I Love My New Job!

Marj al-Hamam, Jordan

After teaching at the Modern American School, I wasn't sure I ever wanted to teach again, but after just two days preparing for the opening of Bell Amman, I can hardly wait till we have students and I can start teaching the syllabi I'm writing!

At the start of our first training session this morning, the boss asked, "How did training go yesterday?" My co-teacher, John, was a good stoic Englishman and said nothing. Then she turned to me, and I just couldn't keep the grin off my face. "I love this job!" The boss looked surprised at my enthusiasm (there I am, being too American again!), so I explained:

When I interviewed at MAS, I was offered all the support I could need. When it came to actual training and teaching, almost every time I asked for help, I was told, "You're a good teacher. You'll figure it out." When I ask for help at Bell, I get twenty minutes of the boss's time, and only then does she say, "See? You're already a good teacher, and you didn't need my help after all!"

More Fun With Arabic

Speaking of yesterday's training, we did most of it together with the Customer Service hires, learning about the company and the services we provide. The whole Customer Service Dept are Jordanians, and they would chatter along to each other in Arabic, and from time to time their conversations would make me grin or laugh.

"Do you speak Arabic?" I was asked several times. I would just nod, not wanting to get into it, but one girl really made me laugh when she asked, "How many words do you know?" I shrugged, and said in Arabic, "In colloquial? Pretty much all of them." So then, of course, I had to demonstrate, and they all got quite a good laugh out of my peasant accent.