As you all know, this blog is about my life as a teacher of English. This equates to me being abroad for extended periods of time and if I want to continue my education, I’ve only got 2 options: local universities or online programs. Since a degree from an internationally recognized institution is so important I’ve been looking for online degree options. It’s complete luck that I am going to review a site I am personally really interested in using!
My inaugural ReviewMe paid review has been ordered by EarnMyDegree.com, specifically their education and teaching degrees portal. I wouldn’t have heard about this site if it weren’t for their paid review request, so I can understand why they want it!
The teaching portal seems straightfoward and informative right off the bat. They offer information on hundreds of degrees from big name universities like Phoenix to places I’ve never heard of, like Western Governors University. I like the featured programs on the right with names I know: I went straight to both Kaplan and U of Phoenix.
Each degree has information that looks slightly modified from the original university description with a link to get you directly in touch with the university and start the ball rolling. If you know what you are looking for, you won’t have to spend too much time searching here, I spent about 10 minutes from start to contact e-mail with Pheonix.
Beyond the teaching portal, everything seems laid out the same way and the menu at the top is a snap. I found my way to MBAs, Restaurant Management and Doctor of Ministry fairly quickly as well. This site puts a lot of information at your fingertips, but doesn’t seem to give an unbiased opinion of any university. I’d really like to see a review of all the universities offered before talking to a counselor, otherwise it seems too much like a middleman pushing whatever degree I’ll take.
If a brick and mortar establishment doesn’t work for you, or you are working abroad for at least a year, then EarnMyDegree.com can help you continue your education. In the 3 days I played with the site, I’ve collected plenty of information about a Masters at 2 universities. Many of my friends in Russia have asked me how I found my job on the vast Internet. Well, I’ve found 2 jobs and with sites like EarnMyDegree.com. And now, I’m starting my masters program entirely online!
Reviews
I’ve been here for 12 days, but it feels like a month already. I miss Russia, and I miss the mild weather. You can always put more clothes on if it gets cold, but once you are naked, you can’t get any cooler.
I’ve got air conditioning in my apartment, living would be unbearable without it. Everyone here has air in their homes, cars, buses, hallways, everywhere. One of my fellow teachers told me that it isn’t unusual for a Kuwaiti to leave their car running while they go shopping for 2 hours to keep the car cool. This is only possible because gas costs less than 70 cents a gallon, and pay here is sky high.
This week will see an average of 50 degrees Celsius (122 fahrenheit) during the day. Next month, I’m told I might see my first 60 degree (140F!!!) day! How can I describe the feeling? Have you ever stuck your face or hand into a 400 degree oven? it isn’t sweaty heat, and it blows the heat at you. Walking around outside is like having your whole body sitting on the open door of the oven. You aren’t cooking, but you know the fires of hades are nearby.
Even school buses have been outfitted with AC.
Beyond Vladimir, Kuwait
Today was my first full real day tutoring at work. The work is fairly easy and straightforward and each child works as their own pace. Right now I’m tutoring in English in the morning and math in the evening. I teach about 5 hours a day, with some breaks throughout. For free housing and good pay, I couldn’t ask for more.
Outside of work, I might start tutoring a local man in exchange for Arabic lessons in the evening. While this could turn out to be excellent, he isn’t a teacher by profession and I don’t do well in individual classes… We’ll see.
I’ll leave you with the view from my apartment. Yes, that is the Persian Gulf about a kilometer away!
Work
So far, I have observed about 5 hours of classes. The system is tailored to each student very well. When I start working on Saturday, I don’t think I’ll have any problems teaching, I just hope I can learn all the procedures and don’t make any marking mistakes.
I’ve been at work about 8 hours each day even though training is only 2-3 hours. Part of my contract is full time at Oxford, even if they can’t use me. While I’m here I’m trying to make good use of my time learning Arabic. Unfortuantely, I haven’t had time to go to the bookstore and buy proper Arabic textbooks. Instead, I am using the arabic handwriting practice book and the Russian-Arabic conversation book that Mandy gave me to practice. Since both are without English, the work is going rather slowly.
I know about 2/3 of the alphabet, in all 3 to 4 forms of the letter (they have slightly different letters depending on where the letter is in the word). I’ll hopefully get the rest down this weekend, with some help of the internets.
In the conversation book, they cover the alphabet, how to pronounce it and give some examples. Conveinetly enough, they give the example of ‘door’ (дверь) which is Bob (more like b-ah-b, but I’m done with being B-oh-b). Even better, one of the later examples is ‘expensive’ (дорого) which is the ghali (they don’t have a G, it is the sound of breathing out while holding your throat in the G letter position(like gargling)). Door Expensive, that doesn’t mean much in English, but Arabic, like Spanish puts the adjectives after the noun.
So, my name is Expensive Door in Arabic.
I guess it is better than Bean. (Bob in Russian - боб)
Kuwait
I got a SIM card! It took me 3 days and the card isn’t actually in my name, but I can call people now, especially taxis.
Let me start by saying: I have been scarred by Russian customer service and I can’t trust salesmen anymore. I went to a small kiosk at the local grocery store to buy a SIM card on my own, but after I heard the price (almost 70$!?!) decided doing this without an Arabic speaking friend is a bad idea. After talking to my co-workers, I found out that price depends on on the memorability of a phone number. Turns out I wasn’t being conned, I was just being offered a phone number that costs more at the kiosk.
Prices here range from 35$ to almost 200$ for phone numbers (with 10 dollars of talk time that goes really fast), and there are no ‘family plans’ or ‘evening plans’, there is just ‘prepaid’ and ‘post paid.’ Makes everything easier, but the prices are still much to high for my Russian mindset. SIM cards in Vladimir cost 6 dollars and come with 4 dollars of talk time.
Speaking of phones, anyone who has been to Russia knows that cellphones are expensive, technologically advanced and stylish. But Kuwait takes that further, more expensive and elitist. Even the kids have 300$ cellphones when they are 5 years old. More on phones here next week.
Kuwait
