Saturday, May 28, 2016

Crescent Petroleum, the British Council and Edraak Launch Series of Free Online English Courses for Arabic Speakers

Over 134,000 registered learners prove demand for online education in Middle East is on the rise

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Monday, May 23rd 2016 [ME NewsWire]

The Gulf’s longest serving private oil and gas company, Crescent Petroleum, in partnership with the British Council and Edraak, the first nonprofit “Massive Open Online Course” (MOOC) platform, is launching a series of free online English courses for native Arabic speakers in May.

Backed by the Queen Rania Foundation (QRF), Edraak aims to bring world-class education to millions of Arab speakers around the world and has recently experienced a surge in traffic with over 134,000 learners registered for the five-week English language course, since November 2015.

The course was developed to attract Arabic speakers interested in gaining a robust entry-level curriculum aimed at strengthening conversational language competencies.

“Prioritising education and skills training is one of the ways we believe the private sector can contribute to a more prosperous community and working environment,” said Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum.

“Working together with Edraak and the British Council has provided us with the means to magnify our reach and impact,” Jafar added.

Approaching its first launch as a series this May, the “Learn English” sequence will offer learners certificates of accomplishment for its courses that are running throughout the summer.

“Edraak’s customised platform offers the ideal environment for self-paced learning and provides learners with access to bitesize video lessons, personalised interactive learning exercises and discussion forums that encourage applied and social learning methods,” said Haifa Dia Al Attia, CEO of the Queen Rania Foundation.

“At the British Council, we are the world’s English experts. As an organisation we aim to engage millions of individuals to promote learning English, developing new skills, and helping them achieve internationally recognised qualifications. As we move into our second phase, our aim is to empower learners at higher levels and will also have a focus on English for the workplace,” said Lew Hewson, Teaching Centre Manager.

“Learn English – Conversational Skills for Beginners” will debut for the first time this year, in May, and is open to learners of all ages and skill levels. To register for the first course in the series, visit www.edraak.org/en/course. The dates for the second and third editions will be confirmed later on.

Contacts

Farah Ahmed

SAHARA Communications, +971-4-3298996

farah@saharagcc.com

www.saharagcc.com









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