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I'm a student there and believe me, you won't like it.
You will NOT be able to control the students, plus the administration is ........
Your life, your choice.

Edit: I don't recommend working for them, but if you decided to do so anyway, Alhasa is a lot better than Abqaiq.
Good luck, gentleman.

Hi Zanoo,

Did you accept the offer? I have also been offered a position with them and have been looking for information on the internet but there arent any teacher reports. If you decided to accept,
1. How are you finding the school? ( admin, students)
2. How is the area you living in and where?
3. Which area are you in?

Thank you for your help.

Salam Zanoo,

Did you eventually decide to go to Saudi Arabia and teach in Al-Ahsa? I have been offered a similar role with NITI but teaching maths.

Don't go it's the worst job I ever had in my life. All the teachers there hate it.

NITI is a fancy building  that seems to be a babysitting institution. If you're unfamiliar with this kind of situation you may be there a month have had enough and spend any money you made on your plane ticket home. You should request to speak with three Western teachers there right now , before you even consider the insanity of this and before making up your mind on anything. Many many people come over here regret it quickly and leave as quickly as they came. This sounds like one of those kind of positions. Serious caution advised before jumping on a plane for this one.

Hi, Im looking for my friend who works in that company his name is Brian from Canada.... does anyone can tell me if he is ok? im so worried about him...your quick response will be much appreciated please...

If it's the guy who cycles all the time. Yes he was there when I was there. He is just fine.

yes he is the one..so u dont work there anymore? i have not talk to him for 1 week now i wonder whats wrong with him..im a lil bit worried about him..his whats app is not working at all..do u have any idea about the whats app out there?

hello im brinda udaya kumar i interested to teaching student and staffs

Wa alaikum us salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.  It all boils down to why you are here.  If you are here for the you will bounce around from place to looking for the ideal western workplace in saudi and find the money doesn't match up with the workload.  Tbh, most of the people on these types of forums (not necessarily this one calm down) will lambast Saudi because of preconceived notions they have.  They feel constricted due the vices they may have taking granted while indulging in them in the West.  I would say yes, you need to know how to manage your class more here. However, that's at pretty much any institution in the kingdom.  However, your students will usually respect you if you respect them. Especially if you're a Muslim and take your religion seriously.  If they upset you, then they usually apologize do your research based upon people who similar goals and interests.  If you came here because the reason I came for, then you may want to ask a different demographic. Btw, many companies over do have totally different practices then in the West so do your research on the benefits packages and pay frequency.  In all, have an open and ask yourself, what are you really here for.

You are correct. It is very different to the west and many people can't handle that. But in this particular job, the company that hires the teachers is also terrible. So not only is the teaching very hard, International Institute for Languages (IIL) treat their staff like they are total dirt and hire and fire them at will. This makes this assignment doubly bad.

Contracts are not honoured, money is deducted from pay packets and zero respect for the wellbeing of employees is given. Because of this it was the worst job I have ever had by far. If we had been better treated by IIL I think teachers would have complained less and stayed longer.

NITI went through well over 200 teachers in two and a half years. About 1 in 5 teachers lasted a full year. Maybe less. I think that says more about the job than the teachers themselves.

As you said people do need to do their research . I wish I had done mine.

Hi,

I am Bahrain at the moment currently processing my Visa and I will be starting soon. Because I am already here I am going to try my best to stick it out. Is it really that terrible? Do you have any advice on how I can get through the nine months? I am assuming they pay the stated amount in the contract and on time. That is really important obviously...

Many people are saying the students are one of the biggest problems and the administration. Could you please elaborate on that?

Thanks a lot,

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

I have heard the contract is now nine months. So you should be Ok. Before it was a 12 month contract which would turn out to be nine or ten months. People were pushed out early to save the company money when there was a dip in student numbers. Your nine months should be safe.

I have also heard the organisation is a little better. IIL are still a bunch of thieves and liars however.  As you are there and waiting, I would say give it a go. It's a wage worth taking and maybe it has improved.

Hi Daniel,

How did you get on?

Are you still there??

This place is run like a prison, I’m not exaggerating. A bell goes before the class start time, and students have two minutes to get to class, or they are locked out and marked absent. Teachers have to confiscate their phones and lock them away in a cabinet at the front of the class.

Teachers then have to follow an exact lesson plan and not deviate from it, and will get in trouble if they forget to ask concept checking questions. The students meanwhile, will often be talking, playing on their Ipads and ignoring you. You will do your best to get them to listen and engage with the lesson, but of course you are to blame, not the students, for poor student behavior.

The best part is, every lesson is filmed and constantly watched on camera, by a ‘coordinator’ whose job it is to watch you until you do something wrong or they can find something to penalize you with, such as playing games on the Ipads they are provided with.

In my first week I was assigned to ‘co teach’ with other teachers. As soon as the lesson started, I was told to ‘teach the lesson’ without having seen the material to teach! So I sort of taught something on the spot from the book. These teachers then had the audacity to report to management that I was ‘refusing to teach’. I told them that there was something called ‘lesson planning’ which most teachers do. I was then told ‘What do you need to plan for’?

I was terminated after two weeks, without reason, before I’d had chance to get used to the system.
This was early 2019, and judging from other posts, has been this way for a while.

Oh WOW! Sounds like it's got even worse.  Filming your classes?? That is unreal. I know it was a nightmare while I was there and many people ran off in the night after every pay day. But it sounds like it's got even worse. They will never learn.

This is unfortunately, as I have realise now having worked in a number of different places in Saudi , the Saudi way. The teachers are always to blame.  In their mind a good teacher should be able to control the Saudi students.

In my experience very few teachers are able to. And those that really try to control the students properly get fired because the students complain about them anyway.

You are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If you don't discipline the students and management notice, you get disciplined or fired. If you discipline the students properly, they will complain and you get disciplined or fired. It's a tough gig.

You are literally walking a tightrope between keeping the management happy and keeping the students happy. However, NITI was the worst I worked at for lack of support for the teachers. Everyone felt under constant threat of having written warnings or being fired. It was horrible.

Are ILL still running the show? Are they still complete bastards?