April 7, 2019,

Two AURAK students, Paul Noel and Rashid Emoron, under the guidance of the Acting Chair of AURAK’s Languages and Literature Department, Dr. Imed Louhichi, presented at the 24th TESOL Arabia International Conference & Exhibition on March 21, 2019 in Dubai.

The purpose of the presentation was to promote an e-tool the team created to aid teachers with delivering technology-infused lesson plans to teach English as a foreign language, called OLE (Observe, Learn, Express). The inception of the idea was resulted from a course assessment which the students continued to develop with the guidance of Dr. Imed. Six weeks after the course had ended, they were able to create a prototype to share with professional teachers at an international conference entitled “New Beginnings in English Language Teacher Development.”

Dr Imed was delighted with the support his team received from the University and the experience his students were able to share in, “I would like to thank Dean Kirk and Dean Waller for believing in this kind of faculty-student collaboration; this type of partnership is the first of its kind in the English Department, if not in the School of Arts and Sciences. It was my pleasure to have been able to work with Paul and Rashid to make this success possible.”

The AURAK President, Professor Hassan Hamdan Al Alkim, was thrilled with the success of the faculty-student presentation, “The experience at the TESOL conference is an excellent example of AURAK providing students the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with faculty combining classroom theories and technology to create professional, innovative programs and the chance to cut their teeth in presenting their program at the professional level.”