Post Babel generation

I wish I’d studied at an international school! (Instead I studied my whole curriculum at some French town’s school!) 

Substituting for a teacher at Jubail’s international school (Social studies and Physical Education, didn’t get carried away by that last one though, but it went ok!), I was amazed at the great international atmosphere! Kids from Malaysia, Iraq, USA, South Africa, France, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Canada, UK, Venezuela, Argentina, Pakistan, etc. just mix together and actually form a quite homogenous group, since all speak a perfect American English. The little ones or those who have just arrived struggle a bit with the language at the beginning, but within a couple of months they speak like natives. It’s so sweet to see how young children speak their mother language to their siblings, and then start and play in English with other kids.

Talking to some teenagers, some actually find it hard describing where they come from: “My parents are originally from India, I was born and raised in the US and I’ve been in Jubail 3 years”. Some kids were even born in Saudi Arabia, but it doesn’t make them feel Saudi. It must be kind of difficult not to have clear roots, not to have just one place to go back to, but half a dozen!

There’s a very nice atmosphere at the school, most of the kids are generally nice, polite and well-behaved. Following the American school culture, they usually have good relationships to their teachers. As the school is relatively small and goes from pre-reception to 10^th grade, you can notice a great atmosphere of cooperation between the older and the younger students. There’s also community service once a week, during which the students help doing stuff for the school, either some cleaning, material preparation for the kids, or even tutoring, which I think helps creating a mentality of community within the school. 

They might actually not learn as much academic stuff as in other places, but jeez they learn things that can’t be learnt in books!


P.S.: We're driving to Oman tomorrow, we'll be discovering the country during a week. I'll be posting a travel note on our return. Have a good week-end everyone!