2010 Mid-Year Seminar Trading Places: Arabic

George Mattar-Amakusa City Board of Education: Ushibuka

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

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.

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.

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

Arabic Lesson Adapted from New Horizon 1 Textbook

pg.10-1 1

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

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

Comprehension

What did you understand?

What did you not understand?

What methods were effective in helping you understand/feeling clueless?

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?

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