Using Drama in Esl Classroom

Education is one of the fundamental social institutions in every society, but each culture develops its own specific educational system based on its needs and values. Educational systems prepare people for careers in their society, indoctrinate citizens into cultural values, and act as a screening tool for the society to discover its best and brightest. However, each society has its own focus and its own means of educating its people, and there are no two educational systems that could be more different than the educational system in the United States and the educational system in Saudi Arabia. The goals of education in the United States and Saudi Arabia are quite similar, however in the United States as in other countries, the education system has responded to a unique kind of nationalism.. Both nations seek to prepare their children for life, and indoctrinate them into cultural values. However, the means used to accomplish these goals are very different. In the United States, education is an interactive process and the student can play an active role in the educational process. This is not true in Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia education is based upon top-down communications and the student is an empty person to be molded by the teacher. The educational process in Saudi Arabia is entirely different. Students are not permitted to communicate openly with instructors. They are expected to stand when the teacher walks into the room and any questioning of what the teacher says is considered disrespectful. Teachers often yell at students and conduct repetitious drills pounding in the desired information. The student cannot choose his own classes and is expected to do little more than memorize the material presented by the instructors. The educational systems in United States and Saudi Arabia also reflect the specific cultural values of these nations. The educational system in the United States places a focus on the technological and reading and language...