ELC (283)

Having got the highest number of activities and workshops in the AY-2021-2022 among all colleges of Oman, the English Society Team has initiated its activities by organizing an opening ceremony on October 11, 2022 in the ELC lobby area. The ceremony started by presenting a short video of the previous achievements.

Later on, Dr. Abdulsalam, the HOC of ELC, welcomed the students and teachers by applauding the Students’ Activities Committee and the English Society members. After that, Mr. Abdulkarim, the head of the Peer Tutoring Program, addressed the audience. Ms. Adeebah and Mr. Abdulkarim showcased their flair for music along with Ms. Yumna, who solved a rubric puzzle within two minutes.

At the end of the ceremony, all those teachers who contributed to the students' activities were awarded, along with those students who won in different competitions in the last academic year.

Good oratory skills can help people connect and inspire each other. In order to engage students in more speaking activities, the English Society team started the Speaking Café on October 11, which is a productive activity for all students to practice and enhance their speaking skills in a stress-free environment. Dr. Mohsen, the committee's chairperson, began by greeting all students and teachers. Later, Dr. Abdulsalam addressed the students and motivated them to work toeards enhancing their speaking skills. He also created a fun activity for students on the spot. Overall, the session was full of joy and students found it extremely effective. Many of them got a chance to speak in front of a large number of students for the first time. Thanks to Ms. Adeebah, Samah, Abdulkarim, and Maitha for their active contributions.

A discussion is an interaction focusing on exchanging ideas about a topic and presenting points of view and opinions. In the GFP, we do similar activities in different forms. However, those activities are not enough to make students fully engaged in challenging topics. In this regard, the Students’ Activities Committee organized its first free-discussion activity on October 18,2022. More than 30 students and 7 teachers participated. At the beginning, the head of the committee explained the instructions to all, and shared 10 topics with students to choose one for discussion. The majority of students voted for the following topic: ‘Studying a major that you are interested in or choosing a major that is in demand in the job market?’ Students were divided into two groups (for and against). The most common vocabulary, mistakes, and phrases were notified to students at the end of the activity. Since the activity was a grand success, students demanded to have more series in the upcoming days.

Serving the community is the dictum of English society in various forms. The school visit is a part of the action plan for the Students’ Activities Committee in the ELC. The prominent members of the English Society paid a visit to Al Ghalia School on October 13, 2022. The best feedback ever received from school administration for the activities that the team members did, during their visit for students in grades 10, 11, and 12. During the visit, Dr. Mohsen spoke about the importance of learning English, personality, and interpersonal skills to students by engaging them in QA. He also explained the importance of teachers’ attitudes and methodologies in motivating students to some teachers who attended the session from other schools.

Later on, the second lead of the committee, Ms. Adeebah, gave a productive presentation on using technology and games in learning English. Mr. Mataz, and Ms. Maitha, the vice presidents of English society, represented their views on life at the college or university level to students. They demonstrated a professional gesture with their presentations. One of the alumni of the Al Ghalia school shared his views on the keys to success. Mr. Abdulkarim, the head of peer tutoring, impressed all the audience with his articulate and motivational speech on top learning skills. At the end, a small competition was conducted by the English society members for the participants. Three winners were awarded on behalf of the ELC. The English Society received two more invitations from other schools at the end of ceremony.

The stuggles of students while learning, has caught the attention of the pschologists and the teachers across the world . The scientific studies and the results in this area have helped both teachers and students to enhance their teaching and learning proces. Roy Andersen gave a 20 minute introduction in his webinar ”The Art of Sensitivity in Awareness” on October 11, 2022 at UTAS-Ibri . The short talk briefly discussed how the brain of a student struggles to learn, when their mind is disturbed by simple insecurities. He cited these simple insecurities as a major reason for all students to miss or misunderstand parts of a lesson and which largely explains the variation of understanding the teacher witnesses in any class. The speaker claims that this phenomena is largely unknown to educationalists and yet it is the major reason for a student struggling to learn.

Profile:

Roy Andersen is a recognized global educational expert is much appraised for his many years of scientific research into what intelligence is, how to improve the operation of the school and how teachers can teach better. His eight books are referred by the professors of education around the world and are some of the best books written about school, society and learning. His latest book “Intelligence: The Great Lie” will be published in Kindle in October 22.

The books authored by Roy Anderson:

Using literature in language teaching has been considered a common approach to encourage literacy skills. It includes various genres like prose, poetry folk chants and folktales to engage learners in meaningful and productive ways. Stories, in general, and folktales, in particular, bring a holistic approach to foreign language teaching and learning. Through folktales, learners acquire more than just language knowledge and usage and have opportunities to hear and use language in formal and informal contexts.

On 13 September, 2022 Ms Nasiyba Al Ghafri and Ms Maha Al Darei shared an interesting presentation at UTAS-Ibri, using Omani folktales as a teaching technique that can be used effectively in EFL classrooms. The presenters selected folktales as they were simple, relatable and easy to understand. Another objective of this presentation was to encourage the teachers to preserve Omani literature along with the learning process. This presentation provided audience with the Omani version of the Cinderella story using innovative teaching tips. 

Presenter's Profile

Maha Al Darei is an EFL lecturer at UTAS- Ibri. She is Sultan Qaboos University graduate with CELTA. She is a dedicated lecturer offering nine years of comprehensive experience teaching and assisting students with academic needs. She is interested in using multiple types of technology to facilitate and enhance learning. 

Co-presenter's Profile

Nasiyba Al Ghafri is an EFL lecturer at UTAS – Ibri. She holds a bachelor's from Sultan Qaboos University and has three years of experience in teaching English using CELTA.

The English Language Centre scripted history when ELC Research Team won MOHERI Funded URG Research Projectunder Block Funding Program in this academic year 2021-2022.

The ELC Research Team, comprising of Student Researchers across various disciplines and ELC Faculty mentors brought accolades to ELC by winning this Research Project. It is true that this momentousoccasion had indeedturned out to be a matter of pride and joy for ELC as it is for the first time that ELC has won MOHERI Funded Research project in itshistory since its inception.

The ELC management ,under the headship  of Dr.Abdulsalam AL Manthari , Head of the Centre, Dr.Maryam Al Ghafri ,HOSand Dr.Sultan Al Ghfari ,HOS  has always been  an embodiment of constant support and encouragement to ELC Staff in enhancing their Research Engagements .

In line with it, as part of encouraging, motivating and appreciating the immense efforts of student researchers and Faculty mentors of the Research Project ,the ELC management undertook a praiseworthy initiative to felicitate all the Researchers of the Research Project in a Felicitation Ceremony.All the Researchers were felicitated and were given certificate of Appreciation by the Heads of the Sections,Dr.Sultan  Al Ghafri and Dr.Maryam Al Ghafri

The Student Researchers of the Project are : IbtisamSaif Rashid AL Muqrushi( Student Team leader  ), Abdul azizSalimmohammed  Rashid AL Farsi, Amjad Mohammed Nasser Talib Al kalbani,SafaAwadhSulaiman Al-Kalbaniya and Tif Rashid Mohammed Nasser Al Shahoomi and the faculty mentors of the Project are  Dr.PriyaMankaraVijayan and Mr.DennisPrimneCorbita

The success story of the ELC Research Team in winning the MOHERI Funded research Project has indeed become a great source of inspiration to ELC staff .It infact has facilitated in enhancing the number of submissions of ELC Research Proposals for the next call for MOHERI proposals _2022,the involvement of more ELC staff members in varied ELC Research Proposals and in promoting the research culture of ELC.

According to Stephen Krashen, learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in language acquisition. A game is a good method that can achieve this objective. In this regard, the Students Activities Committee has initiated a Games Club after initiating Arts and Music Clubs on 24/05/2022.

The first games club was led by Ms. Samiya and Ms. Moza on 15/06/2022.
Students welcomed the club with active participation. Many lecturers from the ELC joined the games club with students in different fun competitions. After a grand success in the first games activity, the committee members conducted the second games club on22/06/2022.
Many students participated at different levels with so much enthusiasm. There were many gifts were given to all the attendees for their participation in the various games. The students were motivated and they asked for more activities in the coming academic year.