Oman - Fatma
I
am an Omani teacher and I teach English to young children ages (6-9) years old.
I took my teaching diploma over two years in a Teacher Training College after
which I started my first teaching job in 1993.
The education system
in Oman has been undergoing dramatic changes over the past four years. A new
education system has been established which is the Basic Education System in
which, amongst other things, children learn English from first year (6 years of
age). Prior to the new system the youngest age at which English was taught was
9 years of age. I am fortunate to be involved in these changes as I am now
teaching at one of the new Basic Education schools.
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These
reforms have been a large undertaking for the Ministry of Education which had
to train teachers all over the country to enable them to work with young
learners. This was made even more challenging due to the fact that the
principles behind the new English curriculum are very much founded on
communicative teaching methodology. This constituted a large shift from the
previous principles followed which were very traditional.
In
addition to the training programme for the teachers, a new course book was
designed and some very useful materials, such as visual aids, prepared to help the
teachers to make learning English as enjoyable as possible.
In this new course children learn English
through a variety of activities such as songs, games, stories and acting. On
top of this there are many activities which take advantage of the children's
natural instincts. Therefore it is not unusual to walk into an English lesson
these days and see children cutting, building or pasting. This certainly makes
their learning meaningful and generally provides a genuine purpose for the
young children. Of course there were initial reservations from all quarters, as
there often is when change is involved but I think it is safe to say most
teachers and parents are satisfied with these new changes.
Being an English teacher is a great thing in
Oman because it means that you know two languages and most people hold great
respect for this; they feel that they can depend on you. Also it provides more
chances to meet native speakers and to keep in touch with the changes in the
educational world through the courses arranged by the Ministry and of course
through being able to read educational literature which is usually in English.
However, teaching English as a foreign
language is a hard job since it is completely different from the learners first
language, which means we have to work hard to support their learning and to
motivate them to learn and keep on learning. It should be remembered that we
have to help the children learn a new script and to write in a new direction as
well as all the other aspects usually found on the curriculum.
Finally, the future has great potential for
our nation as more and more schools adopt the new system and the Ministry of
Education adopts progressive ideas.
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