Culture & Education | Friday 27 October, 2017 3:04 pm |

Primary school teachers in Sharjah are being equipped with the skills to teach their young pupils the smart way at a series of workshops being run by Lughati. The Arabic learning initiative that aims to support the studying of Arabic in Sharjah schools using modern technology has introduced the training sessions for Grade 1 and Grade 2 teachers from 49 public schools across the emirate.

 

Launched in January 2016 by His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council Ruler of Sharjah, Lughati sees students and teachers in Sharjah’s public schools receive smart tablets, with its ultimate aim being the distribution of devices to 1,000 teachers and 25,000 students of all grades. Pre-loaded onto the tablets is the ‘Horouf’ learning application, developed by Horouf Educational Publishing, a subsidiary of Kalimat Publishing Group.

 

Lughati’s training workshops are teaching attendees how to make best use of the smart tablets and the preinstalled applications that come with them. Conducted by Aisha Saif Al Khaja, Head of the Executive Committee of the Lughati Initiative and a technical team from Horouf, the sessions for Grade 1 and Grade 2 teachers follow on from last year’s Lughati workshops, which were run solely for Grade 1 primary school teachers.

 

“We are delighted to once again host workshops that show teachers how they can maximise their teaching capacity through the Lughati smart tablets. This year, we have expanded our target by enabling Grade 2 teachers to benefit from our extensive training programme. We are also revisiting some of the essential points with Grade 1 teachers who now have a great deal of experience working with the smart tablets and whose classroom experience in applying smart learning will be essential to the growth and development of the initiative year-on-year,” said Badria Al Ali, Manager of Lughati Initiative.

 

Taking place on Sundays throughout October, the workshops were successfully completed in Sharjah, Al Wousta, and Al Sharqiya districts. The three sessions were conducted in different areas of the emirate to make it easier for teachers from outlying areas to attend.

 

The supporting of Arabic education in public schools in Sharjah using state-of-the-art technology was officially announced in 2013 by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. The initiative was approved by His Highness in January 2016 under its new title ‘Lughati’ to develop education in the emirate, preserve the Arabic language and endear Arabic studies to children by incorporating modern methods.

 

Lughati was conceived as an educational and scientific response to the requirements of smart learning methods, with its introduction designed to help build a knowledge-based society by enhancing the delivery of education. The initiative is being conducted in phases, with the rolling out of smart device delivery and their Horouf educational programmes being supported by a series of workshops designed to ensure that both pupil and teachers gain maximum benefit from the initiative.