Back In The Saddle Again

The first day back at work was extremely positive. The difference from past years, when conflicts poisoned the air, was tangible. It really is fortunate to have such a motivated, forward-looking staff to work with. Though I have to ask myself: is it simply people’s temperaments that are so sunny, or has the department reached a tipping point where positive people have taken over? It does comfort me to think that this is not just a twist of fate, but fashioned by conscious design. The staff meeting was extremely friendly, light and constructive. I received my final schedule, and the benefits far outweigh the drawback of slightly inconvenient (read afternoon) timings. For one thing, I teach all my Language Through Arts groups in the same classroom, which means we have quite a bit of say in arranging, and maybe even decorating, the room. Just what we need in a course like this. There are also vast cupboards for storing all the goodies we’ll need for the lessons…

And then the studies. Tonight the weight of the decision I made has finally dawned on me. Because I joined the class late, I hadn’t the time to read all my documentation thoroughly last week. As a warm-up to studying, I read the handbook this afternoon. The list of Recommended Reading is just daunting- and reading those books is not even enough: then you have to base original research on all that stuff! Not to mention the fact that many of the books are not available in Oman (or there are only single copies in the library), so we’re all more or less between a rock and a hard place: order the books from abroad, or risk not having read them. Another thing is that none of the books are really descriptive overviews: they all seem to be radically opposing points of view in some of the most heated debates in Applied Linguistics of our day. Placing things in perspective is one of the biggest challenges I’m facing. (It was all so daunting that I resorted to reading some of my old teaching diaries in pursuit of ideas for my assignment, which naturally swallowed an hour.) It won’t be easy. But I simply can’t resign myself to thinking that an overall pass grade will be enough. I really need to establish for myself what I am truly capable of in this international academic context I have flung myself into so willy-nilly… (how utterly un-academic of me!)