A Newsletter of Foundation Programme

With every stride, we move in the right direction to achieve what seemed difficult and impossible in the beginning. The first trimester
has come to an end and it is a moment to
look ahead and go forward in our academic
pursuits.
The students in the Foundation Programme
are expected to garner the skills and
knowledge required to become successful in
their professional courses. Furthermore, undergraduate study involves a series of activities which include academic discussions, oral
presentations, reading, taking notes, writing
reports and essays and so on. As foundation
year students, I believe that you will hone
these skills through studying and practising
them in the different components of this
course. Therefore, it is very important for you
to take concerted effort and enjoy participating in various classroom activities.
Looking at the development you have shown,
the faculty is also happy to work hard with
renewed energy and enthusiasm. It is a proud
moment for them to realize the academic success of their wards.

Issue 07
1 ;/ 21
December
January2013
2016

Have you asked yourself how your life will be after

finishing foundation stage? Actually, lets say that
your life will change 70%. There are many questions
round your mind that you want to ask.
To overcome foundation levels easily, you need to
put in your mind many points such as motivation,
hard work, and knowledge. To reach your goal, you
need to work hard,
make a plan, identify
A Reflection from
path, and keep going
to achieve your dream.
the Alumni of our
You may face problems but dont be disInstitute
appointed. Who
knows? Maybe next
stage will be much easier and it is so.
From my personal opinion, level one was very helpful because I learnt the basics of English that helped
me improve my language and to overcome the
IELTS exam. In foundation, you need to work hard
because you dont have the time on your hand. Time
is one of the issues in foundation. Therefore, you
have to learn how to organize your time.

Continued on page 2
Thanks to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said,
our institute is provided with the state-of- the-art
facilities for teaching and learning. With the blessing of Allah, the almighty, I hope you all will progress in your academic lives and become competent health professionals.
I am sure this issue of BLITZ will bring home to
you the myriad experiences you have had in the
first trimester as its theme is a new path to tread.
Mr Hamood Al Kharusi,
Director General
Directorate General of Human Resources Development,

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Page 2

A Few Tips for Improving the Listening Skill

-Joseph Varghese
We should very seriously consider
the importance of listening as
it occupies about 45 per cent of
the time adults spend in communication. There are a few skills or
'strategies' that English learners
can use to improve themselves.
1. Predicting content
Depending on the context you can often predict
the kind of words and style of language the
speaker will use. Our knowledge of the world
helps us anticipate the kind of information we
are likely to hear. Moreover, when we predict
the topic of a talk or a conversation, all the related vocabulary stored in our brains are
'activated' to help us better understand what
we're listening to.
2. Listening for gist
When listening, information comes in a sequence. And in that sequence of information,
there are content words like the nouns, adjectives and verbs that can help you form a picture. We often call this listening for gist. For example, the words 'food', 'friends', 'fun', 'park'
and 'sunny day' have their own meanings, but
when you hear the words in sequence, they
help form the context of a picnic. So, when you
learn new words, try to group them with other
words used in a similar context.
3. Detecting signposts
There are signposts in language that help us
follow what we're listening to. These words,
which link ideas, help us to understand what the
speaker is talking about and where they are
taking us. For example, if a university lecturer says: 'I am going to talk about three factors

affecting global warming' then later on you

might hear the phrases 'first of all', 'moving on to'
and 'in summary' to indicate the next part of the talk.
Other words and phrases can function in a similar
way. For instance, to clarify,'in other words', 'to put it
another way', to give examples, to illustrate this', 'for
example' and so on. Practise detecting signpost language by grouping signpost phrases according to
their functions, and continue to add new expressions
as you come across them.
4. Listening for details
When listening for details, you are interested in a
specific kind of information perhaps a number,
name or object. You can ignore anything that does
not sound relevant. In this way, you are able to narrow down your search and get the detail you need.
In a listening test, if you are asked to write down the
age of a person, listen for the words related to age
('old', 'young', 'years', 'date of birth', etc.) or a number that could represent that person's age. If it is a
conversation, you might wait to hear someone beginning a question with 'How old?'If you are taking
a test, as soon as you get the question paper, skim
through the questions, underline the important words
and decide what kind of detail you need to identify in
the listening text.
5. Inferring meaning
We can infer the relationship between people from
the words they use, without having to find out directly. We can infer from the use of the words
like 'homework' and 'exams' that this is a conversation among students. By using contextual clues and
our knowledge of the world, we can work out what is
being said, who is speaking and what is taking
place.

Continued from page 1

I acquired many useful skills from the foundation

programme and specialization. For example, I have
been taught how to do researches in foundation and
I am now learning first aid in my specialization.
The time table of the classes in foundation differs
from the time table in the specialization. In foundation, the class starts at 7:45AM and ends at around
1:15PM. However, in the specialization, there are
times when classes finish early, and sometimes they
finish late. For example, I have days when I have
only two classes. So I think I have more free time
when I started with my specialization.
My specialization is radiography. There are some

differences between radiography and other specializations. During the first term, radiography students
study five subjects (anatomy, psychosocial, first aid,
physiology, and Oman modern society). All the other
students study these subjects as well except for physiology which is only for radiography students.
I would say that I have gained a great deal of learning
in my foundation year, and I can also say that I am
learning a lot of things in my specialization. I am
looking forward to making imprints in this new path.
Edrees Al Habsi
1st Year Radiography Student

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F P BLITZ
Tackling
TacklingReading
ReadingTexts:
Texts:Useful
UsefulStrategies
Strategies

-N.C.Kiranmayi
-N.C.Kiranmayi
Academic skills like reading, writing,
critical thinking and oral presentation
play a major role for students to succeed at higher level. Higher education
teachers presume that the students entering higher education have the required expertise in these skills. Hence they do not
focus on developing these skills. You know that the
scenario is different. Secondary education skills
are rudimentary when compared to the level of proficiency required in higher education. There is no
need to panic though. There are plenty of strategies you can adopt and employ. A few are given
here.
Collaborative strategy: (Klinger, Vaughn,
Dimino, Schumm & Bryant, 2001)
a. A group of students works together to tackle a
reading text.
b. Previewing the text
c. Identify clicks and clunks. (what you understand and what you dont understand)
d. Get the main idea
e. Summarize
Multistep reading process:
a. Name the main idea.
b. Add some additional ideas from your previous
knowledge about the topic.
c. Give some examples to expand the idea.
d. Also add some false information and try to reason out why the information is wrong.
e. Connect this idea to a major concept and make
it bigger. For example, if you are reading
about Fast Food, you can connect it to Diet
and Exercise and later to a bigger concept
like Health and so on.
A picture is worth thousand words:
a. Practice mental mapping of the concepts.
Graphic organizers help a lot in this regard.
b. Once you finish reading the text, try to draw a
graphic organizer to summarize the text.
c. There is an added benefit to this strategy-you
develop paraphrasing skills.
References:

Klingner J. & Vaughn S. (1999). Promoting reading comprehension, content learning, and English acquisition
through collaborative strategic reading (CSR). The
Reading Teacher, 52. No. 7

Idioms and Proverbs

-S. Renuka Devi.

Bury the hatchet :
The idiom means to make up with a
friend after an argument or fight.
Native Americans used to bury
weapons , like hatchets , after a
fight. They buried the weapons to
show that fighting had ended and
enemies were now at peace.
Example: She buried the hatchet after a serious
argument with her brother .
Man -to -man :
The idiom means sincere ,direct ; heart to heart.
Example: Lets have a man-to-man talk about our
financial problems.
Clear cut :
The idiom means clearly stated ;definite
Example : The lecturers presentation was clear-cut
and enjoyable.
Level-headed:
The idiom means sensible , practical.
Example: Joe seems very level-headed for a young
adult in such a difficult ,demanding job.
Cut and dried :
The idiom means obvious, routine ,straightforward
Example: My weekend of steady work in the yard
of my house was rather cut and dried.
Eager beaver :
The idiom means enthusiastic worker; industrious
person
Example:Eager beavers are often resented by other workers in an office.
Pins and needles:
The idiom means great excitement or nervousness
Example: Mariam was on pins and needles when
she was waiting for a job interview.
Raining cats and dogs :
In Scandinavian old stories , dogs are associated
with wind, and cats are associated with storms.
This expression means its raining very heavily.
Proverb : An apple a day keeps the doctor
away .
Romans believed that the apples had magical powers and promote health. Eating lots of apples will
keep you healthy as it has Vitamin C, protein, natural sugars, copper and iron.

Newsletter Committee
Redha Al Qubtan

Ahmed Al Balushi

Claude Joseph (Chair) Othello Martinez

(Deputy Chair)
Doryl Sequena-Cabiao

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The Foundation Programme:

A New Path to Tread
The new students who have just joined the institute feel apprehensive as everything seems to be
new to them. However, when they start the foundation courses, lots of things start to be clear for
the students. In fact, this program is designed as a
path that new comers tread in order to achieve
their goals in life. Actually, the institute has provided Oman with responsible nurses, diligent pharmacists, and other health care professionals. However, all these would never be as prosperous as
such without the foundation course they took at
the beginning of their studies. From my own experience, I really find the foundation programme my
guide that has put me in the right path and has
drawn for me a line that if I follow properly, I will
never get lost. My English has well improved, my
vocabulary has broadened and I knew where I am
and what I am supposed to do.
So, before I close my article, I would like to advise
all the students to take this course seriously and
work hard to be health care professionals.
RAZAN SALIM AL MARHUBI
Group 11

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New Path to Tread Brings

Success
No wonder if we say that most people want to be
professionals in their life. Success begins with a
clear goal, and attaining that goal requires ambition. Ambition is the energy that drives people to
work hard, to learn more and to seek opportunities
to advance themselves.
Some people have a clear goal, but they lack the
ambition to make their dream comes true. Other
people have great ambition, but no clear goal to
work towards. People cannot land to the garden of
success without crossing failures and despairs.
From this point, I believe that I can fulfil my dream
one day. And the Foundation Programme is my
new path to tread. I have a clear goal and high
ambition, so I will study hard and learn from my
mistakes to improve myself. I will be a professional
pharmacist someday. Also, I will further my studies. Finally, I will always open my eyes to see my
dream. Tomorrow will be another new day, and I
will be a new person with a profession.
FATMA AL MALKI
Group 11

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Finding New Path to Tread:

Fundamental Steps
There is no doubt that no one doesnt want to be
successful in his life. Of course, success is one of
our top priorities. However, becoming successful
requires lots of fundamental steps to follow such as
thinking, having an idea about how to succeed, doing the idea, and keep doing it until success is
achieved.
Thinking is the best solution for everything, including a new path to tread. Thinking opens closed
doors in our life. For instance, when we think to
solve any problem or think to avoid one, we have
already started with the first and the best essential
step. Of course, thinking makes us realise whatever
we want to achieve. Thinking allows us to set our
goals to tread. What is more, it makes us taking our
decisions leisurely without haste. As we see, because of thinking, we make our new path to tread.
Having an idea about things helps us to achieve our
ambitions. Similarly, having ideas about how to find
new tread helps us to pass obstacles that we face.
For example, people who have good ideas about
being successful usually achieve their goals. Also,
people who have ideas about how to find their own
path to tread usually achieve what they want in a
quicker way.
One more thing is to apply the ideas because it is
an important way to find new path to tread, and it is
impossible to achieve something without trying to
do it.
Moreover, there is another thing important to do --keep doing things even we fail to achieve our goal,
because persistence is the power which motivates
us to be stable and concentrate in our path to tread.
To sum up, thinking, having ideas, doing the ideas,
and keep doing them ensure finding new path to
tread.
MAHER MOHAMMED AL FARSI
Group 11

Foundation Course Prepares

Students Specialisations
Have you attended a foundation course before entering your specialisation? Nowadays, students attend a foundation course to help them prepare academically ready for their respective specialisations.
In the foundation programme, students gain basic

F P BLITZ
knowledge of the different subject areas and language skills. There are four language skills students develop. These are listening, speaking,
reading and writing skills. The teachers give their
best to make students develop these skills. The
teachers also improve the students self confidence through various activities such as oral
presentations and other classroom activities.
What is more, students learn good ways to communicate with other students and teachers. For
instance, in the class, the teachers put the students in groups, and the teachers give several
tasks for the students to work on, so students discuss and interact with each other, and they learn
from these activities very well. In the foundation
programme, male and female students work together in the class, so in the future when they become staff in the different hospitals it is easy for
them to work without any problems.
All in all, the foundation programme is the students new path to tread which prepares them for
their specialisations. However, students need to
work hard and study very well.
AL WALEED KHALID AL BADI
Group 9

Overcoming Obstacles:
a Huge Challenge
When I started my foundation course, I faced a lot
of obstacles. In this short article of mine, I will share
with you how I was able to overcome these and
how I tried to achieve my aim.
My English was not very good because when I was
in the school, most of the materials were in Arabic.
As a result, when I came here I had a difficulty in
understanding my teachers and the subjects. At the
same time, I faced another problem when some
people gave me a negative idea about nursing. For
example, they told me that I would have some critical problems in nursing such as dealing with male
patients at the hospital. I also overcame these obstacles by studying hard and by reading newspapers and magazines to improve my English. What is
more, I gave myself positive encouragement. I refused to listen to negative thoughts of other people.
I kept listening to my familys prayers and encouragement about my specialisation to take.
I always think about maintaining my success level,
seeking help from my teachers and family members. I have to maintain my relation with Allah, and I
always keep thinking positively about myself and
my future career.
In short, I can say that we cannot achieve success
without working very hard. To me, overcoming obstacles and attaining success are a huge challenge.
MUNIRA JUMA AL RAHBI
Group 9

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Challenges in Teaching

Zubaida Ahsan Ali

I think we, the faculty of this institute, are a valuable mix of varied experiences and we all have
our own strengths aand weaknesses, so why cant we learn
from each other? Therefore, to
start with I decided to share one
of my teaching experiences first.
In the first trimester of the academic year 2015
-16, I was given grammar along with some other components. It was fine with me till I got the
grammar book. It was actually a reference
book, as it is designed to teach the basic rules
of different grammar points. The thought of
teaching grammar through a reference book
was daunting for me. Though my age as a
teacher is 22, I really felt challenged!
Being trained in the UK as an English language teacher, what I know is that, to avoid
boredom, active learning is an excellent strategy to teach grammar whereas the book given
to us wasnt designed for active learning. I was
apprehensive, because even as a student I
wasnt taught that way. My eleven years of
schooling took place in a convent school and
my teachers, mostly nuns from Malta and
Greece, taught us English in a fun way even
then in 1970s.
Any how, I took up the challenge and decided
to teach the lessons in my own way. The group
given to me was Group 03. Since I joined a
little late due to a personal commitment, the
component was already introduced in my
group. When I took over and went to my class,
students insisted on revising some of the previously done lessons as the concepts were not
really clear to them. When I asked for the reason, I got the idea that students were merely
passive learners in those lessons. I didnt fail
to notice an overall lack of interest among
most of the students. I decided to involve my
students in their own learning by making them
reflect on questions, analyse the material and
work on some problems alone or in pairs or in
groups. So, to achieve the targets this is how I
conducted my lessons:

First, before starting a unit I asked the

students to think about the aim of the unit.
The question I posed was why do they
need to learn the particular grammar
point? Where and how they might use it?
They were told to discuss it in their groups
for few minutes. Based on their own understanding, students came up with answers and I wrote them on the board.
Second, I asked students to individually
share their existing knowledge about the
topic. Whatever points they came up with,
I wrote them on the board. I didnt give
them any feedback till this stage.
Then, I asked them to open the unit in
their books and went through the first explanation. Depending on the length or
complexity I set a time frame. Once, they
were done I asked them to explain what
they learnt. I gave my input wherever it
was required.
Next, students attention was drawn to the
points written on the board and I asked
them to check whether or not their existing
knowledge was correct. If it was correct, a
tick mark was placed against that point
and if it was wrong, students helped me
correct it.
After that, students were asked to do a
relevant exercise in the book in order to
apply their knowledge. In the same way
we went through the whole unit.
Finally, student were asked to revisit the
aims and modify them, if needed.
The outcomes of such type of lessons were:
Students actively participated to show
their knowledge.
They took charge of their own learning.
They started to go through the next unit,
on their own, prior to the lesson. It was so
relieving to see almost all the students
raising their hands as soon as I asked
questions to check their existing
knowledge. a
So, it was ACTIVE LEARNING all the way!

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Academic Advising for Foundation Students

-Redha Taqi Al-Qutban & Claude Bernard Joseph

Soon after joining an institution of higher learning, students have to grapple with
the reality that the state of
their learning at college level
is totally different from the
experience they have had in the secondary
school. Most of the new entrants at the undergraduate programme need to figure out what
they have to do to be successful in their new
educational environment. To assist them in
their endeavour to come to terms with the
new situation, most of the universities and
colleges offer academic advising.
In our institute a small group of students are
assigned to a member of faculty who often
acts as an academic advisor. The advisees
gain insights or get direction from the advisor
pertaining to academic, social or even personal goals that help them succeed in their
lives.
The initial conference with the advisees assumes significance as it alleviates their fears
and motivates them to pursue their studies. In
this meeting , they are informed of the regulations or bye-laws governing their attendance and progression and their rights to learn
about the grades they obtain in various assessments. At this meeting they may also be

encouraged to set some personal

or academic goals such as to
communicate in English, or to
use vocab log to improve vocabulary.
As the days pass by, students
may encounter problems that may lead them
to meet a crisis. For example, some advisees
may find the curriculum demanding as their
styles of learning have to change. Perhaps,
many of them may be new to autonomous
learning. With the number of assignments
and quizzes, they have to enhance their time
management skills.
As the college trains them to be independent
learners, they can be counseled to have a
study buddy to collaborate and do some academic work. Furthermore, they need to keep
their electronic identities such as passwords
and user IDs in safe custody as much of the
academic work is shared and stored in computer media.
It is always satisfying for the faculty to find
the freshmen growing passionate about their
academic work. With appropriate guidance
and mentorship, the students will do considerably better overall. We are sure that academic advising will continue to enhance the
quality of education among our students.