What I have been doing since my last post

I have not blogged recently as the ELI turned to be a big responsibility, but I have managed to do the following, besides running the ELI;
1. Carried a project with my first year Architecture students called ‘Our New Sudan'. They started a wiki to show their work. Below is a video produced by one team:

2. Gave a presentation in eLearning Africa in Tanzania
3. Gave a presentation in TACON 20x20 TESOL Arabia
4. Gave a presentation in Marrakech 1st International ICT Conference
5. Participated in the International Forum on Women’s Leadership in Higher Education, at the Institute of Education in the University of London.
6. Publishing my Ph.D. with LAP Publishing

7. Interviewed by my friend Isabela Villas Boas for the NNEST Blog

At Last the ELI

Drafting, redrafting, presenting , representing and presenting again and again changing my tactics, strategies and defence every time I stand to give a presentation on the proposal for the establishment of the English Language Institute. This what I and my colleagues have been doing for the last 4 months. My final presentation was in front of the University Council and I was able to convince them at 11 o’clock p.m. Sunday the 12 of December 2010 for the establishment of the English Language Institute. The head of the council signed for establishment of the ELI next day and after 3 weeks I was appointed the first director of the ELI.
The mission of the ELI is:
*To teach extensive English language courses through a broad curriculum that provides an optimal learning environment, and equips U of K undergraduate and postgraduate students with the necessary knowledge and skills to excel in their academic, professional and social settings. ELI also fosters the learning of English language through various programs scheduled on demand to serve Sudanese community.”
Our vision is:
*To become one of the leading English language institutes at both national and international levels by placing quality as its most important goal in all activities and setting standards of excellence in innovative curricula design, teaching, professional development, and international academic cooperation.
We have several projects going on to help in establishment of the ELI. We are all very tired, overworked but very optimistic that the ELI will make change.

Overcoming the Odds: Successful English Language Teaching at University Level in Sub-Saharan Africa

"In most countries in SSA there is an increasing need for universities to be able to produce English speaking graduates. Governments need to recruit employees capable of communicating with other African and overseas governments, international organisations (particularly donor organisations) and foreign investors; while private companies require professionals able to negotiate with international business partners and foreign clients. However, in most non-Anglophone countries students continue to graduate with limited English language skills making it difficult for potential employers to recruit suitable workers and / or forcing them to spend time and money on providing additional language training"
The above was the introduction for the Hornby School workshop hosted by Nileen University from 6-11, November 2010 and organized by the British Council. As one of the trainers in the workshop I felt really lucky to be able meet and sit with teachers from 11 African countries. I think the success of the workshop was not in the quality of sessions but on the number of English language teachers coming from different parts of Africa. There were participants from Eritrea, Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Cameron, Mozambique, South Africa, and Somalia.

This aim of the Hornby School to dovetail the Time for Change conference by looking at practical techniques that teachers can apply to deal with these issues at classroom level in the short and mid-term. In the absence of effective prescribed curricula, the school will also look at what kind of English African students actually need – particularly in the areas of functional English and language skills which teachers tend to neglect – and how teachers can meet these needs.

Many Heads Together: The ICT workshop

One of the most successful workshop (according to the participants feedback) was run from 1-5 of August in the University of Khartoum. The workshop title was “ICT for ELT in the Horn of Africa: Options and Approaches”. The reason behind the success story of the workshop was the type of organization between the different partners and trainers of the workshop.
The organizers of the workshop were the British Council Khartoum, the University of Khartoum and Clarity Language Consultants Ltd, a language software producers based in Hong Kong with contributions from the Open University of Sudan (OUS) and Zain Sudan. The British Council was able to support participants from 14 different Sudanese University and the British Council in Addis Abba was able to support two participants from Ethiopian Universities. The University of Khartoum supported 10 of its teachers and provided the venue. The three main organizers worked very closely to organize all the logistics of running this hands-on workshop.
One of the main objectives for this workshop was to try d to shed light on the different options and approaches for the use of ICT for English language teaching. Traditionally Africa has lagged behind the rest of the world regarding the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in language teaching with inadequate ICT infrastructures, limited financial resources, large class sizes and relatively low ICT skills among teachers and students, commonly cited as the main reasons for this. However, this situation is gradually beginning to change. In Sudan, for example, ICT equipment is now widely available and, in Khartoum and in other major urban centres, mobile Internet is increasingly becoming available. At the same time, education ministries and universities are proving more willing to invest resources in ICT facilities for learning, and, while this tends to be more focused on science and technology subjects, there is a growing realisation that these can also be used for English language teaching.


The workshop aimed at raising the participants’ awareness of the role ICT can play in language teaching and related fields, such as professional development training, and to explore ways in which it can be used effectively within the contextual constraints teachers face in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is aimed primarily at tertiary level teachers of English / teacher trainers with a degree of ICT competence and an interest in seeing its use expanded within their university or institute.
The main topics of the workshop were:
• rationale for using ICT for ELT
• practical ideas for using ICT in lessons
• getting to know a new program
• common technical problems and how to overcome them
• overview of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) software available
• integrating ICT materials into a course of study using Moodle
• using social networking / wikis / blogs / newsgroups
• ICT as a tool for professional development
• Examples of e.Learning from Sudanese and Ethiopian Universities.

The training consisted of a combination of input sessions, discussions and practical activities. At the end of the week the participants were expected to prepare a set of materials and training plans so that they can cascade the information they have received during the workshop to their colleagues when they return back to their institute.
A factor also for the success of the workshop was the venue. The workshop was conducted in computer lab with a good lan and wireless internet connection. All participants had access to a computer and those with their laptops were able to connect through a wireless. Software needed for the training were installed in the computers. The connection was so excellent that a one hour presentation was delivered from Hong Kong.

2x250?

Is teaching two hours per-week of English language for a class of 250 students enough? This is a question we keep asking ourselves everyday when we go into our classes. This is our dilemma, students do need English language in their academic study and even when they graduate. But how can we teach them in such a limited time and how can we make these large classes learn English language. These are the challenges that face us everyday. But what is so positive about our teaching situation is that our students are really motivated to learn English.
I become so angry when I meet other teachers at the university who start accusing us for the poor level of our students. We inherit these students as false beginners from the general education system. I just wonder how did get a pass mark in the General Education Certificate . Limited time,large multilevel class, lack of resources these are all reasons that make it impossible for us to improve the situation of English language at U of K.

Stories from IATEFL

Last week I was in Oman presenting in the ELT conference at Sultan Qaboss University where I met a friend whom I met earlier at IATEFL Harrogate. After my presentation, I and my friend started chatting about the teaching of English language in Sudan in the past and how great we were. She went on and told me about a man whom she met by chance at IATEFL. She told me that the man visited ELSU at my university as it was renowned in the Middle East, and perhaps further afield, for the work the unit was doing in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). ELSU was established in the University of Khartoum with the help of the British Council at 1973. The man was called David Blackie. He told her that when he visited ELSU in the 70s he learned a lot about ESP as ELSU was the only centre in Africa and the middle-east specialization in ESP at the time. Due to the experience he learned in ELSU and seeing books produced in the department such "Scientific Writing" and "English for Science", and meeting John Swales who was head of ELSU at that time, he was able to write "English for Math". I was caught by the story as I was the head of the department that was built on the ashes of ELSU.
When I returned to Khartoum I was determined to use the story and memories of David Blackie in my presentation for the higher administration of the university to convince them to establish ELSU again but on a much bigger scale. I asked some of the teachers at the department to go book hunting and try to find all the books that were published by ELSU and especially David Blackie "English for Math". After searching in stores where all the old stuff of ELSU were stored, we succeeded in finding some books among which was "English for Math". I scanned the covers of the books and used these covers in my presentation. Yesterday I gave my presentation to top directors and the policy makers of the university. I used the memories of David Blackie and made them see how great ELSU was and how poor we are now. They were really moved and by the end of my meeting with them the decision was taken changeour department into a huge language centre. This is just the beginning, we have a long journey to go.
So this is why I like conferences.

Tessa Woodward's plenary speech

Today we had a great plenary speech in day 1 of IATEFL Harrogate by Tessa Woodward.Enjoy

Africa Networking at IATEFL Harrogate

"WOW a lot of Africans are in IATEFL this year" this is a sentence which I kept hearing yesterday and today in IATEFL. A lot of Africans are able to attend IATEFL this year because the British Council has done a great job of offering full sponsorships for so many teachers from Africa to attend the IATEFL conference this year. It was a great feeling to see teachers from different countries of Africa meeting , talking, sharing and networking. We even decided to start our own mailing list in Yahoo as a start, so it could be developed into a forum or a bigger association. I was given the job of starting the yahoo group which I started already and trying now to send invitations to my fellow teachers of mother Africa. It is a great feeling.

TKT

With the new director of the British Council, Richard Weyers more attention is being given to English language in Sudan. The British Council is running a three weeks course in the Teaching Knowledge Test offered by Cambridge University for tertiary level EL teachers.The course was orgainzed by Gray Ben, the English language advisor, at the British Council. The course will be located into two different venues at the same time to facilitate attendance of teachers. At the end of the course the teachers will take the TKT test. At the same time some local staff are being trained by David Watkins to become a future TKT trainers. As a member of the local staff being trained I feel really excited for an opportunity to learn something new. For two days we have been trained by David Watkins and we will continue to attend the course itself to observe professional trainers doing the training.
We are all hoping to see the TKT working well and we are hoping to have CELTA very soon in Sudan

The Time for Change conference

Time for Change: Developing English Language Teaching in Tertiary Level in Sudan' was the title of the conference held from the 1-3 of March by the British Council and the University of Khartoum. The conference was co-chaired by Mark Krzanowski from Westminster University and me from the University of Khartoum. The main themes of the conference were teacher training, assessment and use of technology in the classroom. In the first day of the conference I presented the plenary speech entitled 'Time for Change: Developing English Language Teaching in Tertiary Level in Sudan'. In the second day the plenary speech was presented by Mark Krzanowski entitled ' Current International Developments in English Language Teaching (ELT) and Implications for Tertiary Institutions in Sudan". We had presenters from different Sudanese universities and from Africa and UK. Also some publishers participated in the conference and we had presentations from Cambridge University Press, Macmillan and Garnet. On the third day of the conference the participants were divided into different groups as to open discussion so as to be able by the end of the day to draw the final recommendations of the conference to be presented to policy makers at universities and the Ministry oh Higher Educations. The conference was a success in the quality of the final recommendations. The conference was the first step in the road for change in the teaching of English Language at tertiary level in Sudan.

Doing wonders with students

Today while reading Hala Fawzi's blog I stumbled on an amazing post about two of her students participating in an international project entitled "what makes my country unique" The students produced the above amazing video about Sudan. I was so moved by their work and I remembered the famous saying of William Arthur Ward:

" The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires."

Professional Development

In our programme of in-service training we tried to meet the needs of the department and the teachers by designing training sessions that would fit for both needs. During the last few
days we were having one of these sessions. It is entitled "Innovative online tools for professional development." The session was designed to fit the following needs of the department:
1.To train English language teachers on online tools.
2.To raise the level of teachers performance by opening cultural contacts through their involvement in different ' communities of practice'.
3.To train teachers in introducing online tools and virtual environments as an alternative to the limited teaching hours.
And the following needs of the teachers;
1.To be able benefit from the advantages of web 2.0 tools in enhancing their teaching.
2.To develop professionally.
3.To be able to navigate the internet with more confidence and add their own content.
As the head of the department I was faced by two major issues. The first was to raise enough funding and find a location to hold the workshop in. After a lot of running around and writing letters, we were able to have the permission of the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences to use one off their computer labs free of charge and to raise enough funding for conducting the workshop.
We invited Hala Fawzi one of the very few online instructors in Sudan to carry on the training. With some extra spaces left we invited five teachers from other universities to attend with us the workshop. Hala Fawzi created a wiki as a platform for the workshop. The workshop continued for three days. The fourth and last day of the workshop we invited another instructor to talk about the University web classes and then I gave a short presentation on techniques of surfing the internet. A questionnaire was carried out to evaluate the workshop.
I feel very happy and satisfied now when I hear the teachers at the department talking about blogs and wikis, and some of them are now thinking of including some online tools in their teaching. So meeting their needs was the key for the success of the workshop. It is not just including technology that is important but training that is targeted to common goals.

Building Success

'Building Success' is the title of a post in my blog at TeachingEnglish. It was on the editor's choice blog for three weeks now.

So many new websites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every evening when I sit down to read my mail I become so much overwhelmed with amount of new websites opening every day, every hour, even every minute
Two of these free website are the Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English and the Cambridge English Language Teaching. Both websites contain very useful material for English language teachers.

The visit to Carlos Rosario Public Charter School

As I started recording my visit to the Sates so was Isabella one of the EFL Educators. She had done a great job of using VoiceThreat to describe our visit to Carlos Rosario Public Charter School.


I just wanted to add three extra points on her description of that visit. First as I attended one elementary class I noticed that the teacher was using 'learning stations' with different activities on listening, speaking, writing and reading. The teacher was timing the lesson so well that all the students passed on all the learning stations. Also one of the most important things I noticed on entering the classroom was a white board with the objectives of the lesson written very clearly. The teacher even asked one of the students to check if they had covered all the objectives of the lesson. One last thing was the slogan of the school 'Literacy is global ' written at the entrance of the school with drawings of students from different nationalities. For me the school seemed like all the world put together working in harmony, to achieve a common objective.

Asking Michelle Rhee

After meeting the Chancellor Michelle Rhee,we had an argument about is she right or wrong about saying she cares only for what goes inside the schools but outside is not her worry. On visiting her corner on the District of Columbia Public Schools website I found a place for questions and comments. I send her the following: "I was one of the EFL educators who met you on March, I was really touched by your dedication to solve the problems facing education. After the visit we had an argument about the possibility of separating the problems of education from other problems in society. how can you educate a child who is hungry,sick and frightened even if you have the best teachers in the class?"
To my suprise Next day I got the following answer from the Chancellor Michelle Rhee, she said " Though it’s challenging, it’s absolutely possible to do. We see it in classrooms and schools across this city. MR"
So I felt that she is really dedicated to her job she even took the time to answer my email, WOW.

Michelle Rhee, a woman of strength

We met Michelle Rhee, the Chancellor of Columbia School District in the first day of EFL Educators workshop.The first thing I noticed about her when she walked in the meeting room that she was a very strong woman. When she started talking about the schools at Washington DC she became a woman with a passion. She explained the system of education at US, what is difference between public schools and charter schools. We were informed by the Chancellor that Washington DC was considered a "high risk area" due to the high drop out from schools. She told us about her work in closing down schools which were not doing well and using the extra funds to increase the number of teachers in some schools. She told us that she is only concerned with fixing the schools and that she thinks if she can provide good teachers in good schools they will have better academic records. She said that every child have the right to be educated without regard to the color of skin. The following quotation I took from the official site of the District of Columbia Public Schools.

"Chancellor Michelle Rhee was appointed by Mayor Adrian Fenty June 12,
2007 She leads D.C. Public Schools, a district numbering 50,000
students and 144 schools.
In the Mayor’s search for a change agent for schools in the District,
experts in education recommended Ms. Rhee, who had already transformed
many urban public school systems through her work with The New Teacher
Project (TNTP). Results drive the Chancellor every day. Whether she is
developing effective measurements to track student achievement and
teacher quality; talking with principals and teachers in one-on-one
meetings; developing new measures to hold herself and staff accountable
for their roles in student achievement; traveling throughout the
community to engage parents and other stakeholders in our schools;
establishing partnerships with neighborhood organizations; meeting with
business leaders as she transforms a broken organizational structure into
one that works for students and families; or ensuring that needed
repairs are completed to create physical learning environments serve
students, Chancellor Rhee’s vision rests on results."

Sally Smith, a woman with a vision

During the EFL Educators workshop which I attended at the the United States we visited the Lab School. The school was stared in 1967 by Sally Smith a great women with a great vision. The school teaches children with learning disabilities through art. The school was amazing, I was not able to visit the senior part of the school because I chose to visit the primary section. All the children were working on activities, they were learning by doing not by listening. I was lucky to see an academic club about the Renaissance history, the children were wearing clothes from the Renaissance. They were soldiers from the crusades and their teacher was a queen from medieval times. The children were learning history by living it. It was so great to watch the activities going in the different classes. At the end of the visit we were taken to exhibit room were pictures of former students of the Lab School were shown. They are famous women and men in the different walks of life. Nothing is impossible.

Talking with my students

Today I had a very nice experience with my students. Today was my first lecture after my return from the States as I was introducing my self I asked them how long have they been studying English Languge. They started counting and it turned to be six years. So I told them you must know English well but it is a passive English because you are not practing it. So one of the students asked for permission to talk. He said in excellent English that they welcome me back and they are happy that I said they know English. They want to prove that they are good students and that they will work very hard to learn English. All the class was happy and they clapped for him. I was so much suprised and happy that they are so motivated and I think we will learn a lot togther.

2009 EFL Educators Workshop

I am always late in recording events in my blog but late is better than never. I have just returned from the United States after attending the 2009 EFL Educators Workshop organized by CIED at Georgetown University, Washington DC. The participants in group 1 were from Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Madagascar, Timor-Leste, Brazil, Nepal, Indonesia, Mexico, Rwanda, Ukraine, India, West bank, Yemen, and me from Sudan. The workshop started from the 17th till 23rd of March. We worked from 7 in the morning till 5 or 6 in the afternoon nonstop. On the weekend we were taken on a tour to see Washington DC and we were even taken to the National Theatre to attend a theatre production A Chorus Line. I was so much excited by the workshop and by meeting other EFL Educators from all different parts of the world. We were not just learning from the presentations or the field visits but we were learning from each other. I learned from my fellow educators about their countries and cultures. What was so amazing after all is that we were so different from each other but we were able to enjoy each other company in such an amazing way and I think this is because we were all English language educators. I felt that English language is really a global language. We now have our own social network at Ning.
The workshop was so much organized that I thought it was the not the first time but it was the first time. Every detail was taken care off even my early flight to New York to finish my exist visa. I think the success of the workshop was because all the staff at CIED were working as one team for the comfort and benefit of all the participants. When we were wondering about shopping we were directed to the right shops which were amazing especially Best Buy a huge supermarket for all electronic stuff.
I feel that it is my responsibility to start documenting down all what I learned and to share it with my fellow teachers in Sudan.