Job Discussion Forums

[marianthelibrarian]

Hello all,

I'm surprised not to have found any discussion of this on the board yet, and would be interested in hearing your opinions.

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090630/NATIONAL/706299846/1138

[wannago]

This sounds almost exactly like what the MAG program was designed to do when it started 2 years ago. By most accounts, it has been a failure (right Zoot?). The program itself was mostly a good idea but was undermined, stabbed in the back, shot itself in the foot, etc. before it ever even got off the ground. If you read the comments, especially from the math teacher toward the end of the article, you get the idea of what most teachers in those public schools are thinking...job security. The teachers in MAG schools thought the same thing and, from my experience, actively worked to undermine virtually everything that came along dealing with the English language.

All that aside, focusing on the high school years is not the answer. The kind of changes that are wanted are not achievable in 3 years. They need to start in the primary grades and follow through until the end. Grade 10 is just too late. It's like trying to put out the fire after the house has already burned down.

[marianthelibrarian]

Wannago,

I'm right with you on the starting too late front: one, the're already at the close of the critical period, and two, the three year window of opportunity seems pretty small. I didn't realise there was another program that had been attempted in the past.

Any idea whether anyone at ADEC actually talked to an acquisitionist before implementing this program?

[ap4058]

ADEC are working on two fronts, Primary/KG as well as GCSE +/K10-12. They are trying to employ a large number of expact/native english speaking teachers into the primary sector, as suggest above, working the system up, as with the 'burnt out years' they are trying to do something rather than nothing at all.

All this change will take time a good 5-10 years. From what I have picked up they can't wait that long and will expect results instanly!!!

[Zoot]

Linguist, I'm astounded that you haven't seen discussion on this board! To respond to wannago. MAG was headed up by people who hadn't any idea of what direction they needed to take and managed by people who wanted to pad their egos.

The mission of ADEC remains the same. They want bilingual students who can enter university without needing to spend years in the foundation programs or give up altogether.

I think that newspaper article should be read for what it actually is, advertising.

If this initiative is to succeed "the words of the principal" should be taken to heart, which is what makes me suspect they weren't her own. As well, there was little or no response from public sector education in that article. They were private schools.

Public schooling this year is going to see an influx of native speakers at the KG, Grades 1 & 2 levels and at high school level. ME teaching staff worked like crazy to derail the MAG program and I'm sure that has been happening across many of the UAE's education initiatives, but the ADEC seems to have upgraded its requirements and many have or are being removed because of a failure to upscale their IELTS levels.

Remember these PPPs have only been operating for 3 years. A lot of sorting out of issues needed to be done, but should have been carried out by knowledgeable people from the outset. Had that been the case, then the initiative would have been more successful earlier on.