2010 Mid-Year Seminar Trading Places: Arabic

1. 2010 Mid-Year Seminar Trading Places: Arabic George Mattar-Amakusa City Board of Education: Ushibuka

2. Introduction to Arabic: • Ranks sixth in the world’s most widely spoken languages (280 mil speakers spoken in 22 countries) • Language of the Qur’an (Islam) • Belongs to the Semitic group of languages including Hebrew and Amharic

3. History of Arabic: • The Arabic script evolved from the Nabataean Aramaic script. It has been used since the 4th century AD, but the earliest document, an inscription in Arabic, Syriac, and Greek and dates from 512 AD. Arabic is spoken in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Palestinian West Bank & Gaza, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

4. 3 Divisions within Arabic: • -Classical Arabic-language of the Qur’an-dialect of Mecca and modernly known as Saudi dialect • -Modern Standard Arabic-used in published and audio/video media, in education circles, and political discourse • -Local Dialects-vary between region and continent (Middle East and Africa). Egyptian and Lebanese dialects are the most widely spoken and used in Pop Culture and Media and taught in Universities abroad.

5. Is Arabic Difficult? • Arabic words are constructed from three-letter "roots" which convey a basic idea. i.e. k-t-b=ketab=book,etc. • European languages contain words which resemble English. Arabic has very few-mostly derived from French. • Arabic has many regional dialects-i.e Alexandrian and Cariean dialect-i.e. pronunciation of ‘rain’ • Distinguishment of masculine & feminine objects-similar to French and Spanish • There are 28 consonants and three vowels – a, i, u – which can be short or long. Some of the sounds are unique to Arabic and difficult to pronounce exactly

6. Arabic Lesson Adapted from New Horizon 1 Textbook pg.10-1 1

7. New Horizon Lesson • Greetings –Sabah el Noor Ostaz Mattar • -Warm-up Activity: Simon Says • Stand up ,Sit down ,Quiet Please, Repeat after me, Say that again, What? • Review of Vocabulary • Sabah-good • Noor-morning • I-Ana • George Mattar • Ana Ismi-(I’m/I am) • Sabah el Noor-Good morning • Repetition of vocabulary and target grammar • Interactive dialogue with classmates

8. Other Useful Classroom Arabic • Greetings: • Sabah El Noor-Good Morning • Sabah el Keih-Good Afternoon • Sabah el Leiil-Good Evening • Conditions: • Ana Quais-I am fine • Ana Tab’aan-I am tired • Ana andi Zudah-I have a headache • Ana mish batal- I am not bad • Self Introductions: • Ezayak(m)/Ezayik(f)-How are you? • Ana _________ -I am __________(condition) • Ana Ismi _______ (My name is _______) • Ma El Salam-Goodbye • Ah-Yes La’aah-No • Ana mish fahim-I don’t understand

9. Comprehension • What did you understand? • What did you not understand? • What methods were effective in helping you understand/feeling clueless?

10. Discussion Prompt • Using the total linguistic immersion model for a basis of teaching English and considering students perspectives when first exposed to a foreign language, what methods can we come up with to effectively create more interactive and production based approaches (think Exemplar knowledge) in learning environments for students?

11. Points of Improvement: Taken from Discussion Prompt • Make an association with new vocabulary • Use gestures to make meaning clearer • Students tend to catch on later with meaning of context as lesson progresses • Different learning styles/levels with immersion-be aware that all students learn at different levels with this method • High energy helps bring kids attention back to the lesson • Writing things down: some students are better visual learners • Classes are dependent on each other to help increase the standard of understand • Important to change interactive learning to more activity based learning