Ah, okay, it makes sense now. I used to teach in Qatar and experienced the same thing.
We've [STRIKE]gotta[/STRIKE] got to be careful in the Gulf countries [STRIKE]cuz[/STRIKE] because it's the culture there that the men and women like to be segregated or sit separately and don't mingle - it's an understood norm so we can't force the opposite. Even amongst the children, it's common that boys and girls sit separately [STRIKE]cuz[/STRIKE] because that's what they are taught at a young age. I say don't worry about it - even if they don't [STRIKE]wanna[/STRIKE] want to work together, just go with it and keep them separate. As long as they are learning, that's the main thing. You can still do group tasks with girls and boys separately so it's not really an issue. ;-)