Training Course for English Teachers in Libya

Introduction

The Libyan government has undergone various problems in providing resources for secondary school English learning. Relating to the fact that the government of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi at some point banned English learning in Libya, it has not been easy for the secondary English teachers in Libya (Abidin et al,119). Moreover, secondary students in Libya hate the English language because it looks hard to them and most of them prefer the native languages. The fact sheet, therefore, seeks to device a training course in teaching reading skills for the English teachers in Libyan secondary schools. The main essence of the course is to help the teachers in devising appropriate teaching and reading skills to help the Libyan students in learning English.

Firstly, participatory learning is key to helping the learner grasp anything the teacher is saying. This model has always been recommended to the teachers but very few make good use of it. Herein, many teachers just talk all through the lesson and do not give ample time to the students to participate or make suggestions in the learning. Learners must be included the class learning process in order to facilitate their after-class reading. Besides, participatory learning involves reading passages and answering questions together in class.

Secondly, teachers motivating students by making the learning process interesting. Teaching is like preaching to a congregation and most of the time the Christians may choose to like or hate the preacher. Relating to the fact that the students may not like English very much, the teacher must make the learning interesting. Some of the ways the teacher may do this are by using other learning materials like charts, pictures videos, etc. to draw the attention of the students. The moment the students are fixated on the pictures they will, in turn, learn a thing or two about the English language. On the other hand, the videos are very effective in getting the students' attention. The main essence of these extra reading materials is to break the class monotony of just teaching the same way each and every day.

Thirdly the teacher should encourage other outside class activities like debates and poem contests. This is a very important English learning skill that equips the learner with the necessary confidence needed in language mastery. The debate will be instrumental in fostering the learner's English speaking skills. Moreover, the students will have to research on the poems before actually performing them. In doing all these research activities on the poems and practicing they will be acquiring priceless knowledge on English learning.

The top-down model is also very effective in helping the students improve their reading skills. The model involves using a background knowledge of what is already known about the text. The meaning of the text is mainly outlined by skimming through the text, concentrating on the critical parts of the text, and coming up with a general meaning (Mishra,n.p). Furthermore, the top-down model is mainly applicable to complicated texts. Passages which entail complex words with exceptionally technical sentences are very frustrating and the students will undergo very hard times in analyzing them. Therefore, quickly skimming through the text using the title and other main parts is used to quickly understand the hidden meaning.

Note-taking skills are also applicable in helping the learners grasp more information from whatever it is they are reading. More so, note-taking skills have been widely used in summarizing texts or writing reflective essays. The learner should never start reading any material without having a pen and paper. These materials will help the learner to read with a purpose. However, there are times when the learner is just reading a storybook and he or she does not really need to master the main point in the text. Also, the skills can be used in reading and answering comprehensions in the class by noting down the main points from these comprehensions.

The audio Lingual method which relies on the fundamentals of habits is applicable to the Libyan students. Despite the fact the methods have been in the past associated with drilling, it is very effective in learning foreign or second languages (Elizabeth,n.p). The method emphasizes that learning is greatly influenced by habit through the condition. Once the learners develop the habit of learning a particular concept they will become masters in that particular field if they do it frequently. The method can be implemented by teachers encouraging their students to read a lot of storybooks. These storybooks should be simple and easy to read to encourage the students to read also of them. On the other hand, the teacher can also incorporate further techniques in implementing audio-lingual by making learners present their stories in front of the class. The stories must be presented in English and the teacher must be present to make corrections where the students go wrong.

The grammar-translation method. The method involves teaching the necessary grammatical laws of a language by applying them practically in the language (Assalahi,589). Herein, the teachers just focus on the components and rules of the English language without necessarily forcing learners to practically apply them. The method will help learners internalize the rules of grammar first before eventually practically applying the language. The method is mainly based on the fundamentals of learning rules of the language before actually applying the language directly (Chang, 13). Many times the practical implementation of the English language is accompanied by a lot of pressure and students are not able to grasp the contents correctly. Therefore learning the language formats without necessarily practicing the language takes away the pressure and fosters convenient English learning.

The direct method of English teaching in secondary schools can also be used by the secondary school teachers in Libya. The fact that many students in Libya do not like English learning makes the model more effective. Teachers should ensure only the English language is used within the school premises. The careless use of native languages in the classes should be gravely punished to serve as examples for the other students. Besides, the learning should mainly concentrate on English learning and nothing else. Besides, using examinations and evaluation tests to gauge the skills and knowledge of the students in the English language is also part of the direct measures of teaching English (Elizabeth,n.p). The teachers can include all these measures just to make the teaching and learning. In addition, the direct method also includes the following activities, questions, and answers from the teacher and students in the class. Reading comprehensions out loud, dictation and other writing exercises. The method has to be direct and ready to evaluate results immediately.

The structural approach encourages systematic learning and it is very applicable to the Libyan secondary school students who are against the complex activities in English learning. The structural approach focuses on a particular part of grammatical learning for days before embarking on the other areas. For example, in the learning of tenses, the method will focus on past tense for days before proceeding to the present and the continuous tense. The method helps the students to internalize a concept properly before the teacher actually proceeds to other areas of teaching-learning. Teachers should never be in a hurry to complete the syllabus early and impress the administration; the teaching should be beneficial to the students in the long run. However, in other instances, the method can be very slow and teachers can be bored and frustrated due to the number of times allocated for these concepts. In these instances, the teachers should encourage the students to read ahead and get rough ideas on the topics before the teacher actually introduces the topic in class. Reading ahead will help in fastening the structural approach because the teachers will be elaborating what the students already know.

The Silent method can be used to draw the students' curiosity on the subject matter. The silent way is mainly outlined by the teacher the bulk of the work for the students to attend to. The teacher can give exercises on topics which are briefly explained in class Perrone-(Bertolotti,17554-17562). The exercises should incorporate vocabularies that will incline the students to go into the dictionaries to check for these meanings. Teachers should not do everything for the students because that will only result in laziness. There are students who must be given limitless assignments in order to be inclined to read. The teacher must do less and allow the students to do the bulk of the work because this will benefit them in the end. For example, teachers can allow the students to read passages in class and write on the chalk wall to keep them occupied and involved in the learning activities.

Furthermore, Professor Krashen's natural approach of constantly exposing the student to the language is within the confines of reality. The professor substantiates that there are similarities between the learning of the first and the second language (Richards et al, n,p). When students constantly interact with the English language they are bound to make them part of themselves. Herein, children are born without the knowledge of any language or speech but they develop the power of speech and language through constantly interacting with family members. In addition, the human brain is designed in such a way constant that constant interaction with any content has a way of sticking in their brains.

Task-based language learning. This type of learning is focused on the completion of assignments. The students are given directives to listen to recordings, read articles and watch videos then later complete tasks based on these activities. Task-based learning will be very critical in helping the students to develop reading and listening skills. Both of these skills are instrumental in the learning of the English language. Teachers should also use these materials to break the class monotony. Students will develop interests in the reading and learning of the English language if they see the teacher carrying videos and tape recordings to the class lessons. On the other hand, the students can be taken for fieldwork and then directed to write a complete composition on the activities during the fieldwork.

The native languages should also not be assumed because they are stepping stones to other languages. Herein, the Arabian-English dictionary can be used in the direct translation of some words directly from the native Libyan languages. These dictionaries can help the habitual learning of the students. Besides, the students will feel the language is closer to their native languages hence they will be happy to know more about the English language.

Relating to the Wilhelm strategies, reading is an essential part of English learning. Therefore teachers should ensure they have limitless reading materials in the English classes, whether the materials are charts, books or any other material the learner can read and get more knowledge on English learning. Herein, many magazines and newspapers should find their way into the classroom to help students expand their knowledge of the English language. All these magazines, however, should be morally acceptable and written in English. The students should be encouraged to read a lot of magazines during their free time. Those who are lazy in reading magazines should be encouraged to frequently use the internet in order to access articles available on the internet (Abidin et al,19-25). However, internet accessibility has consequences because the students...