Physics 208, khalas

Physics 208 and the final are over, which means I'm halfway through a year in Qatar now (that's too soon). In a month, team Physics will be meeting a new class of first-years, but all the same, I'm going to miss seeing the second-years on such a regular basis. Most of our job, day in and day out, is exactly as advertised -- teaching physics and grading homework -- but one of the best parts otherwise has been to get to know our students little by little as they've come into the office throughout the semester. By either nationality or residence, we've had students this semester who are from right here Qatar, in addition to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, India, Pakistan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, the USA, and more places I'm sure I've forgotten. And they have lots of stories, all told. It's been fun comparing notes on our 90s childhoods and video games and the high school years, sharing travel suggestions and visa horror stories, getting lessons in Arabic (my "2nd grade handwriting" notwithstanding), and, maybe just even exchanging a prank or two.

In the meantime, khalas. I fly to China on the 16th, and classes start up again on Jan 10.

Prelim week, take one

Just this week we gave the first physics prelim (midterm exam) of the semester, so the Turkey/Bulgaria retro-blogs have been on hold since we've been way busier than usual. Our office has been literally overflowing with students asking questions, and we've been mobbed by even more of them on our way to and from class. Plus, as per the usual pre-exam routine, we held a review session in addition to our regular class duties. Not to give the wrong idea -- I definitely enjoy helping anyone who comes asking (and it's part of the job anyway), but it's been almost as exhausting giving the exam as taking one ourselves.

Hopefully things calm down some, now that the test is over. Next up: grading them.

Breaking the ice

Yesterday was the first day of class for the premeds, and ever since, it feels like we've been nonstop busy throughout the day. This week, it was my turn to teach the recitations, for which there are three sections, all of them one right after another on Sundays.

We started all of the recitations by going around the room and asking for everyone to introduce themselves, partly so that we physics TAs could start to memorize their names. Most students here are either from Qatar or come from countries in the surrounding region, so the majority of them have Arabic names. In addition, there are quite a number of students who share the same given names. Now, having spent the last 22 years surrounded by people with predominantly Western names, it's takes somewhat more effort for me to accurately remember and pronounce our students' names -- over 50 total -- so the introductions exercise is especially important for me. (It doesn't help that there's no consistent transliteration between the Arabic and English alphabets.)

Anyway, during the first round of introductions, we made our way around the class of about 15-20 people. After we finished, I told them all with total honesty, "Ok, I apologize in advance, but I'm going to forget your names almost instantly. Please, just keep reminding me, and I'll get them eventually."

And one of the students said, only half-jokingly, "It's ok, if you're not sure, just say 'Mohammed,' and we'll all respond!" -- to much laughter from the class.



So it was my first day teaching, but I got a pretty good lesson as well in keeping a sense of humor.

Ramadan kareem, and the end of (dis?)orientation week

Classes begin on Sunday (Aug 23). And, as it so happens, Ramadan starts Saturday (Aug 22), which is technically now at the time of this posting. In Qatar, the traditional observance of fasting during daylight hours entails no eating or drinking from roughly 5am to 6pm. By law, that standard applies also to all non-Muslims, at least when we're in public.

From what we're told, this is actually the first time that the start of the school year has coincided with the start of Ramadan at WCMC-Q. This is going to be particularly demanding on the students. Students' classes are scheduled between 8am and 4pm, and then many of the Qatari students, when they break their fast at the end of the day, have family commitments which run late into the night. As a result, the vast majority will be working, learning, and studying through the day without food, drink, or much sleep, and it's going to be tough for them to start out the year this way. It'll be a challenging balancing act for the TAs as well, between being understanding and respectful of our students' situation and making sure they keep up with the class as it moves forward.

At the moment, though, the premeds have just finished their week of orientation. This means, aside from my getting enough free food to keep me fed for most of the week, that I also got to say hi to a lot of first-year students as well as a few second-years, and it's been great meeting them. As usual, I'm near hopeless when it comes to remembering (and pronouncing) everyone's names, but with a lot of repetition, I'm making really slow progress on that front. Actually, I won't initially be seeing much of the first-years, since the fall physics course (electricity & magnetism) is for the second-years. Overall, though, the students seem really bright and driven, and I'm definitely looking forward to teaching -- very soon.