Amman- 12 August 2021

After one and a half years, the Flying Faculty Program has finally returned to campus. We are most happy to welcome Dr. Barie Al Masri from our partner university Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz at the GJU Campus to hold a 3-week English language course “Professional Correspondence in the Library” for the GJU’s library staff.

Dr. Al Masri teaches English Didactics at the department of English Linguistics at the JGU Mainz and is a certified trainer for professional vocational colleges and an experienced lecturer in various professional fields. Originally, the course was scheduled in March 2020 but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak until the participants were all fully vaccinated. Finally, this summer, the course could be relaunched and conducted in person before the start of the new semester and students return to campus.

Dr. Aziz Madi, the Director of the Library, stressed the importance of this training in supporting the library’s plans in empowering its staff to provide better services. He added that this training especially represents one of the cooperation outcomes between partner universities, which is facilitated by the Project Office in Magdeburg and the efforts of the International Office at GJU.

All ten participants already have a basic language proficiency, but also have different language levels due to their heterogeneous academic backgrounds. Even if this is very challenging, as Dr. Al Masri states, the key is to differentiate and tailor the course program to the different needs of the participants. Dr. Al Masri is positively surprised by the participants’ high intrinsic motivation, the collaborative atmosphere and their willingness to improve their English skills.

The main objective of the course is to enhance communicative English skills in various authentic professional situations, in order to contribute to the overall professional development of the participants by integrating relevant daily tasks such as written correspondence, planning conferences and face-to-face interaction with GJU students, staff and external contacts. Additionally, there is a strong focus on lexical chunks, language patterns and collocations, which are crucial for various library topics.

According to the course participants, they are happy to receive an in-depth training to enhance their English language skills in professional situations. Assistant Director, Mr. Laith Al Naser, states that his expectations are to increase his English language skills in general and that he is looking forward to improve his English writing skills. His colleague and Head of Electronic Databases Division, Eng. Nesreen Al-Malkawi, adds that the library has always been an important place for students and staff of the university and that continuous development is necessary in order to offer a convenient service to all GJU members.

The course takes place three times a week for a duration of three weeks in total. Throughout this time, the participants are able to strengthen their capacity for the whole team, while establishing a deeper corporate identity of GJU, especially since language is an essential element for intercultural understanding and awareness of the hybrid university.