Weakness of English Language in Sudan:Our Friendly Clichés (s)

When will the time come when all the Clichés and trite words about the reasons of the deterioration(another cliche!)of English language in Sudan will end??
In an investigation(a Cliché?) about the reasons of weakness of English language,Alrayalam, a daily newspaper, listed the usual friendly:-) Clichés which we have been living with for more than 19 years. Teacher training, syllabi, number of students, the learning environment and the unclear pedagogical vision.Who listened/will listen and started/will start to act? NO ONE!! Let's beleive that the time will come soon, inshaa Allah!

British Council Sudan Workshop at Rotana

The British Council Sudan invited a great number of English language teachers and educators from all over Sudan to a workshop at Al-Salam Rotana Hotel in Khartoum. The workshop objective(s!) was to raise teachers' awareness of the availability of the learningenglish.com. The BC wants to know if the material found online do suits Sudanese context; whether schools or universities, parents(can)use it, and if any teacher has been using it with his students and for his own professional development. The workshop was a success! People discussed what can be used/not used, a questionnaire was distributed and the results were discussed immediately after the lunch break. That was amazing! Ustaz Taj was behind this, no wonder!! I commented on the short video about Second Life. I wrote before that I am not a SL'ifer, at least not in the near future. When the video was playing, I was busy watching teachers' faces and expressions, trying to figure if they are really getting what's this all about. Nothing! An old Prof, Jubara, told he doesn't agree with me on saying that SL is not for Sudan. When I asked him""do you know what is SL?" The answer was "No, not really." So, I found myself explaining about SL and trying to justify my point of view.
The food was GREAT. I met beautiful people whom I haven't been in touch for years. This is what is great about big events held by BC or the American Embassy. You grantee ALL will come!

Article: Teacher Training in Sudan

I felt sad many times, or was it too many times, whenever I needed to search for an issue concerning teacher training in Sudan, ELT in Sudan or English language in Sudan. Google used to, and still do, come out with hundreds of the words goggled, but in completely different fields: charity, teaching in Sudan, program , organization, UNCEF, NGO's and others.(You may want to check it out for yourself!)
Research in Sudan? I wrote about this topic elsewhere after my visit to Nigeria, where I was very impressed about their obsession of having their articles and research published . I felt so small when I was asked about English language newsletters and periodicals in Khartoum. I didn't dare to say, "I am sorry, but we do not have any!"
Today, I was more than happy to read an article : Teachers’ Training in Sudan, by Dr Ahmed Gasm Alseed, Associate Professor- Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Education-University of Gezira -SUDAN.
(Hi, Supervisor!) It gives a background about the topic for the one who needs to have an overall framework of the topic. I really dream of having a journal for each State in Sudan! I know the dream will come true after TESOL Sudan is born!

How do you teach English to such a large class?

Today, I took these shots for the two classes I teach. First Year Computer Science (100). First Year IT Diploma (300). Above all, I am the one who is supposed to design a syllabus for the courses I teach. I put the master copy at the computer center and ask(push/force) students to photocopy. I am totally exhausted, frustrated,depressed and feeling hopeless. The university doesn't want to pay for a syllabus. Correcting exam papers? Correcting assignments? Assessing students? Class control? All these do not compare to creating activities to engage them in class. I don't feel like writing more. I wish I can zoom in the photo to have only 20 students in class. How am I feeling today is leading me very fast towards quitting the job!:-(
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