Beginnings With Arabic: Level 1

Arabic is an increasingly useful second language to learn; it has quickly become an important language for individuals with global business, diplomatic, economic, scientific, and political aspirations. A written language with a beautiful cursive script, Arabic was and continues to be at the center of many of humanities greatest works, being the language of choice for famous philosophers, mathematicians, and physicians from multiple different ethnic backgrounds. It is unquestionably one of many keys a young student can use to access the great treasures of human heritage. 

I grew up speaking a North African dialect of Arabic, Darijaa, and have studied the language at a university level in its classical, modern, and dialect forms. I want to share that knowledge with young aspiring polyglots in a way that is both academic and functional. Today, Arabic is standardized in arenas like industry, business, journalism, and diplomacy but it is also spoken using regional dialects across different countries. For that reason, this class will focus on teaching both  Modern Standard Arabic and the Levantine/Egyptian dialects, as they are the two dialects most commonly understood across the Arabic speaking world. 

The class will begin with an introduction into the Arabic script and alphabet, with time spent focusing on pronunciation. Following that we will focus on themes and sounds to build a base of vocabulary and useful phrases. As this is an introduction class, grammar will not play a major role in our material but will be taught in following classes in this series. Students are encouraged to bring writing materials to class so we can workshop our writing skills and they will be expected to engage with their peers in small dialogue exchanges.

My goal while teaching this class is to both introduce students to Arabic and equip them with general skills they can use to study other languages. I will utilize slides and my own educational tools to workshop along with students but we will devote much of class time to student practice and utilization of the material learned in class. I do not want this to be a lecture class, instead students will be given the information and will play an equal role in driving the lesson forward; languages are learned through practice and that is the class environment I intend to cultivate. 

I will be using multiple books to teach the class but the basic curriculum will follow the Alif Baa series, which was made specifically for English speaking students, students do not need to purchase the textbook as all pertinent information will be provided on the slide decks that they can access after class. This is the schedule we will follow across four weeks:  

Week 1: Letters: The Arabic Script and Pronunciation
            a. Consonants
            b. Vowels
            c. The basics of the Arabic cursive script.
            d. Transliteration of our names and common words: From English to Arabic
Week 2:  Introductions 
            a. First Impressions in Arabic
            b. New Vocabulary focusing on the letters (ا ،ب ،ت ، ث ،و )
            c. Short Vowels
Week 3: Making Connections!
            a. Introducing Yourself and Others, Titles, and Cultures of Respect,
            b. New Vocabulary focusing on the letters (ج ،ح ،خ ، ي ، د ، ذ )
            c. The Sukun
            d. Numbers in Arabic
Week 4: Verbs, Roots, and Adjectives!
            a. Introducing Yourself and Others, Titles, and Cultures of Respect,
            b. New Vocabulary focusing on the letters (ز ، ر  ، س  ، ش ، ص ، ض )
            c. The Shadda in Arabic