22

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23
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Dr. Rahma Al. Mahroqi
Doctor i n the Engl i sh department

Students always have the
same justifcations for their
absenteeism. I think absentee-
ism could be a symptom for
more serious problems, so it
has to be dealt with. Those
students who regularly are
absent are wasting not only
their time, but they also waste
the money that the university
spends for them. If it is done of
our carelessness, it is a sign of
disrespect for the teacher and
for learning. Students should
speak up to be helped. There
are some possible and serious
reasons that may prevent
students from coming to their
daily classes. These reasons
include the following:
They could have health
problems for real.
They could be sufering
from stress.
They might have post-
poned their assignments
and so they skip class to
avoid embarrassment
when other students
submit.
They do not like the
teacher or the subject.
They have problem with
time management.
They are not motivated
to learn.
Teachers can reduce the rate
of absence in their classes
simply by applying the clear
SQU policies regarding
absenteeism and students
should be familiar with these
rules. Teachers must design
their classes with fun and
enjoyment, so students would
be motivated to attend these
classes.
Dr. Ibrahim Inwa
Head of anatomy department
i n Col l ege of Medi ci ne
The causes of absenteeism
that I usually hear include: I
over slept because I have been
studying the whole night. I
think I am not benefting from
the classes, or I have a problem
with transportation. The most
common cause I commonly
hear from the students is we
have an exam after the lecture
and we are preparing for it.
Inactive classes are really a se-
rious problem for the instruc-
tors themselves. However,
students shouldnt be forced to
attend the lecture. I believe at-
tending the lecture shouldnt
even be made compulsory and
attending classes is directed
by the way the student likes
to learn in. There are so many
diferent ways of learning
and lectures are just one. The
only solution is to make the
classes more interactive and
enjoyable. Team based learn-
ing makes students attend
classes and this was applied
for the last two semesters in
the course of introduction to
anatomy where the atten-
dance was almost full.
Salim Al-Shuraiqi
Col l ege of Educati on, Engl i sh
The high rate of absence
among students happens
because the policy of attend-
ing classes is not strongly
emphasized and sometimes
doctors do not follow it. Being
sick or having accidents are
the main causes for students
to not attend their classes.
The students will exploit their
doctors if they do not deal
with this issue strictly and
they will keep missing classes.
Students should be aware that
being absent will afect them
negatively.
We hope youve had an
extraordinary holiday, and that
you are well-prepared for the
new semester. H!SQU team had
a fabulous vacation doing some
voluntary work and travelling.
H!SQU starts the semester with
discussing a serious problem
that is attacking the center of
our formal education. Students
Absence at SQU: its reasons
and effects will be critically
analyzed in the cover story.
He had the passion to wheel
himself to the roads of success
as he becomes the frst Omani
graduate from SIT institution.
Samiya Al-Mamari spent
great time talking and learning
from the ambitious man, Hilal
Al-Mamari, an ex-head of ETS,
in ORS.
We all love food, but do we
stick to the same menu or try
new dishes when its possible.
Ahmed Al-Yaaqubi and Hani
Al-Shukaili face each other to tell
Ali Al- Yaaqubi more about their
experience with such a subject.
His trip to the UK was a life-
time learning experience. Ibrahim
Al-Azri, enlightens readers about
the nature of student-teacher
relationships from the land of
English. Often school teachers
whom students hate, stick in
students minds forever. What
if you become an instructor of
a teacher whom you hate? Just
imagine, if Fatma Al-Ajmis crea-
tive imagination comes real. Also,
an account of the SQU students
educational trip to Malaysia in
December 2011.
Sleep disorders -Im sure
that youve all heard about this
concept but do you really know
what it means. Read more about
it with Halah Al-Hadhrami in
Health-Berry.
Cheers till we meet next! H!SQU
Team.
www.englishsqu.net
Editorial Coordinators
Ahmed Al Hadhrami
& Sumaiya Al Kindi
Hi there
Creativity is
Love.
Mr. Wise
HiSQU is brought to you by the English
and Translation Society at SQU. Email your views
/ suggestions / articles to hi-ets@hotmail.com
or hi@timesofoman.com
vol 4 Issue 5 / Jan 10, 2012
Missing classes
Missing classes seems to be a global roblem that most schools, universities and colleges around the
world are suffering from. Considering its effects on the academic performance of the students and the
university reputation as well, H!SQU shed its lights on it.
Manal Al Aufi
Col l age of Medi ci ne
Students usually miss classes
because there will be an exam
after the missing class. I think
that the acceptable excuses
behind being absent are
mainly: medical justifcation
or social ones. I consider stu-
dents attendance as an issue
which is primarily controlled
by the students attitude. For
SQU students, I think miss-
ing classes will be time and
money consuming. Especially
if lectures and resources were
already prepared for students
to attend and very little stu-
dents would actually attend
classes.
Some people love to have a fxed food menu
for specifc days while others think that trying
dishes of food that they are unaware of is an
adventurous act. The reasons behind trying or
not trying new dishes, created an argument. Ali
AL-Yaaqubi displays two opposite reactions of
Ahmed AL-Yaaqubi and Hani AL-Shukaili.
Trying new dishes!
Im utterly against trying
dishes of food that Im not
fully familiarized with. They
might have much oil or sugar,
which is harmful to my health.
Actually, I only eat the food
which I know its ingredients
and the way it is cooked. Last
year, when I was at Salalah, I
said why not to try a dish that
Ive not tried before. I thought
that it would be interesting, I
was mistaken. I kept vomiting
for the whole day. And I totally
regret my action.
Ahmed AL-Yaaqubi
Col l ege of Technol ogy, Engi neeri ng.
The variety of food is a bless-
ing which Allah has bestowed
on us; consequently, I love
to try new food dishes when
its attainable. I cant stick
with a menu that has only
known food. In fact, doctors
recommend trying new food if
itshealthy for our body. I think
eating, for instance, Chinese
or Japanese food would be an
adventurous act. Yes, I might
not know the ingredients, so
what. Truly, that is what Im
searching for. If I like the dish,
then I will recommend it to
my friends because they are all
food adventures.
Hani AL-Shukaili
Col l ege of Technol ogy, Busi ness.
continued
to pg 22
24
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25
OMAN
On December 3, 2011, six
fellow female students and I
traveled to Malaysia to par-
ticipate in the International
Conference on Sustainable
Development in Putrajaya. The
conference was jointly organ-
ized by Laurentian Univer-
sity in Canada and Tun Abdul
Razak University in Malaysia.
It was held at the Palm Garden
Hotel.
Approximately 504 papers
were accepted for presentation
at the conference, addressing
a wide range of felds such as
education, business, envi-
ronment and law. Sessions
started at nine in the morning
and continued until six in the
evening. Interestingly enough,
we were the only undergradu-
ate students to present papers.
The rest of the presenters all
held postgraduate degrees.
Despite this fact, our papers
and presentations were well
received and highly respected
by the audience and other pre-
senters. Based on assessment
of peer reviews of our paper
submissions and our presenta-
tions, all six of our papers were
selected for publication in the
conference journal.
The paper I have presented
titled Improving the stand-
ard of English language and
communication among SQU
students in Oman: Approaches
and suggestions. As the title
reveals, the research is about
the level of competency of stu-
dents at SQU who are enrolled
in majors in which English is
the means of instruction. The
paper answers questions like:
what is the profciency level of
students at SQU in the use of
English language as a medium
of communication? And what
are the motivational factors
for students to use English as
a second language to com-
municate? The data were col-
lected from both the students
using a questionnaire and the
instructors using personal
interviews. One of signifcant
recommendations was the
urgent need for establishing
an environment that promotes
culture of reading and writing
for both academic and non-
academic purposes. Besides,
the students should take their
own initiative in learning the
language and not rely on the
lectures as their only means.
My colleagues papers were in
the feld of education, tackling
recent and controversial issues
on which very scarce research
has been done.
On behalf of the six other
students and myself, I would
like to pass on our gratitude
and appreciation to the ad-
ministration of the College of
Education and SQU adminis-
tration for their great eforts in
facilitating our participation.
MohaMMed al-hadhraMi
College of eduCation, english
sQu students present papers at the international
ConferenCe on sustainable development in malaysia
There was a long pending de-
mand for setting up Students
Councils at universities in
which students can freely
discuss their issues includ-
ing, the rules that they have to
follow. When I was in Britain
fve years ago, I went to visit
Oxford University. While in-
teracting with the students
there I came to know about
the students council there.
This council works as a bridge
of communication giving the
chance for the students to
participate in making rules;
therefore, students never feel
that they are marginalized. To
my shock, I learned that the
university authorities couldnt
pass a single rule without the
consent of the council mem-
ber. In fact, that represents
the idea of students rights
since those rules are concern-
ing the same students. I really
appreciate the idea as it shows
how every single student can
share his or her voice.
I hope that we have such
a council at SQU to solve
problems that face students
such as the case of complexes,
which has been under debate
for a long time without any re-
sponse. Imagine that we have
a students council where
each college has to elect three
students according to specifc
criteria such as academic
performance.
Those students represent
the needs of the college and its
students. This will increase
the chance of applying justice
among the students as each
student and stafer knows
their duty and responsibility.
Moreover, the council should
have at least two meetings
each academic year with the
university administration,
so they can overcome any
problem that they face. Un-
doubtedly, such process will
take a long time, so we should
start as early as possible. By
introducing such a system,
students will get many ad-
vantages, not only personally
but socially as they will learn
skills of negotiation and for-
mulating rules. So what are we
waiting for? Let us go for it.
What do you want to learn
from being at UK? I thought
this question is weird as it is
asked by a teacher. I could not
believe my ears. This is the
frst time in my entire life that
a teacher asks me what I
want to learn. This happened
to me when I was on my frst
day at Warwickshire College
in Royal Lamington Spa, UK.
We started to list the most
confusing elements in the
English language such as the
prepositions while our teach-
er was smiling and throwing
loud giggles at us. Indeed,
Ive never met a teacher who
giggles like him. He giggles
almost all the time.
He said, Hi, my name is
Johnathan White, but you can
also call me: Mr. White, John-
ny or even Mr. Whiteteeth. I
could not believe that he said
that. His statement was an
ice-breaker to the students. I
felt I was home, although its
my frst visit to the UK. Call
me Mr. Whiteteeth! how
many teachers would say that
to you? Well, we usually dont
call teachers by their names.
However, Mr. White thinks
that titles are not as important
as to show respect for the
teacher himself. I know teach-
ers who keep parroting: call
me professor so-and-so. If you
dont, you have no respect for
me. A title is just a mere de-
scription of you, what matters
is what you ofer students.
A teacher-student relation-
ship should go beyond regular
boundaries. Students must
attend classes because they
want to. Teachers must build
strong bonds with students.
In the UK, they dont only ask
us about our interests but give
us updates about latest activi-
ties. How sweet to know the
kind of person your teacher
is. Believe me, its extremely
sweet.
abdulaziz al-rawahi
College of eduCation, english
ibrahiM al-azri
College of arts and soCial
sCienCes, english
Call me Mr. Whiteteeth
Mohammed
Al Hadhrami
Col l ege of Educati on, Engl i sh
Male students living of
campus and having taxis as
their only means of trans-
portation is one of the main
reasons for missing classes.
Students tend to miss their
classes because absentee-
ismdoesnt deny them
marks for their grade. But
for me, the only acceptable
reason is being sick. An
absentee has to prove that
he/she was sick by display-
ing a medical certifcate.
Absenteeismcause not only
missing the instruction, but
also missing continuous
assessment that includes
tests, assignments and par-
ticipation in class discus-
sions. Besides the negative
efects of absenteeism,
some students prefer to
read and then understand
the materials by themselves
which might be more efec-
tive to themthan attending
classes.
Ayman Al Owisi
Col l age of Arts & Soci al Sci ences,
Transl ati on
Boring classes are the major
cause behind skipping
classes. It can be said that
the instructors themselves
play a vital role in the atten-
dance of the students and
I dont think that students
who attend classes compul-
sorily will get their moneys
worth. When the class is
important, absence could
result in many negative ef-
fects, such as the impossi-
bility of getting all what was
said in the class. As a result
their grades will be afected.
On the other hand, if the
class is boring or unim-
portant, it is better not to
attend it wasting time.
Students Council at SQU
from pg 22
Approach to English
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