Omani student offered teacher assistant post in Canada
MUSCAT — Tariq Hilal Al Barwani, who is currently in Canada continuing his
master’s degree programme in Computer Science, has been offered a job as a
teacher assistant (TA) at Acadia University, Nova Scotia. The offer was made
taking into consideration the excellent grades he scored during his first year
in the university.
A TA is one who assists a teacher or a professor in conducting a class or a
laboratory. In order to become a TA, one must score ‘A’ grade on a subject or
a GPA (grade point average) of at least 3.50 or above.
Tariq’s main responsibility is to help conduct a lab session in the university
as well as provide consultancy to the students in their Computer Science
subjects.
The lab is conducted twice a week and the students are from the US, the UK,
Denmark, Canada, China, Palestine, India, Russia, Lebanon and Pakistan. The
students get hand-on practice, theory and practical lessons on the programming
subjects using the latest visual aids and laptops using Windows XP and Linux
Operating System. Apart from being a TA for the university, Tariq is a
vice-president of the Arab Club in the university.
“Teaching is part of the methods I use to broaden my knowledge of information
technology. My teaching experience with Oman Training Institute while I was in
Oman during my vacation has boosted my ability to teach here in the
university. I am planning to use my Christmas break in December to teach Java
and C++ in Oman,” Tariq said.