Algerian teachers gain skills, insights

Faculty from the University of Algiers attended workshops on language teaching pedagogy in the spring.

When she visited Philadelphia, Aziza Ait Abba made sure she took lots of pictures, including one of the desk in Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The English teacher was documenting her trip for her students in Algeria, where the United States’ fight for independence is a standard part of the history curriculum.

“Now I have evidence,” she said, beaming.

When her students ask her what the United States and Americans are like, she can now share her photos and she can speak from firsthand experience. For Ait Abba and 13 of her colleagues from the University of Algiers, the fiveweek teacher training program in March and April brought insights not only into a different culture and lifestyle, but also into a different classroom environment.

“I noticed how tolerant teachers are of different cultures,” she said. “They listen to each student’s opinion. They accept all ideas.” This was the kind of classroom she would like to reproduce in Algeria, she said.

The program, whose primary focus is on training teachers to teach business English, represents the second part of a three-year program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. In 2003, 13 senior faculty members from the University of Algiers participated.

Nine of this year’s participants were graduate students in applied linguistics and part-time teachers at the university. Next spring another group of teachers from other universities and from schools outside of Algiers will come to ELI.

“This year’s participants were really enthusiastic and really open to change,” said ELI director Dr. Scott Stevens.

Many, like Hishem Melaksou, who enjoys quoting philosophers on the necessity for change, were eager to observe modern teaching methods––such as writing portfolios and student-centered classrooms––which they had learned about in their applied linguistics courses.

Unlike the 2003 group, the majority of this year’s participants were already teaching business English, either at the University of Algiers or in private English schools.

“I teach business English, but I have never been trained to do it,” said Soumeya Guebbas. “Now I feel more confident because I have learned new methods.”

“This experience shows us the gap in our teacher training program,” said Meriem Lakrouf Fasla.

In order to fill that gap, participant Abdelhakim Ganiberdi remained in Newark an additional two and a half months to prepare a teacher training course in how to teach business English for English department faculty at the University of Algiers. It will be the first course of its type. “This is what is lacking in Algeria,” he said. “Training for teachers.”