Dover is located in El Sherouk City, and suburb of Cairo, Egypt. This means that Dover stands about 25 minutes from Naser City, 30 minutes from Heliopolis, and 30 minutes from Cairo International Airport. The school campus is built on 15,000 square meters of land in a residential area of El Sherouk and consists of an administration building, pre-kindergarten building, elementary building, middle school building, and high school building. Dover has a total of 42 individual classrooms, 4 art rooms, 3 science labs, 2 computer labs, 2 school libraries, and a cafeteria. All buildings are fully air-conditioned and have full access to wireless internet. Each individual classroom comes equipped with a desktop computer, projector, and SmartBoard. The Dover campus is surrounded by an iron fence and hedge, and is patrolled 24/7 by the school's private security force. There are 5-6 officers on site at the school all day long that are constantly patrolling the premises. The school also has a full-time doctor available on site everyday. I can use this doctor for any of my health needs, including things like flu shots.
I will begin my teaching career at the elementary level at Dover, which serves about 150 students total. The middle and high school buildings also have about 150 students each. According to the first year teacher I spoke with (also at the elementary level), she has about 15-17 students in her classes each period. The maximum number of classes I will teach each day is 5 out of 7. This is because the school provides full transportation to and from the school, and the busses only run on one schedule. What this means is that teachers are unable to come into work early or stay late. Most teachers use their free periods to do all their grading, and do their planning and preparation for the following days at home.
A regular school day runs from 7:30am-2:30pm. The busses pick up teachers from their individual place of residence, which means I will most likely be picked up at about 6:15am each day. An interesting difference to note is that a regular school week in Egypt runs Sunday-Thursday because Fridays are days of worship. Dover is very conscientious of the political climate in Egypt, and will either institute a late start/early out or cancel school if there is a protest happening. As for holidays, I'm in luck! Dover celebrates all Christian and Islamic holidays, which means I will have extensive time to travel both within and outside of Egypt during my year-long contract.
Teacher planning is less strenuous at Dover than what I'm currently experiencing now during my student teaching. Prestigious private schools like Dover are not subject to school boards or district policies. They are free to do what is best for the students, which results in significantly less "busywork" for teachers and administrators. The main reason parents send their children to these schools is to provide them with an American education to prepare them to enter an American university. This means that the coursework tends to be more rigorous than in the United States itself because these wealthy parents want their students to have the best teachers and preparation possible.
All of the students have their own textbooks and workbooks, and I will have a teacher copy for all of these. While the school does provide these resources, teachers have ample freedom as to the curriculum. The administration is exceedingly supportive of new ideas and innovations, which makes Dover the perfect place to start my teaching career! I will have support and resources at my disposal to experiment with my own teaching style. Both of the teachers I spoke with had wonderful things to say about their teaching experiences at the school, and I very much look forward to joining the faculty at Dover!
I've had a couple questions about the language proficiency I'll be encountering while living and working in Egypt. I'm happy to share that both the teachers I spoke with said that their students (even at the elementary level) speak better English than most adults in the U.S. and Canada! I will not be contending with English Language Learners by any means. This goes back to the idea that parents want their students to have a fully Americanized education, so there are no lags in the language at all.
Should I come across more information about teaching either at Dover specifically, or about teaching in Egypt in general, I'll be sure to come back and add things to this post. Overall, I have heard wonderful things about teaching at Dover from both the administration and current teachers there. I can't wait to start in August! :)
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