Job Discussion Forums

[Citizenkane]

[scot47]

Just wait until I retire in 2012 and then you kiddies can do what you want !

[veiledsentiments]

[Cleopatra]

When doing placement interviews for new students, I often ask the girls "So, why do you want to study at this college?" Very often they reply by saying "Because the courses are in English." Now, they may simply be saying this because they think it is something that will impress us (!) but they may also mean it. There is a huge prestige factor attached to studying in English, and the fact that the courses are hopelessly dumbed down to make up for the students still-low English abilities is of course never mentioned.

I've also found that many students - even those who claim to want to study in English - complain about having to do Foundation Year(s) and say they don't understand why they have to spend so much time studying English. Uh... maybe because you don't actually know English very well, at least not enough to read college books and follow lectures in it?

In reality though, as CK pointed out, students don't have to do much of either of the above, at least not in any meaningful sense. I too have had the experience of walking past classrooms only to hear Arabic being spoken by the teacher. Fine as far as I'm concerned, but it does show that the whole 'English medium' thing is, as our friend VS would say, really 'smoke and mirrors'.

[scot47]

It seems to be a peculiarity of the GCC States. Other states in the Arab World, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt provide tertiary and further education without making everyone pretend to do it in English.

Very odd.

[Mia Xanthi]

Who was it on here who referred to "the Great Training Robbery"? That's my favorite comment on all this.

[veiledsentiments]