Vision:

The Department aspires towards providing its students, faculty, staff, and stakeholder dynamic and innovative teaching, learning, and services related to the English Language Skills.

Mission:

The Department's mission is to provide a dynamic and innovative environment related to English language teaching and academic administration. The Department accomplishes its mission by delivering student-centered teaching and learning, by adhering to broadly-accepted standards, by contributing towards the formulation of academic policies, and by nurturing constant program enhancement.

Objectives:

The principal objectives of the Department are:

• Preparing the students with basic skills in the English language through student- centered teaching and learning.
• Providing current and innovative offerings in the Preparatory Year curricula in relation to English language Skills.
• Recruiting and retaining the best possible faculty from diverse populations.
•  Providing students and faculty with the opportunity of experiencing the diversity of ideas in academic studies connected with the skills of the English language.
• Preparing policy advice and formulation regarding the teaching of English Language Skills within the University .
•  Researching on the teaching and learning of the English language.
•  Monitoring the outcome of the program and constantly trying to improve on the basis of periodic evaluation.

The General Objective:

Excellence in teaching English and developing language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) among university students.

Mission:

•  Executing the approved plans and programs.
•  Designing special curricula for the English language according to scientific standards and reviewing them periodically.
•  Teaching the university's requirements for English language skills to undergraduate students, and working through that to improve the university students' level.​
•  Teaching English language courses to graduate students to enable them to research and learn in their field of specialization and to prepare university teaching assistants and lecturers to master the English language.
•  Reviewing the master plans for the subjects taught in the center periodically and continuously to keep pace with the relevant scientific developments.
• Coordination with the Vice Deanship of Community Partnership at the university to hold courses for the TOEFL exam or any other courses in the English language.
•  Managing language laboratories, providing educational resources and specialized organizational units that fall within the department's authority.
•  Contributing to translating documents, letters and reports when needed, following up and translating foreign publications related to the university's activities, and translating valuable foreign works in the areas of the university's interests into Arabic and vice versa, after being approved by the relevant authorities at the university.
•  Participating in determining the department's needs of human resources, equipment, and materials, and following up on their provision.
•  Participating in identifying the training needs of the department's employees to nominate them for the appropriate training programs.
•  Prepare periodic reports on the department's activities, achievements, and suggestions for developing performance in the department.
•  Any other tasks assigned to the department within the limits of its competence.

The PY English Language Skills Department is Accredited by CEA  for mor​e details click here.​

Message from the Supervisor  of the Department

On behalf of all teachers and staff at the Department of English Language Skills, I welcome all our students. Our primary role involves inculcating the basic skills of the English language in the students of the Preparatory Year. We are committed to generating knowledge related to English language skills through teaching, students' active participation, and various contributions towards the formulation of academic policy and program development.

The Department of English Language Skills strives to ensure that our students get the best possible opportunities for enhancing their education; that involved classroom teaching aided by the latest technological gadgets; outside classroom interactions within the informal settings of the PY English Clubs, practicing the linguistic skills within our dedicated English Labs, continuous online language practice through access to the Blackboard; analysing their level through TOEFL, and publication of their creative pieces in our departmental magazine, PenCraft. Further, we also equip them for their specific academic purposes with ESP materials to Engineering and Medical colleges' students.

We believe that our curriculum not only introduces the students to the various aspects of the English language by exposing them to a major global language, but also sets them on the path to exploring varied array of issues and ideas. 

Besides that, we also deliver supportive courses, trainings and workshops in English language to students and professionals from different walks of life.

 Supervisor of English language Skills Department 

Dr. Mubarak Altwaiji

The Organisational Chart

Course​s Descripton:

• C​ourse Description 1001 101 Regular Faculties and ELCA-ELCS-
• Course Description 102 ELCA-ELCS-
• Course Description 1001 101 Special Faculties-
• Course Description 1001 102 Special Faculties​-

 Courses Syllabus:

• Course Syllabus 1001 101 Regular Faculties and 101 ELCA-ELCS-
• Course Syllabus 102 ELCA-ELCS-
• Course Syllabus 1001 101 Special Faculties-
• Course Syllabus 1001 102 Special Faculties

Programs and Services Offered by the Department:

First:  RosettaStone to Teach English : 

In addition to the usual curriculum courses, the Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supportive Studies has made an extra effort to enhance learning of English through an online course called 'RosettaStone.' The course is meant for the Preparatory Year students with a view to help them master the language skills faster. The university provides license to students as well as teachers to use RosettaStone, at all the branches of the university at Ar'ar, Rafha'a and Tureif, so that they can log on to the course from anywhere, inside or outside the university, through computers or smart devices. The license is valid for one year. It is worth mentioning here that RosettaStone is one of the best programs to learn English online.

RosettaStone is a compulsory course for the Preparatory Year as 20 marks (20% of the total marks) are allotted to the course. Two methods are followed to test the learners: progress and test. The course has an inbuilt system of generating reports on learners' progress in each activity, which the teacher can check anytime and warn the learners in case of failure in progress. Then, at the end there is an online test. The students who score 18 and above out of 20 in RosettaStone are awarded 'Certificate of Completion of RosettaStone.'

For Futher information about how to login into computers, Ipads and Android devices press here

Second : English Club :

The English Club – a fun way of immersing in the language outside of the Lecture Rooms – is functional at all the campuses. During the English Club hours, students take part in various activities – watching movies, documentaries and clips in English, Quizzes, Spelling Bees, Group Discussions, Role Plays, Debates, Elocution, etc. It has become quite popular with the students, and the students get to gain 2 Activity Points by participating in the English Club.

Third : Magazine (PENCRAFT) :

PenCraft is a literary and educational magazine issued each semester by the English Department at the Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supportive Studies. It incorporates a variety of scientific and educational articles as well as departmental events. Moreover, it incorporates poetry, short stories, travelogues, factoids and jokes.

The magazine is reviewed regularly and progressively. It also enhances the genuine and unpublished write-ups that provoke real discussions.

The magazine is written in English and anyone can see the electronic version here​. It contains genuine contributions written by male and female students as well as teachers at the Preparatory Year Deanship.

Pencraft is the first magazine to be published at Northern Border University, with its maiden issue published in September 2015 at the beginning of the fall semester, with contributions by students and teachers at the Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supportive Studies.

The magazine is considered the Department's creative mouthpiece. It will be published thrice every academic year; in September at the beginning of the first semester; in February at the beginning of the second semester and in June at the beginning of the summer semester. Students will be awarded 2 Activity Points if their write-ups are accepted by the Editorial Team for Publication. 

Fourth : Free Courses in English Language :

The Department of English Language Skills at Preparatory Year and Supportive Studies provides free training courses in English to the following three categories of people: (i) faculty members, (ii) employees of the  University, and (iii) students, who have passed the levels 101 and 102 of English in the preparatory year. There are separate sections for the people of each class from these three categories. The provision of these courses is in response to the growing needs of the students and employees of the university to learn English, which sets the development of written and oral communication capabilities as a key goal of the session. English language courses are aimed at strengthening and developing the core capabilities of the trainees in English language skills, which makes the daily use of English possible for them. At the end of each session the trainees receive a certificate of attendance endorsed by the Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supportive Studies.

The English language courses consist of two levels in English language skills: the foundation level and advanced level. The aim of the foundation level course is to consolidate the fundamentals and rules of the English language among students and enable them to practice basic skills in English, leading to the development of writing, reading, listening and speaking skills. The advanced level course is aimed at students' mastery of the English language, through daily practice and intensive focus, developing the capacity to communicate with others in English.

Fifth: The International TOEFL [free test facility] :

The Department provides the students an opportunity to appear for  TOEFL, an international English language test, free of charge, at the end of second semester of each academic year. Those students who perform well in the test get the certificate of TOEFL score.

For more details, please visit the Department of English Language Skills at the Deanship.

Sixth: Free distribution of textbooks :

The University provides textbooks and other learning materials for all English language courses for free. There are eight books for every student in the preparatory year.

Faculty Members: ​