English has emerged as the language of business and finance around the globe, as well as the language of the Internet or the World Wide Web. ?

Governments in many countries are encouraging teachers in grades K-12 and college preparatory classes to learn the latest instructional techniques for teaching English as a second language.

To help meet this demand, UD's English Language Institute (ELI) offers a number of programs and courses for students, business professionals and teachers of languages including English.

A number of teachers from Turkey and Egypt visited the ELI during the summer as part of a United States Aid In Development initiative designed to help governments overhaul the way English is taught in their respective countries.

"They are trying to encourage teachers to expand the emphasis on learning vocabulary to include classroom communication in the English language," Susan Coakley, ELI, said. "When they come to the ELI, they have the unique opportunity to learn some of the most modern methods for teaching languages, and they also get to use the great facilities we have here."

The methods include the use of computer facilities at UD, resources from other campus departments, such as education and linguistics, and content-based instruction, where students learn about a language by studying history, science or other academic disciplines.

Isil Islam, who teaches college preparatory classes in Ankara, saw the visit to America as an opportunity she could not pass up.

"In Turkey, teachers don't often have the opportunity to come to America and study," Islam said. "My first wish on coming to America was to see the difference between teaching English as a foreign language, which is what I do in Turkey, and teaching it as a second language, which is what they do here at UD." Malaka Fouad, who lives in Bahna, a city about 30 miles north of Cairo, noted that because of the intense competition among students for college scholarships, the Egyptian government is supporting the most modern methods in English instruction.

"Students have to start learning English at age 10, in the fourth grade," Fouad said. "Learning English and learning how to use a computer are required subjects in Egypt." Mostafa Elmakhzangy, who teaches at an experimental language school in Cairo for grades K-12, also wanted to learn the latest trends in methodology available at the ELI.

"I expected to see more methods here, and that's what I found," Elmakhzangy said. "At the ELI, we learned the whole language approach, including teaching through songs. This is an approach I plan to use in my classes." Coakley noted that when these teachers return to Egypt and Turkey, they will be giving workshops to both their colleagues and students.

"The benefits of what we do here go beyond the teachers who visit the ELI," Coakley said. "This is very rewarding to us. They want to lean how to use the modern methods they learn at the ElI when they get back home to their students in Egypt and Turkey. And, like teachers everywhere, they try to do their best with limited materials and not enough time."