Hear from a teacher in Qatar!

Hear from one of our teachers about her experience teaching in Qatar!

I am working as a primary school teacher in Doha, Qatar. As a primary teacher, I teach all subjects that I would have taught in the UK. The only subjects I do not teach are: PE, Music, Computing, Religious Education (Islamic out here) and Modern Foreign Languages (Arabic) as these subjects have specialist teachers.

I flew out from England, which was pretty hassle free, even with COVID-19 making things a little trickier. I just made sure  to research the UK and Qatar government’s websites as well as expat forums. This helped me with what documentation I needed and how to get through immigration more smoothly!

What 5 things do you recommend packing when teaching in qatar?

The 5 things I recommend packing when teaching in Qatar, are:

1. Anything that will make where you are going to be living a bit more honey. For me this included some picture frames and a little wooden plaque. All of which I had been gifted by friends, family and ex-colleagues. It makes a huge difference when you come home from a hard day to somewhere you feel comfortable.
2. Believe it or not… jumpers! It can get cold as you acclimatise, especially at silly times in the night! Everything is open much later here as it is so hot during the day, so it’s normal to stay up until the early hours.
3. Of course, clothes for work and a hat are culturally appropriate, but don’t forget some of your regular ‘going out’ clothes. There are so many places that you want to dress nice for and accept the standard ‘western’ attire. Plus, you want to be looking your best for all those snaps you will inevitably be showing off on your social media pages!
4. Slippers. These are a must. No doubt you will be living in the same place as the other new staff (there will be lots of you!) and you will make friends quickly. You will also get used to hanging out and doing nothing or just popping round for dinner. Hot countries are very dusty, and unless you want to be scrubbing your feet for hours, slippers will help when making little trips to your new neighbours.
5. An odd one, but extension cables! You will be surprised at how quickly you find you will need them, and they can be hard to find and expensive abroad. If you need travel adapters, it’s also much easier to have it on an extension lead than constantly swapping it between appliances!