I love technology!
I had a eureka moment today when I was about to send a Publisher file and thought I should 'lock' it in order to protect it. That took me back to about three years ago when I had to do the same thing and ended up calling my husband (the computer man aka Mr Yusuf) to the rescue. Publisher to PDF seemed a task only an expert could handle!
Today, thanks to Windows 2010 (I promise I'm not getting paid for this!), I was able to do it at the click of a button (literally) and more importantly, all alone - simply amazing! I love technology - never thought I'd hear myself say this!
And as always, the link of the day is a fun 10 minute animation on the history of English - interesting and informative - a must watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSRIKoDybvs&feature=related
Why is it that when a day's busy it always seems to fly by? I woke up for fajr at dawn, didn't sleep except for a nap after lunch; it's half past midnight now, and, it's the first time I get a moment to myself - a moment to write!
The highlight of today was a visit to Naseef House in the Balad. This is one of the oldest houses in Jeddah but what's particularly special about this one, is that King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the founder of the Kingdom, spent some time there. I'd visited the house a couple of times before, but today was, again, most special, because we got an exclusive guided tour by one of the heads of the Office of Jeddah's Heritage Mr Sami. I was with a friend of mine and a couple of other people. The tour was unforgettable! It began in Mr Sami's office where he showed us historical pictures of Jeddah and told us about its history and then, we walked around the balad and saw various important sites, including a 900 years old mosque and the original water cistern of the city! Finally, we made our way to the Naseef House to catch the Adhaan (call to prayer) from the roof where we heard over 100 callers calling Muslims to the Maghrib prayer all at the same time - absolutely priceless! (Below is a picture of the minaret of the 900 year-old mosque)
Last day of the week - what a great feeling! For those who're not in the Middle East, Wednesday is the West's Friday as our weekends are Thursday and Friday.
Today was unusually peaceful for a Wednesday. I'm not sure why but unlike in England when Friday would be the 'wind-down' day, meaning everyone was already thinking 'weekend' and would even leave work a little early at times, here Wednesday seems to be the day when it all comes to a head! As though issues brew for the entire week and blow on the last day before the weekend. And although I say that today was rather peaceful, something did actually happen as all the teachers were gathered in the school theatre and Ms Abeer made an announcement. It turned out that the Police of Islamic Affairs had been keeping an eye on our school for a few days this week and they took pictures of girls 'inappropriately' dressed and mixing with boys. Again, for those who don't know, in Saudi Arabia, the law states that women should wear an abaya when outdoors and free-mixing is forbidden. So clearly, some teenagers were breaking the law and this has now been recorded by the police with photographs. Now, what this means is that the school is in danger of being reprimanded as well as the teenagers involved in this. Some may disapprove of this legislation, but the point is that this is the law of the land so as residents here, we must abide by it.
Otherwise, nothing else was quite as dramatic! Good things happened too. 11th graders had their first Bake Sale to fundraise for the improvement of their Common Room. Ms Noha promised to double the figure so that was a great incentive for the girls.
9A have completed the design of their leaflet for their Campaign and spent some time in the G-Club doing this and that - hopefully we'll read about their activities in their own blogs...soon!
Lara and Sana have completed the questionnaires for the Anti-Bullying Campaign which should be launched next week. Leaflets are also on the way.
I think the Council girls are due an outing as they really deserve it after all their hard work. Their efforst are making such a difference around the school. Speaking of outing, I heard that grades 7-12 were going to Atallah (amusement park) next Monday - I think I migh just join them! It's been a while since I last went on a rollercoaster - that should be fun.
Well that's it for today - as promised let me tell you about the link of the day - Earthships. Earthships are a type of home which are 100% environmentally friendly and one of my dreams in life is to own one. I'd like you to browse through the site and watch videos showing you the different types that've been built so far. The material used to build them, the way they use and recycle energy and everything else about them is just amazing. Enjoy the journey... http://earthship.com/
Until next time, have a great weekend.
Well, it had to be done! Since I've been going on so much about it with my students, I had to walk the talk and give us all something to share - especially since I'm hoping loads of you will come on board. Well done to Farah Rashdan for being ahead of us all maashaa'Allaah! You never fail to surprise me - please make sure the surprises remain pleasant; I enjoy it so much more that way ;)
Today was constructive - discussing 'title writing' with grade 10 brought out some interesting pieces from the net. The students had to read through various online publications and collect 10 to 12 titles. We went through some of them and discussed whether they were 'dull' or 'interesting' and that was really funny at times. The objective was to recognise what made them effective and engaging to reader.
With grade 9, I had to go over the reasons we learn the way we do as I'm still facing (some - albeit few!) negative comments about the 'research' and 'peer correction' approaches. Most students are generally happy with it but understandably, in a region where learning is approached totally differently, these methods are not necessarily understood. But it's okay, I'm sure in time, they'll all recognise the positive effects they have on their overall learning skills and results.
Grade 9A are all fired up by their projects - and I must admit I am too! They've started a fundraising campaign 'Sponsor the education of a Gambian Orphan' which seems to be going great already. More on that as it develops.
Grade 9B are also excited about their project - a Poetry Jam to be performed in the school theatre in a few weeks. Again, more about this in later posts.
I'm going to try and post a link of random information on every entry/post ('post' is the correct Blogging term!) - today I came across this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1hqHo6lyUU&feature=share - please let me know what you think!!
Well until next time, take care and... don't forget to do your homework!
