JALT photo album 37
go to album 36

AKITA JALT meetings in 2005
picture album page 7 of 2005

November


The English education system has been undergoing dramatic changes over the years. It used to be based on grammar oriented, but now we put more emphasis on communicative approaches. The teachers use only English in the classroom. ..."







Guest speaker: Abdullah Abri
Date: November 12th, 2005
Title: English teaching in Oman
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Place: AIU (Akita International University)
Room: B-103
14 people attended the meeting.

Chapter Report (to be printed in The Language Teacher) Guest speaker: Abdullah Abri AKITA - November 2005 -English Education in Oman - by Abdullah al Abri. Oman is an independent Sultanate on the Arabian Peninsula, and Mr. Al Abri, a teacher in his native land, is now a graduate student at Akita University. He was kind enough to interrupt his busy schedule to give a presentation on the current state of English education in Oman and compare it with English education in Japan. His talk started with general background information on the Sultanate of Oman so that we would have the context. English education became a required subject in public schools in 1970. At that time many schools were still held in tents. In 1995 the system was revamped along modern linguistic lines, moving from the old fashioned teacher-centered classes, to the more modern, student centered, task-based lessons that are common today. One of the biggest differences in English education in Oman is the high-level of motivation that the students have. All higher education in Oman is conducted in English, especially, Science, Medicine and Economics, thus near fluency is a prerequisite for success in most fields of endeavor. Samples of the texts currently used in Oman were discussed. The Arabic language was also shown to be much closer to English, and thus less of an impediment than Japanese for the L2 students. To add to the Arabic flavor of the presentation Mr. al Abri provided succulent dates that came from his home in Oman. Also in attendance were Akita University students from Ghana and South Africa. A splendid time was had by all. Reported by Stephen Shucart

more pictures
go to picture page 8 of 2005 JALT photo album 38

go to pictures of the meetings in 2005
go to pictures of the meetings in 2004
go to pictures of the meetings in 2003
go to pictures of the meetings in 2002
go to pictures of the meetings in 2001
go to pictures of the past meetings (1998 - 2000)
Akita JALT

"GENKI" English education homepage by Takeshi Suzuki Read My Diary 4(from January 1, 2003) go back to "genki" homepage index