Teach Middle East Magazine September 2014 Issue 1 Vol. 2 | Page 31

Featured Teacher
Jane: We would invite persons who are
interested to come with us to the beach
to see how we do it. After observing
they can talk it through with us and
then if we are doing the trainings, they
can learn more about it.
Katie: It would help to make it as cross
curricular as possible. If it fits with a
certain topic that a school is doing
with a particular year group, it would
be really good to link it to the local
environment. So if they do not wish to
use the beach, they can use the desert.
Basically, whatever you are teaching in
literacy, if you base your literacy work
on a story, using a project like this can
enhance the activities at the beach/
desert. So if you are doing a story on
the rainbow fish, then your activities
could be dramatizing a part of the story,
creating nets for the fish, using puppets
to inspire them in different ways. You
take them out of the classroom to the
outdoor setting where they can be
creative and apply their skills.
Jane: We told you about literacy.
We also did an art project and some
Mathematics activities at our desert
school. It is just another venue to learn
in. Those children who do not like to sit
with a book enjoyed these activities.
They were interested, motivated and
engaged.
Do you
projects?

have

any

upcoming

Katie: We are just looking at the Arabic
department in our school with the way
that they teach letters to natives and
non-native learners. We are going to
look at using the same style that the
English curriculum encourages with
using review, teach, practice and apply.
We are going to explore how it’s linked,
so that we can set up a peer buddy
system with the Arabic department, the
school and the Western teachers so
that its successfully integrated.
There are many ways of stimulating the
learning process in students. A change
of environment has certainly proven
to be useful in facilitating creativity,
student engagement and improving
the social skills of the students who
participated. Both teachers are very
enthusiastic about the progress that
their classes have made in the desert
schools. With educators like Katie and
Jane, Al Muna Primary School will
continue to shine.

Class Time

September 2014

29