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Abu Dhabi Kindergarten and Chinese School started a two-month English course for parents aiming at enhancing interaction between parents and the school community. This comes in line with ADEC strategy focusing on getting parents more involved with their children education and learning as a key component of developing education in Abu Dhabi.
Mrs. Fatima Al-Bastaki the KG’s principal said that the school is keen to establish links with the local community, especially with parents, since the very first moment of children joining school. This can be achieved through orientation programs to introduce school policies and procedures implemented in light of ADEC’s New School Model launched early this year, which focuses on enabling parents to actively engage in the various school activities.
“According to feedback collected from parent surveys, the English courses will help mothers communicate with LT’s who do not speak Arabic. The school has a highly qualified teaching staff and the courses will be implemented in partnership with CFBT, one of the PPP providers”, added Al Bastaki .
Mrs. Al-Bastaki pointed out that through being familiar with English, parents are able to follow-up their children education either through student’s monthly report or direct communication with school and teachers. The monthly report includes daily and weekly teaching plan, communication module that consists of English literacy skills as well as sports, scientific, social, physical and exploration skills in addition to special events such as GCC Traffic Week.
Mrs. Al-Bastaki said that preparation for the English courses has started April 15, where interviews with interested mothers were conducted to assess their English proficiency and then they were classified into two groups. She added that courses will focus on improving language skills and will help mothers understand educational expectations sought by school in its academic programs.
Al Bastaki indicated that training begins at 11 am for an hour and then the mother will be able join her child’s class and spend sometime there. “The presence of mother at school allows her to understand school’s concept in dealing with students and give her the opportunity to participate in solving some problems encountering the educational process”, she added.
The principal lauded ADEC’s efforts and continuous support which help create an effective interaction among stakeholders. She also proposed more classes to be given to parents, fathers & mothers, to teach them English in the evening.
Ms Shivon Subit, a PPP English trainer said that during the courses we encourage mothers to improve their English skills and practise the language without fear of making mistakes. “The objective of teaching mothers is to create a link with teachers and not to prepare them for IELTS test “, she added.
According to Ms Subit, this program is implemented for the first time in Abu Dhabi KG and School and that it would be more effective in future through workshops to be organized for this purpose.
“Even though the number of mothers who have joined the program is only 18, we think this is a good start. Some mothers cannot attend because they are working while others can easily communicate with LT’s”; added Subit .
Participant mothers expressed their gratitude for school’s great attention to improve their English in order to better communicate with school community for the best interest of their children. They added that such courses gave them the chance to attend and observe some of their children’s classes and consequently allowed them to properly help their children at home.
Mrs. Araw Al-Hamed, “a parent and a trainee”, said that the purpose of her participation was not learning grammar, but learning the simple language to speak with the LT’s, indicating that she was facing difficulty in dealing with foreign teachers.
Mrs. Faiza Abdullah, “a parent, a trainee and a school volunteer”, praised the course and said that the program duration is very sufficient, because she is able to share training by attending classes with students, allowing her to master what she had learned.
Mrs. Salma Rashed said that being unemployed made the timing very appropriate for her and that she joined the course because she was willing to learn English.
Mrs. Salma Matar said that she liked this course because of the dialogue between trainer and trainee which enabled her to improve her vocabulary.
Mrs. Badriya Mohammad said that this course helped her to pronounce letters and words correctly and she is able to teach her children now without committing any mistakes. She added that this course encouraged her to complete her education through enrolment in adult education.
Badriya calls to increase the training sessions per week to be at least two instead of one. She said that she hopes that the next course starts at the beginning of the school year for the best benefit of parents.
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