Diplomatic mission for the wives

THE British Council was recently approached by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to organise a language course for the wives of Bahraini diplomats who are being posted abroad in the near future.

The two-month long course is being held at the British Council and the key aims are to improve the participants’ communication skills, to revise key aspects of English such as relevant grammar and vocabulary and to help them represent their country abroad as effectively as possible.
 The teachers are Mrs Judith Ede, Mr Nathan Lomax and Mrs Jenny Smith.
Mrs Smith is well-qualified to teach the course, as she was once a diplomat’s wife herself!
The course contents are designed to reflect the needs of the participants.
There is an element of language input which is designed to help the participants fulfil the role of a diplomat’s wife successfully.
Topics include starting and maintaining social conversations, talking about family, hobbies, likes and dislikes.
A significant section of the course is devoted to helping the participants fulfil practical aspects of living abroad, for example, language related to health issues, travel arrangements, education, entertainment and everyday business.
However, the course content also reflects the need for diplomats’ wives to be “ambassadors” for their country in their own right. Therefore, the topics of culture, religion, festivals, customs and traditions have also been included.
The British Council’s teachers are using a wide variety of resources, including extracts from course books, newspaper articles, websites and self-designed worksheets.
With the course well underway, participants are very impressed and say they are “learning what we need to learn”, in order to “meet and socialise with people from other embassies”.
They have praised the course content and the “lovely teachers”.
For many of them, this is the first time they have come into contact with the British Council and they have been impressed by its facilities and professional approach.
The participants are looking forward to being posted to a wide range of destinations including New Delhi, Tehran, Amman and Berlin.