An important part of the British Council’s work in Iraq has been to help develop English language teaching at all levels of education.

In August 2004, Huddersfield Technical College ran a six week training course supported by the British Council in modern teaching methods and IT for 10 English Language lecturers from Iraq.

The group were shown current English language teaching methodologies and practice.  They were able to witness and get hands on training in web-based teaching and classes with a student centred environment, amongst other areas.  

Huddersfield College discussed the course approval process and were keen to include the Iraqi partners in a full consultation in order to best meet their needs. A programme with selected appropriate modules was agreed and all participants were presented with a certificate from the College detailing the skills and knowledge they had acquired.

The workshop was a great success and feedback gained from the sessions evidently illustrated that the English Language Training course was very worthwhile. One participant stated “what we have learnt was excellent and appreciated and we recognise the necessity of concentration on encouraging the students to discover and correct their own mistakes”.

At the end of the course productive discussions were carried out on how the participants could incorporate and adapt these methods within their own institutions with the aim to build and enhance English language teaching in Iraq.