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UD to host 24 foreign teachers 11:13 a.m., June 9, 2005--English-language teachers from Jordan and Morocco will arrive on the UD campus this summer as part of a U.S. Department of State initiative to spread democracy and the English language. Scott G. Stevens, director of the UD’s English Language Institute, said program is made possible with a $500,000 federal grant. The aim is to spread the use of English in Africa and the Middle East, to dispel stereotypes of Americans among the foreign teachers and to dispel stereotypes of Muslims among Americans. “Language is absolutely critical for the infrastructure of developing countries,” Stevens said. “Look around the world at the countries in Asia, Europe and South America, and you see those countries that are really growing are the countries that have made a major commitment to ensuring the next generation of their countries will be bilingual. They recognize that English is now the language of trade and commerce and, for that matter, science.” Fourteen Jordanian English teachers will come to campus on Tuesday, June 14, and 14 Moroccan English teachers will arrive on Saturday, July 9 for six-week programs that will include two-week visits with American families. “The home stay is so important because relatively negative stories abound about Americans,” Stevens said. He said the program also aims to dispel negative stereotypes Americans may hold about Muslims. The teachers will visit Dover, meet government officials and go sightseeing, and they also will participate in an English language program that will show them teaching methodology for language instructors. They will use their training to lead teacher training institutes in their home countries when they return. Curriculum reform in Jordan and Morocco is allowing teachers more autonomy in the classroom, so teachers will receive a box of about 50 texts to supplement their curriculum. “There’s a multiplier effect to this,” Stevens said. “The money is not just being spent on training 14 teachers from Jordan and 14 from Morocco; it’s training the trainers so they will go back to their own countries and share what they have learned.” Stevens said Jordan is in the midst of lowering the age for English instruction from sophomore year to elementary school in order to graduate more bilingual students. He said countries in the Middle East, Africa and South America are hiring English-speaking teachers from the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand to increase the number of citizens who speak English fluently. “This is not just a nice, touchy-feeling American experience kind of program,” he said. “This is really linked to these countries’ future as they are linking to the rest of the world and trying to entice investors and tourists to jump-start their economies. The goal of the Department of State is to reach countries in the Middle East and Africa that have been relatively isolated and expose them to democratization.” Article by Kathy Canavan To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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