Expert: Hope - 2/19/2004

Question
Hello Hope

I am an English teacher in the UK and I am about to teach a group of UAE 18-19 year olds who are in the military. I have no idea what sort of interests might be typical for this age group, or how different their interests might be from the kind of things young people like in the UK. I imagine there will be some similarities, but anything you think might be useful to know would be great. Thank you for your time Hope!

Answer
Hey James

Well first of all I would like to thank you for the interesting question, and welcome you in UAE, I'm trying my best to have all the grammar and spelling right as you are an English teacher :)

I'm sure that you are going to have a great time teaching in the UAE , there are a great deal of similarities between young people in UAE and UK , I imagine they like talking about cars , women , money , trips ...etc . The Men you are going to teach may give you a hard time because of the language, the Women of UAE like me like communicating with foreign people in English , in contrast the Men of UAE like to force  others to speak Arabic :) and if they offer to teach an Arabic word , please double check with someone before using it :) I'm not trying to scare you or anything I'm sure you have seen all the tricks the students try to play on teachers.

You have nothing to worry about in terms of interests, just try reading about UAE's culture since there are a big difference between UK and UAE, some young men here have gf , but it is not expected for them to talk openly about it. You will learn by time what are the Don and Don'ts in UAE, we are pretty friendly people and we like having people from different parts of the world. I myself are taught by 2 Canadians , Australian , British , And a teacher from New Zealand , they have learnt how to deal with us ( girls of UAE ) by time . So what I'm saying is that you need to read a bit and let time teach you about our unique culture.

So did that answer your question , I hope so , if not please don't hesitate to write me again .

Hope that you spend a great time in UAE James :)