Events Archive
Regional English Language Officer Visit to Sudan
From November 27 to December 4, the Cairo-based Regional English Language Officer (RELO), George Scholz, visited Sudan and met with education officials, English language instructors, and offered workshops intended to expose educators to effective classroom training techniques. The visit was the first to Sudan by a RELO in 17 years. Although Sudan once was an Anglophone country and exported English teachers to other countries, a policy of Arabization since the late 1980s led to a greatly reduced emphasis on English education in schools. With the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in January 2005, however, English officially became the language of government business and education in South Sudan.
Highlights of RELO Scholz’s visit included his four workshops for teachers of English in both Khartoum and Juba, consultations with education officials at the Government of Sudan, Government of South Sudan, and Government of Equatoria State levels, and visits to educational institutions and non-governmental organizations involved with teacher training in North and South Sudan. More than 150 English teachers benefited from the workshops, which challenged participants to think about new and effective ways of teaching English, as well as vehicles for encouraging student participation in the classroom.