AY 2007-2008 Projects - Near East and North Africa

Country                       Yemen
City                              Khormaksar
Host Institution           University of Aden/AMIDEAST

Project Description
The EL Fellow will teach university EFL classes to first or second year students for three hours per day, three days per week during each academic semester at Aden University’s Faculty of Education in Khormaksar. Priority will be given to the teaching of speaking skills, although depending upon scheduling, the EL Fellow may be asked to teach writing or reading classes as well. The Khormaksar, Aden, Faculty of Education is a brief walk or bus ride away from the EL Fellow residence. At AMIDEAST Aden, the EL Fellow will be tasked with teaching one class (two hours per day, five days per week) of Access Microscholarship students. An important component of the Access Microscholarship program is transmitting cultural information and values to enrolled students. The EL Fellow, as a US citizen, should be able to perform these objectives well. In performing these duties, the EL Fellow will obtain further, varied classroom experience under the guidance of AMIDEAST Aden's Academic and Teacher Coordinators. 

Project Objectives
The EL Fellow will contribute to the enhancement of English language teaching both at secondary and tertiary levels in Aden and Yemen's southern governorates. The EL Fellow will disseminate information on USG programs and will coordinate out-of-classroom cultural activities for Access youth. The proposed program will facilitate cooperation between important institutions and programs in the region, including Embassy Sanaa, the Regional English Language Officer (based in Cairo), Aden University, AMIDEAST Yemen, the Access Microscholarship Program, other U.S.-government scholarship programs, and workshops by ECA-funded EL specialists. This cooperation has been occurring on a regular basis since the first EL Fellow arrived in Aden in 2004, and has continued and expanded in the past two years. Such programmatic activity is especially important in Aden, which was the capital of the former Marxist state known as the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY). Until PDRY unified in 1990 with the Yemen Arab Republic, Americans and most Westerners were not permitted entrance into PDRY. Accordingly, an entire generation was not exposed to Western concepts, values, or democratic ideals. Given this historical experience and with an interest in developing the emerging economies the south of Yemen, both younger and older generations are interested in learning about the West and about Americans and American culture. EL Fellows have helped ensure an American presence in the growing and significant educational sector of this region. Additionally, educational programs that focus on English language training have been shown to have tremendous impact on people's perceptions and beliefs. In particular, the expansion of the Access Microscholarship program and its management by AMIDEAST in Yemen has permitted EL Fellows to augment their professional duties by conducting outreach with a unique and important group of Yemeni school-age students that would not otherwise be served via a traditional ELFP placement. In sum, the in-class teaching, the outreaches, and the Access training will provide the EL Fellow and U.S. State Department by extension, with numerous and varied opportunities to engage Yemeni citizens from a variety of age groups and socioeconomic backgrounds.

About the Host Institution
University of Aden
The second-oldest institution of higher learning in Yemen, Aden University was established in 1975 in what was then the capital of South Yemen. It includes 17 faculties (which are somewhat akin to departments in U.S. universities), and ten research centers. Enrollments currently exceed 22,000 per year. The EL Fellow will be based at the Faculty of Education in Khormaksar (Aden University’s main Faculty of Education).  The EL Fellow will teach university EFL classes to first or second year students for three hours per day, three days per week during each academic semester at Aden University’s Faculty of Education in Khormaksar. Priority will be given to the teaching of speaking skills, although depending upon scheduling, the EL Fellow may be asked to teach writing or reading classes as well. The Khormaksar, Aden, Faculty of Education is a brief walk or bus ride away from where the EL Fellow residence.

AMIDEAST
American non-governmental organization that delivers a variety of educational services, including English language training, professional training, testing, educational advising, scholarship administration (including the USGs Access Microscholarship program), and other forms of outreach and training. AMIDEAST has had an official presence in Yemen since 1981 and has been operating since 1998 in Aden.