Nasir Khalid Abbasi

KSAALT Yanbu Chapter conducts meaningful PD sessions on ELT

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Association of Language Teachers (KSAALT) – Yanbu Chapter in partnership with Royal Commission’s English Language Center at Yanbu (ELCY) conducted a seminar-workshop showcasing three meaningful presentations on languaging across KSA, implementation of extensive reading program, and technology integration in EFL classroom. The event was held on January 30, 2016 at the English Language Center-Yanbu, Yanbu Industrial College, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
The first presentation titled “Languaging, Assessing, and Researching across KSA: What Is the Burning at the Stake” was delivered by Dr. Othman Barnawi, the current KSAALT Yanbu Chapter Representative and at the same time the Manager of English Language Center-Yanbu. In his talk, he discussed the evolving policies, practices, trends, and future directions of English language education in Saudi Arabia. He also highlighted the issues of Englishization, internationalization, language commercialization and how they affect quality of instruction, competence of teachers and students, local culture, and social services and advocacies in the Kingdom.
In the second presentation, Mr. Nasir Abbasi and Mr. Malik Naseem Abbas talked on the implementation of Extensive Reading Project (ERP) at ELCY. They presented the ELCY’s ERP model designed for the existing setup, curriculum and assessment policies of the school, and the linguistic abilities and interests of the students. They shared samples of students’ ERP outputs, the students’ and teachers’ perceptions on the project through documented interviews, and the result of an ER survey conducted among Foundation Year students.
The last presentation was on technology integration in an EFL classroom by Mr. Joel Meniado. He presented different Web 2.0 tools, interactive learning platforms available online, and specific mobile applications that can be used as presentation, collaboration, and formative assessment tools in the classroom. He also demonstrated how to create and implement language learning activities using Quizlet, Padlet, Kahoot!, and Edmodo.
The seminar was well-attended by KSAALT members and supporters from different schools in Yanbu such as the Yanbu College of Applied Technology, Yanbu Technical Institute, Royal Commission High Schools, Yanbu University College, English Language Center-Yanbu (ELCY), and Yanbu Elite International School. The event concluded with awarding of certificates and lunch sponsored by the ELCY.