Devil’s Dictionary

See if you can guess my word.

From Cambridge Dictionary:
Someone who teaches at a college or university.

From Devil’s Dictionary:
One with his hand in your pocket, his tongue in your ear and his faith in your patience.

Good luck!

Saudi kids seeking thrills

Hello folks. This post was actually inspired by a comment made by Julia (one of my classmates from the online ICT course I'm taking) about the fact I wasn't wearing a helmet during my 4-wheeler adventure. After reading her comment, I just thought to myself "If she only knew."

If you think that was bad, take a look at this clip of what some of the kids here in Saudi Arabia do for fun. If you want to see more, just let me know.

About my work and hobbies

Presently, I am working as an EFL Instructor. My students are primarily beginners and their native language is Arabic. Although my degree isn’t in English/Education/Linguistics, I feel I have a natural ability to teach as I have a lot of patience with a generally dynamic skill set. It is my personal aim now however to incorporate technology into my lessons in effort to gauge student interest. I am presently taking a course in teaching languages with ICT to help in this effort.

Aside from teaching, in my spare time, I enjoy playing and watching sports like football (both American and European) and basketball. I also like reading (esp. things related to Educational Technology these days), watching films, improving my Arabic and trying almost anything new and adventurous. Some of the activities I would like to endeavor soon include scuba diving, rock climbing, skydiving and camping in the desert.

Here is a picture of me riding a 4-wheeler for the first time last year while I was in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

About my family and where I live

In total there are seven members in my family (including myself). There’s my father, mother, three sisters, one brother and me.

As far as where I live, as I mentioned in my last post, I’m presently located in Riyadh, the capitol of Saudi Arabia. Being the largest city in Saudi, it has a population of about 5 million and covers a distance close to 1500 sq. km. It is situated in the desert which causes for very hot summers (up towards 50 degrees Celsius) and cold winters. Dust storms are also very common. Again, I’m still new here, so I don’t really know all what the city has to offer. So far though, I know most major shop and restaurant chain are widespread.

You can find a picture of Riyadh in my photo diary (previous post), but here’s a map which shows where it is in relation to Saudi.

A little about me

Hello everyone! Welcome to my new blog, "MohammEdtech". I hope this can be a place for me to reflect on my experiences, as well as collaborate with others on the use of technology in education (something which I'm still fairly new to).

However, for this very first post, I will tell you a little about myself. My name is Mohammed Nour and I was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. My parents are actually of Ethiopian origin, but I grew up pretty much my entire life in the United States (between New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Idaho states).

I have a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and used to work as a Software Developer for Hewlett Packard Company (HP). I got into teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) a couple years back when I was studying Arabic in Egypt. I enjoyed my experience, so I decided to take it up as a profession.

Upon completion of my TESOL certification course, I got my first full time job last year with Jubail Industrial College in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. This year however, I am at King Saud University in the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. I actually just arrived so I don't have much to report yet about my experience, but so far so good.

I guess that’s me in a nutshell. If there’s anything else in particular you want to know, please leave a comment and I’ll be sure to get back to you. Thanks!

Here's a photo diary highlighting some of the most important places me: