Meirman English Program

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Meirman English Program

1. Introduction Kohat is surrounded by a chain of mountains, holding a beautiful cantonment. It is one of the oldest cantonments of Pakistan and also the old district of Sub-continent. Kohat is described in the old history of Buddhism. This district has boundaries with Aurakazai Agency, district Hangu, district Kurak, district Nowshera and Punjab. The town centers around a British-era fort, various bazaars, and a military cantonment.Kohat is also known for its Sufi Saints. There are a number of tombs of famous SufiSaints in the area, like Haji Bahadar Ali Abdullah Shah alias Haji Bahadar Sahib, Shrine of Saint Bona Baba, Janan Baba shrine, Shrine of Peer Ghamkole Sharif and Shrine of Hazrat Banoor Baba. The District of Kohat has an area of 2973 sq. m. It consists chiefly of a bare and intricate mountain region east of the Indus, deeply scored with river valleys and ravines, butenclosing a few scattered patches of cultivated lowland. Important historical places Include Darra, Khushal Garh, Kohat town, Lachi, Shakardarra, Gumbat and Tanda Dam.Kohat is blessed with many natural resources. The orchards of Kohat Guava are popular in the whole country as it is the major fruit of the area and Kohat is famous for its qualityand taste. This fruit gives very high returns to the farmers. Other fruits are apricot,mulberry, citrus etc. Other resources included honey, gypsum, arms and ammunition,kohati chappal and Mazari products.Cadet College Kohat, a boarding military college is also located in the outskirts of Kohatspread over an area of about 144 acres.According to data from Pakistan's last census in 1998, the district's population stands around 562,640 with an annual growth rate of 3.25%. The predominant language is Pushto, which is spoken by 77.54 percent of the total population, while Hindku is mostly spoken and understood in Kohat city and adjacent areas.

2. History The early history of the district is limited to the vaguest traditions. It is said that inBuddhist times two Rajas named Adh and Kohat settled along the northern border of the district. Raja Kohat gave his name to the town of Kohat and Raja Adh to the ruins of an old fort on the hill side north of Muhammadzai, a village four miles to the west of Kohat.The remains of this fort, which is known as Adh-i-Samut, consist of the ruins here andthere of the old ramparts. The only other remnant of the Buddhist days is a road cut out ofthe mountain aide, near the Kohat Kotal, leading by a very even gradient towards thecrest of the hill.Another version about this name is that it is a combination of two words, "Koh and Hat"meaning mountain range.Five natural springs of water known as Panj
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Meirman English Program Peer are located in between Kohat city and Jungle Khel area of Kohat, where Founder of Sikh religion Baba Guru Nanak used to do meditation, Once Baba Guru Nanak was doing meditation while sitting at the bank ofspring of water in Kohat a needle from his hand was fallen into transparent water ofspring, when he concentrated, he had found the needle visible in water, suddenly Baba Guru Nanak had ordered his followers to pack up and leave Kohat, when his followers asked him, he had replied, Kohat is transparent city, even a needle can not be lost in itswater how the hidden sins of the human being will remain hidden from the people of this city. The first historical mention of Kohat is to be found in the memoirs of Emperor Babar who visited Kohat in 1505 AD. Babar in his memoirs calls the inhabitants of the area as who visited Kohat in 1505 AD. Babar in his memoirs calls the inhabitants of the area as Afghans. From 16th to 18th centuries, Kohat remained as a part of Afghanistan Kingdom,administered by the Chiefs of two tribes i.e. Khattak and Bangash. In the beginning of19th century Kohat came under the control of Sikhs who ultimately withdrew leaving the administrative control of Khan of Teri in 1836 AD.Kohat was finally annexed to theBritish dominion on 28th March 1849 with the rest of Punjab and an AssistantCommissioner was posted here to run the administration and to look after the British interests. 3.Need of English The conditions under which English is taught in Kohat district is not conducive to teaching and learning the language. Courses are taught without specific curricular objectives;English language teachers are not equipped with efficient pedagogical tools; most English language teachers rely on obsolete teaching techniques; inappropriate textbooks are chosen to teach English as a Second Language; language teaching facilities are not equipped with audio visual aids; the examination system is erroneous, as it falls short of measuring attainment; and the education system is lacking an observation and feedback mechanism.It is a fact that despite studying English in schools and colleges for about 6-8 years, students, especially coming from rural backgrounds, are not able to communicate in English with relative ease and success. Even in some areas where students use a regional language as a first language besides Pashto - and in such areas English becomes a third language - they lack all the four major linguistic skills - reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Since acquiring a second language is a skill, it should be approached in that light. It isclear that the methods of teaching the English language in Pakistan have not yielded the desired objective, i.e. communicative competence. 4.Problematic issues Shortcomings in the curriculum. Inefficient teachers. Methods and techniques. English language teachers incorporate. Inappropriate textbooks. Inadequate material facility. Erroneous examination system. lack of supervision

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Meirman English Program 5.Recommendations of Meirman for Improvement in Teaching English To think critically and analyze objectively and rationally To develop curiosity so that (they) become fond of learning for their own sake. To transform available raw materials into useful goods and services To offer marketable human resources acquired through education To manage and administer a diversified society (urban/rural, nomadic/agrarian, Industrial/service). For living with people of different appearance, custom, language, culture, and faith. To be able to adopt a vocation or a profession that one desires to espouse.

6.Meirman Initiatives Teachers Training We conducted trainings for teachers like ERIC (Educational Resource & Information Centre) 15 days training in Kohat Meirman Centre. The training topics are 3. Being a teacher. 4. Strengths and weaknesses of ones personality, (how their weaknesses and strengths can effect their teaching). 5. Being a reflective teacher. 6. Spelling activities (how to help child in learning spellings). 7. Division of their English Lesson. 8. A writing lesson was demonstrated. 9. The qualities of a good teacher. 10. The role of a teacher. 11. Categories of learning. 12. Reading activities with flash cards. 13. Word making [Paper tearing] 14. Decode the word [spelling and reading] 15. Remaining part of categories of learning. 16. Theories of human development [Vygotsky and Piaget]. 17. Mental Maths. 18. Open ended activities in Maths [Number and basic operations]. 19. Developing planning skills. 20. Weekly plan. 21. Daily Lesson planning. 22. Note taking.
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Meirman English Program 23. Writing lesson. 24. Brainstorming. 25. Paper tearing. 26. Writing a lesson. 27. Remarks of Sr.Patricia kennedy and ERIC They felt very happy that 21st century Teacher Trainings Skills have come from Australia to their doorstep due to MEIRMAN and ERIC cooperation.

Adopting Appropriate Textbooks There are several different handbooks that offer succinct and lucid explanations of themechanics and syntactic structures of the English language. These handbooks can be used asancillary material, especially for courses in academic writing and business English. Meirman English program is currently using these handbooks 1.Oxford Streemline English-1- Student Book Departure. Oxford Streemline English-1- Workbook Departure. 2.OxfordStreemline English-2- Student Book Connections. Oxford Streemline English-2- Workbook Connections. 3.OxfordStreemline English-3- Student Book Destinations. Oxford Streemline English-3- Workbook Destinations. 4.OxfordStreemline English-4- Student Book Direction. Oxford Streemline English-4- WorkookDirection. Incorporating Audio-visual Aids In addition to focusing on content rather than form, audio-visual aids should be used to help thelearner advance the basic linguistic skills. They provide practical solutions to the problems of alanguage teachers whose sole equipment, as a rule, consists of nothing more than textbooks andthe classroom. There are several advantages of using audio-visual aids in a language classroom:Audio-visual aids help the learner understand the English language by bringing her or him indirect contact with objects and material artifacts, by bringing the distant things near, and bybringing the world into the classroom. Meirman provided to students latest computers in lab and also headphone for listing skill and video for documentaries etc. Meirman have a proper lab for these activities. Output that we analyzed from this approach. They help the learner appreciate the subtle nuances ofdifferent linguistic systems and cultural values.Audio-visual aids promote remembering by involving the perceptual sense of the learners, byarousing the learners curiosity, by making use of pictorial content, and by providing varieties inteaching. They make teaching effective by creating situations for presentation and practice of language
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Meirman English Program Items and by reducing dependence on the learners native language. They help in formation of language habits by drills, repetition, and constant practice. They increase the learners experience of language by providing a rich variety and better quality of instruction. They increase the instructors efficiency by saving time and energy. They provide recreation to the learner.

Apparently, audio-visual aids play a vital role in language teaching. Their primary function issemantic in that they permit the learner to understand what s/he hears, to learn the situation inwhich language forms are used, and to associate learning through repetition and limitation. Itshould be noted though that audio-visual aids should only be used as a catalyst to accelerate the learning process. Effective Supervision Teachers need a feedbackmechanism, which enables them to learn through trial and error. Effective language teaching isabout showing the learner how the language works by displaying, ordering, and adding to thelearners use of the second language, and teachers who succeed or fail in accomplishing this taskmust be supervised on a regular basis. Meirman adopted the advance techniques for effective supervision. 7.English Program Students and course Detail

Students Details
Year Classes Strength Class Timings

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Level 1,2 Level 1,2,3,4 Level 1,2,3,4 Level 1,2,3,4 Level 1,2,3,4

65-70 90-100 100-110 80-85 110-120

10 AM to 12 AM, 3 PM to 5 PM 10 AM to 12 AM, 3 PM to 5 PM 10 AM to 12 AM, 3 PM to 5 PM 10 AM to 12 AM, 3 PM to 5 PM 10 AM to 12 AM, 3 PM to 5 PM

8.Course

Adds
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Meirman English Program

9. First Batch Group Photo

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