So for once this country and our school have done something that somewhat resembles organization and planning. On November 12 we received official notification that school will be closed for three days after our November Eid holiday. This makes me a big loser in both our potluck pool and the bus pool. (I'll be checking into a gambling rehab facility for the break...)
Now according to the Ministry officials here in Egypt, they're not actually closing our school. Instead, they mention in the newspaper, "e-learning may be the answer." [yes, but WHAT is the question???] So our students may not come to school but we will still teach them via computers.
I was trained a few weeks back on a virtual classroom program, so that I could train other teachers. In typical fashion, the virtual classroom hasn't worked on another computer since this night of training!
We will send student work packages home, go to work every day, and hope against all hope that this only lasts 3 days. The rumours are strong, however, that the government will say "you should stay closed, because there's only 12 days until your Christmas vacation." We should start again on January 10, but we also think the goverment might say "public schools in Egypt are on holidays at the end of January - no school for you." For now, 3 days to clean my classroom and time to run on the treadmill in the school gym.
Stay tuned!
Wow - are students supposed to send in work via the computer as well (if the virtual classroom stuff works)?
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