Tag: tafl

Finally, I had my last examination for level 5 at the Language Center, University of Jordan (UJLC).   The teachers are okay and the style of teaching is not bad.  However, I was really bored.  It’s possible that I even loved the students in my class, but they did not speak Arabic.  Some of my previous class-mates had been more advanced.  Also, most of the grammar was the same as before or was too easy.  I started to lose concentration and felt like I was going backwards.

To stop myself from dying of boredom I agreed to take on the language partners of my Chinese colleagues (as they were majoring in Chinese and English) and, in fact, not only did they make my remaining time more interesting, I also benefited from them.

Generally, I had found the language partner scheme a waste of time.  It really depended on who you ended up with.  Most times I spent chasing my language partners up (the ones allocated to me by UJLC) and agreeing to appointments that they could not honour.  They usually lost interest after the first week.  One of the better experiences I had also did not turn out very well when his friends did not think I was a real Muslim (since for them, that was the real reason I was learning Arabic) and started to preach to me because they felt sorry for me.

However, the language partners of my Chinese colleagues were more enthusiastic, professional, committed and helpful.  On the other hand, there was only so much I could benefit from them and them from me (as they were suppose to be focusing on their own studies and they were already actually quite smart with English and were asking some difficult questions).

What was I doing there?  For crying out loud, I paid for an Arabic course!

Therefore, I really wanted to move up to level 6, but it seemed almost impossible, even though I scored 65 in the placement test that made me eligible for level 8.
The new director, Fatima Omari, misled me and her colleague shouted at me when I asked about changing.  According to the director, the grammar in level 6 is the same as the grammar in level 5.  Either she was lying or this is the most retarded centre I have ever tried to study in.  There was also discrimination with regard to choosing a level.  Some people were given one day (for example, myself) whilst others were given ten days.

They were simply too lazy or too arrogant to make the change!

And I think my teachers did not want to confront her.  Eventually, they had a chat with her, but she became a bit unstable!!

The following morning she was rude to me.  She demanded that I write a report about the differences between level 4 and 5.  How the hell would I get time to do that and it was not my job anyway.  They were suppose to be teaching me Arabic.  That’s what I paid for.

Enough was enough!!!  I decided to listen to the advice of the Chechen guy and complain to the president of the centre (if there was such a thing, as nothing was very clear or consistent in this place).  It’s a long story and there was no positive result.  Eventually I did complained to the president of the centre (showing him the list of grammar that I had already learned, actually 90%).

Had I known the president of the centre existed I would have complained to him much sooner.  Hopefully, a lot of lessons learned here.

It had been quite a stressful and depressing experience.  Thought things had changed here for the better, but clearly for the better and for the worse.

Undoubtedly, some people in the centre hate me, but the main change was that the director was no longer confrontational.  She was also asking what she could do to help, but it was actually too late and she already ignored my teacher’s suggestions and was uninterested in what I wanted and what my rights were.

So it was just a month more of boredom, then examinations.  Or so I thought…

In the last week of term, the grammar teacher asked me why I had complained about her to the director (saying that she is a bad teacher) and I was so surprised to hear that.  And I explained how all I’d said was that I’d already studied most of he grammar and wanted to go one level up, but that the director was indifferent to my request even though it was my right (I had scored more than high enough in the placement test).  The teacher said that she believed me and offered me coffee.

There seemed to be no end to this saga.  Admittedly, these were not my favourite teachers, but outside of class they were likable (decent perhaps).  I did not actually want to leave their classes (and they were really trying to help me), but I needed to (learning was the whole point of being there and paying 1800 USD).  I also liked the students in my class, but that not the point.  I started to feel as though I was going backwards and losing interest in my studies, was not going to the library and began loitering more.  Unfortunately also, as time went by, I felt my relations with my teachers were really straining.  Of course, it was just suppose to be professional, but it still did not feel right.

I just could not believe that such a retarded issue could not be fixed.  What could possibly be the motivation for this behaviour?  Is Jordan really the Hashemite Kingdom of Boredom?

One thing they do right here in Jordan university is a conference known as the Amman Message.  They claim that Islam calls for tolerance and unity and that true Muslims are totally against terrorism.  They make the challenge that you will not find even one student (of University of Jordan) in the faculty of sharia who, after graduation, joins Al-Qaeda separatists in Iraq and Syria.  Their point being that extremist groups recruit from those who are actually ignorant.

I think the Language Centre should also understand that their prophet said: “Allah curses the thief who steals (even) an egg” (Bukhaari).

Unfortunately, this experience has left me with the feeling that Jordan is a waste of time and waste of money for the student of Arabic.  However, with not many choices of location, what can you do?

Always thought I’d end up returning to Alexandria, but the character of some of the people who worked at the centre there was in question.  With hindsight, getting abused whilst really studying Arabic and then being able to go home on schedule (satisfied with what I had learned) seemed preferable to what had happened in Jordan.  Some of the staff here were no better.  Perhaps I had mis-judged Alexandria?  Perhaps it was just all a mis-understanding!

On the other hand, I also believe that Jordan has potential, but that the corruption is holding the hard-working and talented people back.  Sometimes I feel sorry for them.  It is all about who you know and not what you know.  There is hardly any meritocracy.

Jordanians have also told me that everybody wants to be a general without being a solider first.  Consequently, there are too many cow-boys and not enough Indians.

Actually, my biggest regret was that I did not return to Egypt, though it just did not seem like a choice anymore and I knew no other useful centre.  Cairo still was unexplored territory for me, but it seemed (perhaps wrongly) too plain scary (at the time).  Much later, I heard that the language centres in the capital of Egypt are quite professional and well-known for their high standards, as opposed to those centres existing elsewhere, but perhaps I will never really know.

The only other location I knew at the time was Tunisia, but the security situation there was starting to look worse.

 

(Image Copyright Andres Rodriguez | Dreamstime).