The guidelines below help to ensure that the teaching/learning of the CELP is conducted as smoothly and as effectively as possible. It is important that all teachers and students follow these guidelines. Guidelines for teachers Teaching hours Generally speaking, teachers teach 18 to 20 hours per week in the LC. There can be a reduction of this teaching load for certain reasons: Programme Coordination; Course Coordination; membership of the Curriculum Development Unit / Testing Unit / Research team; or for any other specified developmental work. In addition, teachers are expected to maintain 10 ‘office hours’ per week; which is time spent in the office to enable students to come for individual consultation, or for the normal preparation/marking work. Classes are scheduled between 8am and 6 pm. If teachers who have completed their assigned teaching and office hours for the day wish to do work at home, they may do s. Teachers should make sure their whereabouts are known, by putting their timetable on their door, showing teaching and office hours and by leaving a note if they are out of their office during these times for other reasons. Teacher Profile Teachers are required to maintain their own Teacher profile, which is simply an objective record of their contribution to the work of the Language Centre. This document lists the teaching record of each teacher in their time at the LC, and also indicates areas in which they have contributed. It can act as a useful reference document at the end of a teacher’s stay at the University. Teacher Observation Newly-appointed teachers are observed twice in their first semester by the Director. More information on these observations can be found in the LC Staff Handbook. Teachers are also encouraged to request observations by their PC, CC or other staff for professional development purposes. Classes and Classrooms Teachers are assigned to a programme when they first arrive on the basis of need, but previous experience and expertise are taken into account as much as possible. Thereafter, teachers may be moved to another programme or may stay within the same programme, perhaps moving up a level with their classes or staying at the same level. At the end of each semester, teachers are asked to state their preferences for the following semester. Individual preferences are taken into account, but the LC cannot guarantee to move teachers according to their first choice. Students often put teachers under pressure to change either the class time or the classroom, mainly because they do not want to have afternoon classes on a Wednesday. Teachers must resist this pressure, and should on no account unilaterally change their timetable. Even if students insist there is a free room at a more convenient time, teachers must not change their timetable. Requests can be made to the Director who will decide if this is possible. No timetable change is allowed without arrangements with Admissions & Registration. Student Profiles At the end of each course, teachers are required to complete a ‘Student Profile’ for each of the students in their classes. This provides a record of each student’s progress through the CELP that the student him or herself, or any teacher or Programme Coordinator or person from the University administration, can access. This provides an objective record of a student’s scores in exams and their classroom performance, plus any subjective comments that a teacher may wish to add. The Programme Coordinator will provide details on this. General Behaviour Teachers are expected to be on time for classes and to keep to the required amount of time; i.e. if the class consists of a 50 minute lesson, then the lesson should be 50 minutes, and if there are two consecutive lessons, then it is possible to forego the break between classes and finish after 100 minutes, i.e. from 8.00 – 9.40. Teachers are expected to dress in an appropriate manner and to conduct themselves with professional dignity. Teachers will vary in the kind of relationship they have with their students, but most will find the students to be friendly, polite and respectful. It is sensible to avoid controversial matters in the classroom, especially those related to religion and politics. Guidelines regarding students Attendance SQU has an attendance policy where students are expected to attend classes regularly, so attendance must be taken for every lesson. Students on the CELP who miss 10% of the lessons will be given a ‘Warning Note’ and if they miss 15% of the total number of lessons for that course they will receive a ‘Barring Note’ which means they cannot take the end-of-semester exam and therefore have to repeat the course. Students need to be told about this frequently and teachers need to be sure they keep an accurate record of attendance. Students should also be punctual for lessons, and if a student is late by more than 10 minutes without a reasonable excuse, then the teacher can refuse to accept the student and mark them absent. It is important to be strict about punctuality from the beginning as some students develop a casual attitude. Collaborative Work In some cases, it is helpful for students to work together, share ideas, and produce a joint project, for example, but teachers should try and spot when students have copied from one another, especially with more mechanical exercises. Like students all over the world, some will try and find the shortest route to a particular objective, and this may not entail any of their own work or effort! Classroom Behaviour Teachers who are new to Oman may need to note the following: In general, students here are co-operative, respectful, friendly and eager to learn, but sometimes problems arise. The male students are more boisterous, and an all male class can be a handful. The girls tend to work harder and be more organised. The classroom arrangement is normally boys at the front, girls at the back, with little contact between them, although some teachers persuade the boys to sit on one side and the girls on the other, which is much better. Group activities are normally conducted in single sex groups. Students are generally quite forthcoming in the classroom Study Skills Study skills tend to be not well developed in the students when the students first come to SQU, so teachers need to guide them through effective learning skills and to keep reminding them about organizing their material, maintaining files, doing homework on time and so on. Many students retain the habit of writing in the textbooks, usually with an Arabic equivalent over the English word, but this should be discouraged and students need to be shown alternative ways of recording and accessing vocabulary. Self-access Facilities Students may do their independent work by making use of self-access facilities available in the University and at the LC. The Main Library, the Medical Library and the LC Resource Centre are available for most of the time and the librarians are most willing to assist with the queries. The academic computing facilities provide excellent computing services and access to the Internet. The counseling and guidance support is also made available to students who need assistance with academic problems.