Job Discussion Forums

[Geronimo]

Leading Emiratis are keen to preserve the ancient Nabati, or colloquial Bedouin dialect.
As part of that effort, a prize of no less than AED. 15,000,000 - over £2.8 million -
is on offer in the "Million's Poet" competition on Baynounah TV...
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-life/television/millions-poet-returns-with-48-poets-competing-for-dh15-million-prize

Could English language teachers tap into this process by seeking translations of these Nabati poems, perhaps?

Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi wrote in "The Huffington Post"...

"Today, much of the traditional culture of the UAE is better preserved in the rural areas of the country while the nation’s rapid urbanisation is creating realities on the ground that are too fast for us to deal with. For instance, the younger generations of the Shehhi tribe of Ras Al Khaimah, a proud and gracious people, started moving to Abu Dhabi three decades ago for work. Their language, a mixture of Arabian Gulf coastal dialect and classical Arabic, is seldom being transmitted to their children and is at risk of disappearing altogether when the older generation passes on..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sultan-sooud-alqassemi/emirati-culture_b_1006547.html

How does Al-Qassemi's concern that the Shehhi tribe's language will be lost- due to older generations failing to pass it onto the younger generation- sit alongside of Dr Gobert's view presented in the OP that:-
"The culture of oral storytelling presents a challenge to those attempting to encourage reading in the region.." ?
Is Dr Gobert underestimating the impact of urbanisation?

Are attitudes towards reading already changing across the region ?
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/education/shaikh-mohammed-lauds-progress-of-arab-reading-challenge

"...Emad Abu Eid, head of public libraries for Abu Dhabi City Municipality and symposium organiser, presented the findings of a survey he conducted on the public’s reading habits and attitudes toward libraries.
Mr Abu Eid said he was surprised by the high number of respondents who said the emirate could use more libraries. It has four public libraries within the city limits.
About 90 per cent said the city needs public libraries, said Mr Eid, adding that the municipality planned to open two this year. They planned to operate 20 libraries within the next 20 years.
The symposium celebrated the UAE’s Year of Reading, given libraries’ historical role “as one of the sustainable institutions that promote the culture of reading, not only for this year but for the future", Mr Eid said."
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/dubai-and-northern-emirates-school-libraries-to-get-dh1-million-makeover

Surely, there is now more scope for English language teachers to join forces with the more active local librarians to further this campaign for more extensive reading by their Arab students?
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/more-libraries-to-open-across-uae-in-2016

Geronimo

[secretsquirrel]

The author of the original article, Melanie Gobert, is not a real 'Doctor' as she claims, as her 'doctorate' is virtually worthless, coming from the much-disrespected and reviled University of Phoenix, where 'doctorates' are issued based on coursework.

How anybody can claim to be a PhD when they have not written a proper thesis is dubious to say say the least. To then insist on being addressed as 'Doctor' is equally revealing, but such bogus doctors are quite common at HCT. The fact that her 'research' is as fresh as last year's fish also speaks volumes for the intellectual capacity bestowed by an academic qualification awarded by Phoenix Uni.

[Dedicated]

Umm...are you sure? I believe Melanie, who was past President of TESOL Arabia, has a Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership from Exeter University, UK.

Exeter conduct a satellite course based in Dubai.

[Geronimo]

According to her zoominfo profile...

"Dr Gobert has a BA in English Composition from Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, an MA in Applied Linguistics/TESOL from the University of Leicester, UK, and an EdD from the University of Phoenix, USA. She has been teaching in the Persian Gulf since 1993. She is a 2009 recipient of an Emirates Foundation Grant for a study entitled "Enhancing National Identity Through Indigenous Literature". She was a finalist in the United Arab Emirates IT Challenge in 2004 for Best Teacher Project for the development of an online delivery platform for a course in teaching academic research and writing skills. She has presented and published widely in the Gulf region. Her interests include online learning, second language acquisition, reading, vocabulary acquisition, writing, and sociolinguistics..."
http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Melanie-Gobert/1586754291

As for the University of Phoenix, it leads the world
in the amount of money owed by its students...
"...University of Phoenix students owe more than $35,000,000,000 in student loan debt, the most of any US college..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Phoenix

Geronimo