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Saturday, May 30, 2015

Student Work

Hello!
    It has been a long time my reader friends. Too long, but as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. The school year is winding down and as the year comes to a close, I thought I would give you a taste of what student work looks like here in the UAE. 

   I made my class watch a video in Arabic about the Arabian Oryx, an animal similar to a gazelle that is native to the UAE. In the 1970s there were only four of them left. The Sheik took them and created a conservation area here in Al Ain at the Al Ain Zoo. There are now thousands, so many that they have even donated some to other neighbouring countries. Students had to watch the video and write as many sentences as they could in English based on things they saw in the video.

  This is my handmade wall. These are words that were covered in trimester 3, as well as the learning outcomes for this trimester. 

  Students created mini posters after we discussed the differences between physical and chemical changes. 

This is the grade 7 textbook that we use.

Page from a student's notebook. 

Classroom behaviour management system. Students get 'Stars' when they behave/participate/do well on tests. Stars are taken away for not listening, bad behaviour. At the end of the month the starts translate to dollars. I put on a class store and the studies can use the class money to buy items.

Thanks again for reading and I have so many posts for you, keep an eye out. Also there will be another Twitter season at the end of June. 







Tuesday, May 19, 2015

An Idea of the School Calendar

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/fdec1f71-2410-4bb9-8002-7f1fa95db417.aspx#

If you are coming over in August and would like a rough idea of the school calender, here you are. 

I've got a few posts coming up, stay tuned. 

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Twitter Q&A Was A Success!

  Last night I hosted a twitter Q&A, it was my first time doing anything like this and I was afraid that I wouldn't have anyone asking any questions.




    The event was a success, I had about three people asking various questions related to teaching in Abu Dhabi. The greatest challenge was answering in 140 characters. The chat was so successful that I think I will do it again in June and work on drawing more individuals. Look out for that. 

   If you are on  twitter follow me 

@misshaneefa

If you want to read some of my answers check out #askhaneefa.

Any other ideas as to things I can do with the blog to interact with readers? What would you like to see?

Thanks again for reading! 

Twitter Chat

This evening at 3 pm Eastern Time I will be doing my first Twitter chat. 

@misshaneefa 

#askhaneefa

I have never done anything like this, so I hope I at least get a few questions. If you have any questions about teaching in the UAE or travel in general please come on over.

Hope to see you there. 

Friday, May 8, 2015

This Sunday

  The twitter Q&A will be this Sunday (May 11) from 3-4 pm EST. I will be able to answer all your UAE teaching and travel questions. I can also answer any general travel questions you may have. 

Please use #askhaneefa 

@misshaneefa

Hope to see you Sunday! 

Twitter Q&A

   I am tossing around the idea of doing a Twitter Q&A next week, would you be down? I think if would be a cool idea.

@misshaneefa 

I will let you know the day and time. 

Hope to chat with you soon! 

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Teacher Appreciation Week

   There is no such thing as Teacher Appreciation Week in the UAE. Since my Assistant Vice Principal is from the States this week she have us little treats like this:



When she have me the Fanta, my students were around and asked me why I was getting a can of Fanta. I explained that in America this week is Teacher Appreciation  Week, this means that Principals and students say THANK YOU to their teachers. I heard them whispering after this and I knew something was up.

Today we walked into this:





A party for us!!!! How sweet of them! 

They said a BIG THINK YOU to is for teaching them.



Sunday, May 3, 2015

Out and About

    Two weekends ago I went to an all white party at a club called Etoiles in the Emirates Palace, it was fabulous. Everyone looked like a million dollars.


Here is a little collage of my friends and I. 

After that we went to a birthday reggae party on Yas Island.


There are always photographers at these parties taking photos for the parties Facebook page, sometimes I end up in them and they always look fabulous. 


Here I am with some of my crew. As you can see some people had so much fun at the white party they came here right after. 


    This past weekend, I went to brunch at the Fairmount to celebrate my friend's 40th birthday. 

I met a lovely young lady who followed the blog before she came out here and told me that she loved seeing all my pictures and hearing all my stories because she knew when she got out here she would be doing all those things too. Well, her wish came true! 

From Abu Dhabi, I took myself to Dubai on Saturday for the Reggae Beachfest with a performance by Elephant Man. I don't know if I have told you. It I absolutely love reggae and soca ( comes from having Trini parents). 

The venue was stunning, XL BEACH CLUB at the Habtoor Grand resort and spa. 

I was lucky enough to meet the Energy God.


 I would post a video of his performance but this app won't let me post videos only photos. Boo. 

  As you can see I have had a fun filled two weeks. I start back my grad school classss on May 11 for the summer session, so the partying will be cut down significantly. Nevertheless, all work and no play make Haneefa a dull girl, so I will still go out once in awhile.

Also one of my best friend's from home is suppose to come visit at the beginning of June so I am super excited about that. 

Thank you for reading and as per usually, I love  comments and emails!







Saturday, May 2, 2015

Just Had To Share

Hello beautiful people,
    I get a few emails asking me various questions and complimenting my blog (thank you and keep them coming) but today I got an email that just touched my heart, I had to share it. All the emails I get are from individuals who are looking to move out here, I have never received an email from an Emirati. This is the email I received this morning. I was so touched I had to share:


Good morning!
First of all I wanted to tell you that you are indeed wonderful ^^
I am an emirati who is studying abroad, so I do understand the struggle to an extent. I know that the fact that I'm only a student gives me a sort of an advantage, but still living abroad is anything BUT easy!

You might wonder why I'd be reading your blog instead of someone else's who moved to the same country as I (south korea), but I guess it just makes me feel better to know that I'm not the only one struggling. There's also the added bonus of hearing about the UAE rather than Korea! I really do miss my country and, in a sense, strangely, reading your blog has alleviated my homesickness somewhat. Also the fact that you are a foreigner in the country helps me sympathize with you in all sorts of things that you are facing.

I hope this helps me be more culturally aware and sensitive when i do go back home to work ^^

I guess the thing I wanted to say the most is "Thank you!" 

You are wonderful, so have yourself a wonderful day~

To the individual that sent this, thank you so much, I am so touched that my blog could settle your homesickness. I wish you all the best in South Korea. Thank you for reading!