Naif Alshareef

                                             

Susan Matson offers context and suggestions for helping Saudi Arabian students adjust to the Western educational setting

     The article talks about the Saudi Student as ESL learners in USA ESL schools. According to the article a huge number of Saudi students come to study at ESL schools after King  Abdullah scholarship which started in 2005. The author address some problems for the students and teacher who teach Saudi students for the first time. 

        The author also address the differences between Saudi Arabia education system and Higher education in USA.she shows how the Saudi education is new and higher education there is new. Also the education there is for free for both gender and segregation in school is existed there.The education system there focus more on religion and all high schools student have a unified examination at the end of the school years.The curriculum of the school is unified and  national examination  is taken all over the country. The author also address the different learning methods between the two countries. Moreover, the teachers there are more strict and have authority and they have formal relation with students. 

       According to the author, Saudi student show adjustment to the new environment although they came from a culture based on religious perspective, they can also adapt the new environment and show tolerance. Also she states that the ESL schools show understand the special needs of the Saudi student and how they help them academically and  socially to purse their success in the American universities.for Example when i came here for the first time, I face some difficulties to adapt the new environment and the new  education style, but with time i become aware to the new situation and i have to understand and adapt the new culture. I think this a good opportunists for the Saudi  student take this advantage of education and life experience which make them more wise , open-minded and more flexible and tolerance  to accept people from different perspective.

       I was very interested reading this Article because it focus one of the issue that is related to ESL in USA schools. As an ESL student in one of the English Language institution and interested in English language, i agree with the author in some point. I understand how is the education is different from back home and i experience that the classroom here is different from Saudi Arabia.Here we have to adapt to new teaching and   learning methods like group work , problem solving , the casual relation between the student and the teacher, the new environment and being tolerance and understandable of new ideas , believes and value.In addition, Saudi students may face problems outside the class room and this affect their academic success.

Source: http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=6364