Posts Tagged ‘eduaction’
In response to a recent short article published today, I wrote the following. I would appreciate your comments about that and what you personally think regarding this subject.
There is a recent stereotype that I keep hearing these days in the UAE context that learning English will definitely lead to acquiring knowledge and skills needed for the workplace. As a teacher of ‘English’, I don’t really think so. A fact that I may argue about here is that many learners in UAE and the Arab world, are not fluent in their ‘native’ language, Arabic. You go to any school or approach a teenager in the street and ask him to say or explain the structure of a single Arabic sentence and you will be astonished with the result..
Moving to other very basic subjects will not make any big difference that what I mentioned before. I personally think it is not a language issue on the first place. I should also convey a personal and a crucial concern regarding the recent obsession with certifications and assessment in this same context where students are requested to sit for language, ICT, or other proficiency tests (i.e. IELTS, TOEFL, CEPA, IC3, SAT, etc..) The fact is that these new requirements are turning our institutions and organizations into entities that are completely structured as exam-oriented without providing a ‘friendly’ environment for ‘experiencing learning’ before we call it ‘learning’. In other words, we need to help our learners be involved in real-life situations before we expect them to ’study’ or ‘learn’.
In conclusion, we should not pin-point a single factor, (e.g. the teacher, curriculum, textbooks, a certain methodology, or a benchmark exam). Rather, we need to provide a practical, goal-oriented, motivating, and early-structured educational system that involves its counterparts from KG-12 in a ‘consistent’ educational philosophy. This vision or philosophy should be made clear to everybody involved. It should also consider all its partners as very important factors including those poor teachers who struggle with students. Maintaining loyalty, sense of belonging from learners and teachers, dedication, and stability to the educational system would evolve more talents and achievements. A final word is to keep a single vision, even if it is not completely ‘perfect’, keep it, review it, plan it ahead, pilot it, repilot and reassess it and maintain it before you keep it out of service to guarantee long-term stability and durability that lead to development.
