Job Discussion Forums

[sheikher]

Parents fed up with business attitude of English language institutes

By SARAH ABDULLAH | ARAB NEWS
Published: Aug 18, 2010 00:12 Updated: Aug 18, 2010 00:12

JEDDAH: Parents who cannot afford to take their kids to the US, UK or other native English-speaking countries but are in search of an educative way for their children to spend the summer say they are frustrated with the lack of institutes offering real learning experiences.

�It has become well known that institutes and schools in the Kingdom claiming to teach English and other skills are purely a business, gaining students with empty promises, in turn taking the student�s money and leaving them the same way they entered: without the skills they were promised by the institute,� said Amal Badwulan, a Saudi mother of five.

�The director of the center blames the teacher who says that the children do not pay attention in class or study for tests when really the bottom line is that the institute has purchased a cheap English program from abroad, employed unqualified teachers and are just looking to make money.�

Other parents say they�ve been promised government-approved education certificates, job placement upon course completion and other perks, such as laptop computers and smart phones for signing up for a typical four-week or eight-week course. However, they say that they have recognized that all of these tactics are just marketing ploys to sell more courses.

�I wanted to enroll my 12-year-old daughter in a local institute and was told that upon completion of the eight-week course she would be eligible to go to the US or any European countries in the future to complete her higher-education studies because their certificate is internationally accredited,� said Rami Al-Johani, a father of three. But later he learned that the certificate wasn�t even recognized in the Kingdom.

The only school that responded to Arab News queries was ELS Learning Center in Jeddah whose director agreed that there are certainly many institutes around the Kingdom that focus on finances first and the student�s education second. �It�s wrong and that I don�t like it,� said the center�s Director Anthony Baker.

�I have had many arguments with schools and owners who do not understand that if you deliver a good quality education the money will come because once a parent sees that an institute or school cares about its students and takes the extra step to make sure they learn, those parents will tell others and keep bringing their kids back to the center,� he said.

Baker further said that he would also like to see the Kingdom�s English-language programs in its governmental and private schools become strong enough that institutes would not be needed.

According to Baker there are currently 36 different types of English-language institutes operating in the Kingdom.



http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article105192.ece

[stonecold]

the pay and benefits at these institutes are generally much less than at the universities etc, so i dont doubt the quality of teachers is less.

[RUBALKHALI]

Related to the quality of education....

On a recent CANADIAN radio programme, a Manitoba high school teacher explained why he thinks canadian schools are failing.

He says high school kids can't spell, can't write a paragraph and can't do simple mental math operations.

How does he know?

Too many kids dropping out of 1st yr uni....poor compositions or essays..more parents choosing alternative ways to improve their kids education..ie tutors, Sylvan or private schools.

Why is this?

Learning objectives too vague...student centered teaching(the teacher is a facilitator and learner)...no standardized testing.

How to improve?

Return to traditional teaching(teacher centered where the teacher is the expert)...focus on basics...specific learning objectives...standardized testing.

In many school districts in Canada there are NEW experimental schools where this kind of traditional teaching is practised...the WAIT LIST is in the thousands.

He said it was not because education budgets were cut, because of too many ESL students or because of class size.

[sheikher]

Hmmm. He must be the victim of the Manitoba high school system, or an English high school teacher promoting reform of his curriculum's grammar rules related to use of ellipsis and capital letters.

"programme": very retro, very Colonial!

[johnslat]

Dear RUBALKHALI,

I don't see why one can't have student-centered learning AND " focus on basics...specific learning objectives."
About "standardized testing, well, I'm not too fond of that. It promotes too much strictly" teaching to the test" (and a lot of the standardized tests I've seen are, to use a technical term, crap.)
Regards,
John

[veiledsentiments]

But here come the question then...

Do we want standards? If we don't test them, how do we know if the students had achieved them? Have you ever seen a test that more than 2-3 teachers agree on? (while the other ten declare it crap) So one of those ten does another version. The new version is considered great by the developer and two best friends... everyone else thinks it is crap. And on and on and on...

Like the Brits think the TOEFL is crap... the Americans think IELTS is crap... I think they are both crap. But no one seems to agree on how to improve them.

The problem with "student centered" learning is that way too often it seems to be interpreted as letting the student do finger painting instead of studying... letting them set the rules... how about the curriculum?

Every day I am glad I am retired. I loved teaching, but I hated testing.

VS

[tatsuo1]

Student-centered learning is no less tied to learning objectives or outcomes as teacher-centered learning.
As the OP stated, the teacher is a facilitator in a student-centered classroom BUT no less an expert in their field.
It is a common misperception that objective-based lessons are not taught in a student-centered classroom. The reality is that if a teacher creates lesson plans that require students to think critically and seek answers then it does not matter whether teacher-centered or student-centered.
But current research indicates that the mind will retain more information for a longer period of time if the student individually has an active role in finding answers to questions rather than asking the teacher for answers, at least in most cases.

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

People...you do realize that we're talking about critical thinking on an ME board, don"t you? The danger of mixing reality and fantasy can lead to severe and sudden firage...

NCTBA

[veiledsentiments]

That is likely the source of my interpretation of "student centered" classrooms.

VS

[Mia Xanthi]