Amal Al-Sibai Saudi Gazette Just as muscles of the body lose their tone, shape, strength, and flexibility when they are not regularly exercised and moved, one will lose fluency and mastery of a language when it is not used and practiced on a daily basis, whether the language is Arabic, French, Swahili, or English. One of the most dreaded subjects in most schools in the Kingdom is the English language subject. If excellent skills in this universal language are not acquired at a young age, it may remain an obstacle and a barrier in the future as an adult when it comes to applying to universities, acing a job interview, and even travel for leisure abroad. A major reason why the average Saudi student struggles with the English language is the fact that the language is introduced much later in government schools. The English language is recently being taught in the sixth grade in government schools, as previously it was taught beginning from the seventh grade. Not all families can afford the expensive private tutorial lessons nor are they able to enroll their children in English-language institutes in order to supplement what is taught in school. “In sixth grade, we only learned the alphabet, simple words, and numbers in English. The subject material is much more complex in seventh grade and it is a huge jump from the previous year. How can our teachers expect us to suddenly understand all these grammatical rules when we have been exposed so little to the language before?” said Widd Al-Lahji, a seventh grader who told Saudi Gazette that her English teacher merely reads the textbook, explains very little in class, seems uninterested, and is frequently absent, leaving the girls on their own to try to understand the language. A student cannot gain interest, curiosity, and a passion to learn the language if the teacher so poorly and boringly presents the English language lessons. Another factor that has led to poor language skills is lack of practice, speaking, and engaging in conversation and group discussions in the classroom. The problem is that the curriculum in the Kingdom for English as a second language focuses much on grammar and handwriting, but very little on listening, speaking, and dialogue. Also, feelings of embarrassment or fear of ridicule from making a mistake when speaking inhibit the student's learning process of any second language — and not just English. “The absence of students participating in lively conversations and discussions in the English language classroom, home, sports club, or public places largely depicts among the youth. Another reason is the shortage of highly qualified teachers who are adept at teaching the English-language. Many teachers employed by most government schools hold merely a two-year diploma in the English-language and not higher education degrees in the language, such as a bachelor's or master's,” said Ali Al-Dosari, principle of an elementary government school in Al-Ahsa. A missing tool that students in the Kingdom can use to improve their language skills is reading. The principle of the American Diploma Division of the private school, Al Ekhaa Schools in Jeddah, is striving to elevate the level of the English-language among the school's students, who mostly come from Arab backgrounds and are facing difficulties in catching up with the pace of the curriculum. He repeatedly tells parents to encourage their children to read magazines, books, biographies, novels, and newspapers in English of course. “I would like to implement a specialized reading program called DEAR (Drop Everything and Read). The aim of this program is to develop strong reading habits and to foster an interest in reading outside the curriculum. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for all our students to do more reading, especially at home and on weekend. Without strong reading skills, our students will struggle to compete with native (English) speakers at the university level,” said Vincent O'Carroll.
