AY 2007-2008 Projects - Near East and North Africa

Country                       Egypt
City                              Cairo
Host Institution           Al-Azhar University

Project Description
The EL Fellow will teach English to selected twenty-five (25) top graduate students of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University’s Arabic and Islamic Studies Departments, provide in-service training for ten (10) selected Al-Azhar University English teachers, and manage/support a concurrent newly established English Language Resource Center (ELRC). The EL Fellow will have a defined work space in the ELRC. Al-Azhar University will provide classrooms for classes. The EL Fellow will be expected to start work at Al-Azhar University after Ramadan 2007 (o/a October 15, 2007). The EL Fellow will have a maximum 18 contact hour per week: s/he will teach 1 class for graduate students at 10 hours/week for 9 months, and train 1 group of teachers at 6 hours/week for 9 months, with 2 hours/week for general invitational faculty presentations on selected educational and cultural topics. Office hours, ELRC support, and classroom observations will be an additional 14 hours week. Class sizes will not exceed 25 students/class or 10 teachers/class. Al-Azhar University will select a student class of 25 learners of similar English proficiency, and/or a placement test can be used. Al-Azhar University will select a teacher-trainee section of 10 English teachers with less than 5 years teaching experience. All Al-Azhar students and teacher-trainees will be expected to spend an additional 5 hours/week in the ELRC. The EL Fellow will provide at the minimum an assessment of students and teacher trainees progress by mid-December 2007 and a final assessment on June 30, 2008. Books and materials for all 25 graduate students and 10 teachers will be provided by the Public Affairs Office, with review/approval by Al-Azhar University. Al-Azhar University will provide appropriate classroom space.

Project Objectives
The proposed EL Fellow program will facilitate cooperation between an important academic institution in the region and the U.S. Mission to Egypt. This type of academic cooperation with Al-Azhar University with an EL Fellow will occur for the first time, with potential expansion over the coming years. Al-Azhar University is the world’s oldest and most renowned Islamic academic institution, established 1,250 years ago. To date, the Al-Azhar University has separated females and males students in classrooms and on campus. Non-Muslims are not permitted to study at the university and few Western teachers have the chance to be on its permanent staff. Therefore, generations of graduates have not been exposed to Western concepts and values. The proposed joint program will develop English proficiency among future Islamic scholars and will allow the U.S. Embassy to better reach the conservative Muslim population and will positively affect Al-Azhar graduates’ views about the United States.  

About the Host Institution
The oldest Islamic and education institution of higher learning in Egypt and the world, Al-Azhar University was established 1,250 years ago in Cairo and was renowned for its contribution to the development of Egypt and Muslim societies. In 1961 Al-Azhar University took a step towards developing its education system by expanding its fields of study to include topics other than religion, such as science and medicine as well as Islamic and philosophical studies. Today, Al-Azhar has faculties throughout Egypt dedicated to the teaching of all types of disciplines.