Schools
Schools here are interesting. There are more private schools here than I can count, and the education system in general is rapidly changing. First there are Qatari schools, which serve the Qatari citizens and are free to them. These have been fairly uniform until recently. There is a new program wherein certain schools are “independent” schools, which choose their own curriculum and methods. I think the idea is to try many different things at once, and see which schools do the best job, and then free market will determine which become the “best”. There are standards that each school has to meet, but I haven’t heard how these are measured yet. The independent schools either are open to foreigners, or will be soon, but for a fee (not expensive).
Qatari schools are moving towards using English as the primary language of instruction. I have mixed feelings about this, but it makes sense. Qatar is a tiny country… too small to produce everything it needs on it’s own. Adopting English curriculum opens a wide variety of doors both in terms of instructional material available, and in the child’s later career. Many Qatari kids go abroad for their university education, and having been taught in English from a young age will help them in that regard.
Private schools are also very common. Most affluent Qataris and virtually all ex-pats send their kids to these. You have to tread carefully here, regarding choosing a school, as it’s important to have a clear understanding of what it is you want your child to get out of his or her educational experience. Many private schools are set up for specific ex-pat groups, and mimic the schools of their home country. There is a French School, a Tunisian School, a Phillipino school, etc etc. The idea is that students can attend these schools and not be “behind” when they return to their home countries. This is ideal if someone has older children already established in their school career, or for someone who is transferred here for a couple of years (many still consider this a “hardship” post!). The school can provide some element of stability. The down-side is that your kids will be sequestered with other kids of their own nationality, …if you want this, then it’s great, but if not, then look elsewhere.
There are a lot of “English-language” schools here. The use of English in the national schools hasn’t been fully adopted yet, so these served that purpose up until now…providing an education in the English language. These schools are overwhelmingly Qatari, and private. Qataris attend the American and British schools too… but the difference is that in the English-language schools you will find relatively few ex-pats. There isn’t much sense in sending a young English speaker to these, as the Qatari kids are going there to learn the rudiments of English in the lower grades. Native speakers would be bored to death in that environment. Older ex-pat kids might do fine in these. There are also “themed” schools…sports academies, religious schools, science etc.
We have elected to send our son to a private Islamic school. He is still pre-K, and is studying at a first grade level (English) at home. I don’t see much point in sending him to an English language environment, as it would simply be glorified day-care at his age. My goal is for him to learn Arabic fluently by the time he is ready for first grade, and he is doing great so far. His teacher speaks English, so she can clarify things for him, but Arabic is virtually all he hears at school. He knows the Arabic numbers and letters, and sings Arabic songs. He understands things fairly well, but has trouble speaking yet. One more year, God willing, and he will get it. I want him to socialize with the Qataris, and being a bright kid, tackling the language affords him a challenge. The school’s curriculum for older grades includes horsemanship, falconry and swordsmanship. It’s rather like the education of a young knight. The school costs just over $1000 US dollars per year, and riding the bus every day costs another $30 per month.
As he gets older, we’ll make adjustments as necessary.
Qatari schools are moving towards using English as the primary language of instruction. I have mixed feelings about this, but it makes sense. Qatar is a tiny country… too small to produce everything it needs on it’s own. Adopting English curriculum opens a wide variety of doors both in terms of instructional material available, and in the child’s later career. Many Qatari kids go abroad for their university education, and having been taught in English from a young age will help them in that regard.
Private schools are also very common. Most affluent Qataris and virtually all ex-pats send their kids to these. You have to tread carefully here, regarding choosing a school, as it’s important to have a clear understanding of what it is you want your child to get out of his or her educational experience. Many private schools are set up for specific ex-pat groups, and mimic the schools of their home country. There is a French School, a Tunisian School, a Phillipino school, etc etc. The idea is that students can attend these schools and not be “behind” when they return to their home countries. This is ideal if someone has older children already established in their school career, or for someone who is transferred here for a couple of years (many still consider this a “hardship” post!). The school can provide some element of stability. The down-side is that your kids will be sequestered with other kids of their own nationality, …if you want this, then it’s great, but if not, then look elsewhere.
There are a lot of “English-language” schools here. The use of English in the national schools hasn’t been fully adopted yet, so these served that purpose up until now…providing an education in the English language. These schools are overwhelmingly Qatari, and private. Qataris attend the American and British schools too… but the difference is that in the English-language schools you will find relatively few ex-pats. There isn’t much sense in sending a young English speaker to these, as the Qatari kids are going there to learn the rudiments of English in the lower grades. Native speakers would be bored to death in that environment. Older ex-pat kids might do fine in these. There are also “themed” schools…sports academies, religious schools, science etc.
We have elected to send our son to a private Islamic school. He is still pre-K, and is studying at a first grade level (English) at home. I don’t see much point in sending him to an English language environment, as it would simply be glorified day-care at his age. My goal is for him to learn Arabic fluently by the time he is ready for first grade, and he is doing great so far. His teacher speaks English, so she can clarify things for him, but Arabic is virtually all he hears at school. He knows the Arabic numbers and letters, and sings Arabic songs. He understands things fairly well, but has trouble speaking yet. One more year, God willing, and he will get it. I want him to socialize with the Qataris, and being a bright kid, tackling the language affords him a challenge. The school’s curriculum for older grades includes horsemanship, falconry and swordsmanship. It’s rather like the education of a young knight. The school costs just over $1000 US dollars per year, and riding the bus every day costs another $30 per month.
As he gets older, we’ll make adjustments as necessary.
posted by dervish at Monday, April 25, 2005
7 Comments:
Wow, thats awesome--- I'm partial to the swordsmanship and horse-riding--- i'm a bit of a medieval-fantasy-geek
-hijabman
There is a private school on every block here in Saudi. Its amazing, generally the thinking is, I don't like my childs school I think I'll open my own. Major problem is converting a house into a school that isn't set up for it. Tiny classrooms, over crowding, fire hazards ect are a common element.
My twins, in first grade, started in Arabic school pre-k and they picked up the language amazingly fast. Our household is bi-lingual, but Enslish tends to be spoken more only because my husband is a work aholic. They are now at the top of their Arabic classes and English as well. The only problems we have is at times they switch the sentence order, English to Arabic and Arabic English.
My younger one, 4, is in pre-k now and she was a delayed speaker. But is picking up the language very fast as well. I think its the right age to really surround them with the Arabic rather than latter.
And I would love if Saudi gave more in extra activities. My son would love the swordsmanship class. But all they really have is football (soccer) and nothing for girls.
There are a lot of things for girls here, gymnastics, dance, etc, plus much of the extra-curricular stuff is not segregated by gender until they are old enough to wear hijab.
If there aren't many activities for girls, how hard would it be to organize some? Many things here started out small and have grown big over the years.
Organize and Saudi, talk about two words that don't do well together.
There used to be alot of activites among the westerners on the compounds. (Do you have compounds in Qatar?)There was ballet for the girls, catrobatickids, baseball for both girls and boys, and other such programs but all of that is gone now. Since the attacks last year, most of the western expats have left totally, moved to Bahrain, or have gone into a hermit crab lifestyle. Which means we've lost all the extra activities.
This is extremely hard on the children and basically everyone is waiting for people to return, or at least new people to come and get things goin. And so far that just hasn't happened.
As for local Saudi groups, extremely little when it comes to girl. I did recently find an Art center that oppened programs for children. My children are in art class now three times a week and they plan on doing other active programs in the summer. Swimming is one of their main goals, as well as other things that get kids moving. Because they are active in art on their own, they see the need for such things. Most Saudis don't.
According to the School where I have my children, the most to complain about such activities are the Saudi parents. The whole idea of sexualizing children at such a young age here, I believe makes a major difference in how taking part in such activities is viewed.
There are compounds here, but most of us in the American hijra community don't choose to live in them.
There are tons of things for kids to do here... moreso than I've seen anywhere, and Qatari kids participate heavily.
If I did live in Saudi, I would consider starting with themed playgroups. That is, playgroups with a certain activity in mind, like gymnastics, pottery, baking, whatever. Depending on the talents of the mothers involved, each could specialize in one specific activity, and host the group once a week. Something like this could keep your kids active every day of the week, with you only having to host a group once per week.
Many of the established programs that we have here today started out small like that many years ago.
Its the common sense thing to do isn't it? And it appears to be so easy. But common sense and easy are unknown here in Saudi.
One major problem is transportation, since women do not drive it is difficult for many women to get around. Add w/ the horror stories of cabies (just another way to get women indoors)women are even more limited.
Another problem is this is a culture that allows the maid to raise children. And your talking about a large effort for many women who just don't know how to do it.
When I have children to my house we do some sort of crafts. Nothing fancy, make a mess and create something sort of deal. But I don't expect the same w/ other parents.
There are some women, moslty Arabs from Syria, Egypt or Jordan who want to do religious things. Like Qur'an memorization with kids in the area, but I can't convince my kids. We used to have the Imam come for them three times a week to work on Qur'an and they hid under the table. And since they have Qur'an and fiqh in school they see it as 'work' rather than fun.
Alhamdulillah we found a place for them now, the art center. I'm very happy these women opened up to children. But whats odd is that there isn't a waiting list. Besides my three kids in one class, there are only three other children. One is the teachers child and the two others mothers' are artists there. And I'm not the only one to complain, so why aren't women banging down their doors is beyond me.
Oh and we have the western compounds as well. They have the bikini women and discos on some of them. But there is also Muslim compounds, where alot of expat Arab families live and even Saudi families. Its good, your kids can ride bikes freely w/out being hit by a car, there are swimming pools, gyms, buses for them women, transportation for schools and convenience markets either on the compound or near by who deliver. The problem for our family is that the house needs to be very big, a three bdrm townhouse won't cut it for us.
my husband might be joining Qatar Petroleum soon. We'd like to send our daughter to a school like you send your son because we would like her to acquire Arabic. For your info, we only speak English and Malay to our daughter. Do you think it's possible? are they a lot of kindergarten schools like your son's school? thnak you..
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