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Noor · Joined: 06 May 2009 Posts: 152

Maybe some of you who understand the grant system can explain this. It's not clear from the article whether the grant will be spent on training Emirati or American teachers, or perhaps both. In either case, it seems funding for this kind of education could be put to better use in places less financially endowed.

US grant to help university to teach English

Daniel Bardsley
August 23. 2009 10:39PM UAE
The National

The US State Department has given the Dubai branch of an American university a grant to help advance its English-language teaching.

Michigan State University Dubai will spend the US$40,000 (Dh147,000) on training 24 teachers in the latest methods and technology used to teach English to non-native speakers. The teaching course will run in March next year at MSU�s facility in Dubai International Academic City.

Kaye Dunn, director of the MSU Dubai Academy, the English teaching arm of MSU Dubai that was awarded the grant, said it was vital to develop English-language teaching skills here.

�English-language teaching is a critical factor in improving the opportunities for students in the Middle East to enter higher education and to enjoy rewarding career choices,� she said.

Currently, poor English skills are proving a major barrier to many students hoping to study for a degree in the UAE. At the federal universities, most students must take additional English tuition before they can begin their courses, while some branch campuses of foreign universities have struggled to find students with good English skills to join their courses.

Ms Dunn said the MSU Academy had been set up to help non-native English speakers improve their language skills so they could take a degree course.

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 2:51 pm Post subject:

Um...pretty obvious that thery'e talking about teacher-training at the sub-tertiary level. To suggest otherwise would be insulting and I know that's not what you meant...

Besides, at last head-count there were other nationalities teaching in the Emirates other than nationals and 'Mericans!

NCTBA

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Ah... our tax dollars at work... Rolling Eyes

$40,000 is pitifully small to do anything... it sounds like something that a student cooked up in a grant-writing class... and got the stupid thing.

What a waste...

VS

Zoot · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 408

This is disgraceful no matter how much money is involved! Surely the money could have gone to a country in need, which the UAE is not one of. However, if the money is being used to offer non-UAE citizens an educational opportunity in one of the country's tertiary institutions, then it could be viewed as acceptable, particularly if the students are from poorer nations.

15yearsinQ8 · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 462 Location: kuwait

This is no doubt to encourage the communicative method of instruction showing Americans (native speakers) and American culture as likable and positive - IT IS being funding by the US Govt....
As a 9/11 terrorist came from the UAE, this seems another US Govt program to prevent terrorism.
Also, if it's similiar to US Govt funded projects elsewhere , it is targeted to local teachers (non-native speaking) who are already experienced, so it doesn't take alot of money here.

Zoot · Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 408

A 9/11 terrorist was an Emirati???!!!! I can't imagine that.

Or someone born in the UAE or studying in the UAE?

Noor · Joined: 06 May 2009 Posts: 152

Marwan al-Shehhi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marwan_al-Shehhi

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:48 pm Post subject:

I taught one of Marwan's cousins (one of thousands?). Quite a nice chap. He had invited me and my Tunisian buddy to his place in RAK. When I remarked upon the al-Shehhi last name and how I thought that I had recognized the face with one of the myriad folk I had taught in saudi, he divulged the connection (he didn't have to as he is an al-Shaibani). He said that the family was sickened by the act and being linked to it. I believe him. The report was that Marwan was, of course, religious...but not radicalized until he started hanging out with a new set of friends.

NCTBA

P.s.- Noor, thanks for providing the link rather than the whole flippin' article...

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I had probably a dozen or more of the al-Shihi branch from across the border in Musandum in my classes at SQU in Oman. They were all lovely students. I expect that they too were cousins...

VS

ckhl · Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 214 Location: SE Asia

of the al-Shihi branch [i]

VS....if may ask....without getting too blasted....
why do you insist on the spelling for this name? I do realize that the transiliteration of Arabic into Roman script is an inexact science at best. I must have taught hundreds of Al Shehhi in my years in the UAE. The spelling I"ve used here is the most common...on college/university registration forms and in the local press.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

For the obvious reason that that is how all the many al-Shihi that I taught spelled it. Apparently the Emirates chose one transliteration and Oman chose another.. or various branches of the tribe have chosen to spell it various ways.

Transliteration is pretty much a mess. It is the problem with so much of the transliteration being done by clerks with little language training in either language. I tend to prefer that we should use a consistent sound/symbol system... which I why I tend to write Muhammed rather than all the other variations. This is still problematic with the first vowel since both 'o' or 'u' can be misleading to English speakers. Same as I write Quran and not Koran... Ramadhan, not Ramadan. There was a constant problem with my real name. If a clerk somewhere did it, it was always wrong. It was only done correctly if I was there to tell then how to say it. English spelling infamously doesn't match its sounds.

But as to al-Shihi... Since both vowels are pronounced the same, they should both be an 'i' if following more common phonological rules. (or at least so it was pronounced in Oman) There is no logical reason for the first to be written as an 'e' and the second to be written as an 'i.' An Arabic speaker would have to tell me if this is a double 'h' sound in Arabic or a single letter. (like the second 'm' in Mohammed is a double consonant).

See... I didn't even blast you. Laughing

VS

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:02 am Post subject:

ckhl · Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 214 Location: SE Asia

Just a hunch...I could be wrong...what may add to the imperfections of transiliteration is different pronunciation, including occasional vowel shifts, of Arabic words according to the dialect spoken. In some parts of the UAE, for example, Majid is often pronounced and transiliterated as "Mayed". At least that's how a student once explained it to me.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Yes, ckhl... that is certainly also true. That is why you see both Gamil and Jamil for the same name. The first being Egyptian pronunciation and the second is most of the rest of the Arabic speakers. That is why on many maps you see a city called "Abu Zaby" rather than Abu Dhabi. I know that is how the Egyptians would pronounce it, but I don't recall my Emirati students ever saying it that way.

The vowels are the biggest problem though - just as they are in English. Laughing

But, Arabic has only a fraction of the vowel sounds that English has, so it would not be that difficult to standardize the transliteration. It is just that it has never been done internationally.

VS