In this far-reaching project, Ministries of Education in 8 countries in the Middle East region identified a common policy priority: the improvement of the teaching and learning of English. They asked the British Council to help them meet their objectives.

Clients, Stakeholders, Partners
The Ministries of Education in the following countries:

• Bahrain
• Saudi Arabia
• Kuwait
• Oman
• Yemen
• Qatar
• Iraq
• United Arab Emirates

Focus
Improving the standard of teaching and learning English throughout the Middle East region.

The project
In this far-reaching project, Ministries of Education in 8 countries in the Middle East region identified a common policy priority: the improvement of the teaching and learning of English. They asked the British Council to help them meet their objectives.

The British Council set up a team of project managers from each country, to take the project forward through discussions with local teachers and other stakeholders. After ensuring that needs were fully understood, and grouping them into different areas, a regional project was designed, focussing on Teacher and Learner Development. The project included research and networking components which would help to develop and sustain the project's activities.

The project focused on training provided by the British Council for teacher trainers currently working in the middle schools. It introduced new approaches to training, and the latest ideas on English Language Teaching methodology, including the use of new technologies in the classroom. The project enabled the trainers in each country to improve the courses they currently run for their teachers, and generally to develop professionally.

The project is ongoing. Currently the British Council has trained over 100 trainers in the region, who in turn have trained more than 1,000 middle school teachers, who now have new levels of awareness, skills and motivation. By the end of the project these numbers will have trebled. Additionally, each country now has an ELT Professionals' Network which is supported by the project, with over 100 members in each country.

What the stakeholders say

• "I managed during the course to refresh my English and (improve) professionally... I was infused with a great momentum to train my local colleagues and utilize all the activities that were used to run the workshop to deliver lessons and training both to my students and colleagues." Trainer from Yemen.
• "The project has had a significant impact on our trainers, which in turn has helped to raise the standard of English teaching in our (intermediate) schools." Senior Advisor, Ministry of Education, Bahrain.

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