classed as brunch. Some come with alcohol, some do not. Some are inexpensive, some are very expensive. I think the last one I was at was the Mojito one back in the Summer of last year. It was good but you can pretty much write off the remainder of the day because you either continue drinking until evening or you go home and totally veg out and fall asleep. That's what happened anyway. Went home, fell asleep.

This time, it would be different. We had reservations for the Dusit hotel. It was a buffet style brunch with a range of packages - one with soft drinks only, one with wine and beer, and another with champagne. The Dusit is a lovely hotel, no doubt about that. We had a nice table by the window on the 24th floor looking back towards the interior of Dubai aka, the desert.

The food was excellent. A massive range of salads, seafood, pasta, meat, breads, dumplings, and a really big selection for dessert. Oh, and a really lovely sparkling rose wine. What was there not to like about it. Over the course of 3 hours we ate, not to the point of being stuffed but just a little full. The wine however did flow. I couldn't possibly comment on how much was drunk. Or remember. After it, we went to Barasti which is a beach bar along by the Marina. We got a seat right on the beach and may well have had another couple of cool beverages there, watching the sun go down. There was even a bride and groom going about. A bit of a strange place to have your wedding reception, I would have thought.

Anyway, we decided to head home to 'rest' up for the evening. We did that and off we went out again. No point in flaking out. Down to the Village, although we did go to Club Alpha but it was closed. Nightmare. By around 9, it was time to go home. 8 hours of drinking and eating is enough for yours truly. By 9.30, I was sound asleep on my bed, on top of the covers, fully dressed. I was woken at 1am to find myself in this state. Not good. But, I did get back to sleep and slept well. Then I woke up. I wasn't feeling too bad. That all changed and after an hour I was knackered again. A very poor show.

I can't be knackered though because we have tickets for the Dubai Tennis Championship today. It's Women's semi final day. Got to get across the road for that. I hope.

Rising

Today is a day off. A national day off no less. I am certainly not complaining at all because it means it's only a 4 day working week and let's face it, the more 4 day working weeks the better as far as I'm concerned. The reason for this holiday is because it's the Prophet's birthday.

Nothing at all strange about that at all. The West celebrate Jesus birthday so it makes sense that the same thing is true of the Prophet's birthday.

However, I'm slightly confused by the timing of the day. Apparently, the official birthday is on the 15th which would have meant that we were off on Tuesday then back to work for the remainder of the week. As I mentioned, a day off is a day off and that's totally fine. But, the powers that be moved the day to the Thursday meaning that everybody gets the day off and the weekend, giving a total of 3 days off. Excellent news alright. My point is though, surely the birthday is set in stone and whatever day of the week it falls on, it should be celebrated. You can't just go and change the day of it to suit where the nearest weekend is. Can you?

What if, this year my birthday is on a Thursday. By the same logic, can't I just move it to the Friday and then take the weekend off as well? That what it looks like. Perhaps I'm misreading the situation.

Alas, today is a day off!