Foreign textbooks should be put into context for the UAE

Foreign content in schoolbooks used in the UAE can present an opportunity for teachers rather than a drawback, writes Jamie Snyder.

Many maths teachers in the UAE who use American or British textbooks seem to have established a curious habit of simply skipping the chapters on money. Why? “We don’t have that kind of money,” I’ve been informed.

There’s nothing sacred about pennies or pence, but teaching children how to use money is an ingeniously relevant, hands-on way to introduce a number of crucial concepts, particularly the system of decimal fractions, without students even realising they are doing maths. In the case of imported curricula, skipping the money chapter often means skipping the decimal chapter.

Comparing, ordering, adding and subtracting whole numbers versus decimals is literally as simple as comparing dollars and cents, and to young learners it makes sense. When they can make a purchase and check their change for accuracy, they have understood the decimal system.

Could teachers simply swap currencies rather than skip valuable lessons? Granted, the UAE money system offers a less complete teaching example. Coins worth less than 25 fils are rarely, if ever, found. Prices are frequently listed only in whole numbers, or are rounded to the nearest quarter dirham at the cashier – only sometimes to the shopper’s benefit.

Nevertheless, teachers could exhaust the example, so as to root the concept in students’ everyday experience, and then throw in a clever transition before turning to the textbook: “Now, let’s say we go on holiday to New York and find funny prices at the shops like $1.06 and $7.89. What change can we expect if we pay with a $10 note?”

Imported social-studies textbooks also tend to trouble UAE teachers and so they sit awkwardly on classroom shelves until they are simply forgotten. A case in point is Harcourt’s fourth grade text on US states and regions, which bursts with patriotism that is downright contagious. As enjoyable a read as it is for nostalgic Americans like me, and as applicable as most covered concepts are to any other modern country, the pricey text was, in my child’s class, downgraded to shelf-decor status. By second term, the course was deleted altogether.

Are patriotic symbols, immigrants, rural and urban regions, map reading and historical analysis not relevant concepts in the UAE? Following the structure provided by such a comprehensive text as Harcourt’s, with frequent connections to the UAE and other nations, could result in a solid and broadly relevant course in international social studies. For instance, the poem America the Beautiful could be a great starting point for reciting and writing patriotic poetry about the UAE.

While units on nationalism and money can be tweaked rather than skipped, certain portions of imported textbooks may require subtle omission, if only out of respect for the UAE context.

Consider, for example, the Collins Primary Literacy series of UK textbooks, in which fourth graders are sympathetically introduced to “mum’s new boyfriend”, and in which third graders are invited to share a girl’s “fully alive” experience of sniffing an unmarked liquid. This is just after she smashes a mirror upon hating her reflection. And this is all so students can practise rewriting sentences in third person.

Extramarital affairs and intoxicants are also promoted in British Headway textbooks, used here in some adult English courses and, bafflingly, even in some primary schools.

Curricular imports play an important and multifaceted role in school improvement and national development but arrive in the UAE with considerable contextual baggage. In a country where everything from car bling to housedresses is tailored to fit, textbooks arrive in classrooms “as is”.

Teachers must take on the task of sifting through material with their audience in mind. After all, the success of any curriculum is due primarily to its relevance to users.

Textbook editors strive to connect content to students’ lives and to reflect, through text and images, the social, cultural and demographic reality. The UAE context differs significantly from that of America or Britain; our approach to curricula must differ accordingly.

Jamie Snyder is a freelance editor and teaches reading and writing at Al Ain’s Centre of Excellence for ­Research and Training