Some of the most incredible things about teaching Saudi students is learning about their culture. I think it’s overlooked how much westerners don’t know about their culture and tradition. For example, in every class that I have taught over the past few years, each class had about 2-4 hafizes – a woman who has the whole Quran memorized by heart. They often are the best students in class and knowledgeable about the world. It makes my day when a student tells me how big her family is and when I ask her, how big (which often comes when I teach grammar 101). These students are like ‘I have 18-25 brothers and sisters!’ I am like WOW! You have no idea the conversations and questions that do come up during those lessons. Those are the most exciting lessons! Also, you can expect to find that at least 2 -3 of your students are the descendants of a 7th, 8th or 9th century scholar and they can trace their lineage all the way back. Now that’s some pretty cool stuff for any historian.
