Muftah, married with four children, is a pleasant student who is struggling in class. Muftah did not receive any English in secondary school or university. He worked as a Physical Education teacher for two years, and then was employed with the Ministry of Youth and Sports for twenty years. In his years of employment, Muftah never needed to speak or write in English until about two years ago, when he started attending International House. He says that he is now learning English because he has a lot of time on his hands. Muftah prefers to study at home, not with friends. He says that he does not focus on reading or writing; but, he enjoys practicing his speaking skills with his fourteen year old son because that’s where he feels he needs improvement. Muftah sees this as an opportunity to bond with, and encourage, his son because Muftah never got this chance when he was younger. When asked if he is interested in working in a company in the future to maintain his English, he said that he will think about it.
Muftah joined International House around two years ago and has had no previous official English education. He studies English for fun and to bond with his children who are now studying English in school; so, he regards English as a social tool rather than one to grow career wise.
Muftah is very cooperative in class and participates from time to time. He enjoys group work but prefers to work in pairs because he feels he learns more than when he is with a group of people.
Muftah’s strengths are in reading and comprehension. In a scanning activity, he responded accurately when asked to read a letter for one minute and reply to three questions: who sent it, where was it sent from, whom was it sent to. In controlled practice of a reading text, he answers fairly accurately when working on column matching or multiple choice exercises. However, when reading longer texts, (e.g. a newspaper article on eating