As you may (or may not) know, my husband and I moved to Kuwait to begin our international education career as Technology Coaches at an International Baccalaureate (IB) World school in Kuwait. We arrived LATE Friday night and have been in orientation with all the new staff since then. We’ve been constantly busy (in a good way) setting up our apartment and getting to know the other new teachers. Today was the first day with the entire staff back to school. It’s been an interesting journey so far.
We were hired as Technology Coaches in February and are still figuring out exactly what that will look like. Today was a great day for as us we got more information about the 1:1 iPad roll-out (we aren’t really involved in the logistics..yay!) and had time to meet as a team (me, my husband and the other coach) to creating a job description that we can share with faculty & staff. Our goal is to get the message across from day 1 that we are here to help teachers meaningfully integrate technology into their lesson plans.
The Big News: The school has been scrambling for a French teacher since finding out 2 weeks ago that the hired teacher needed to stay home for a family emergency. Yesterday I was asked to take over her part-time load (3 French classes) until they can find a permanent teacher. I agreed, with the clause that it is truly temporary (maximum 1 semester). Although everything can change before school starts on September 4th, I am currently teaching 9th and 10th grade French (both part of the Middle Years Program – MYP) and 11th grade French (Diploma Program level 1). I have incredibly mixed emotions and I’m going to try really hard not to stress until Sunday when I know for sure if I’ll be starting the year in the classroom on Tuesday.
I hope everyone has had a great start to the school year or is eagerly awaiting the first day of school!
te(a)ch french 
J’espère que ce nouveau travail sera une superbe expérience pour toi et que tu t’y plairas.
A très bientôt pour de nouvelles collaborations peut-être?
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On verra! On sait pas si le travail sera pour un jour ou un semestre! Quand meme, il y a des profs ici pour de collaborations! Bonne rentrée 🙂
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Super! Tu peux bien sûr leur passer mon mail ou mon Twitter s’ils veulent établir un contact et monter une collaboration. La rentrée pour moi c’est demain! Can’t wait!
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While I know that your plan wasn’t to be in a French classroom, I know that you’ll be great! Usually things work out the way they’re supposed to, and I think this will be a great experience for you!! 🙂
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Update: I found out yesterday that they’ve hired a new teacher! She is (also) from Michigan and I’ll be teacher her classes until she arrives – probably 1-2 weeks. Should be interesting! 🙂
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