Arabic Language and Culture Course: Middle East Culture Abstract

This grant proposal seeks funds to support the development of the Arabic Language and Culture Course. This course will provide opportunities for students to further enhance their Arabic language skills outside the class setting. The target audience is Intermediate Arabic learners who have completed at least two Arabic courses. The primary goals of this proposed course include: preparing students to communicate effectively in Arabic.

Project Description

Rationale

This theme of Hookah Lounges enables me as an instructor to incorporate Arabic Culture concurrently with developing the linguistic skills of listening, understanding, speaking, reading, and writing. Hookah Lounges in Dearborn incorporate such elements as traditional Arabic décor and Arabic music. They are regarded by many as a novel and chic way to socialize and embrace multiculturalism. The reason I chose Dearborn is that it has the biggest population of Arabs in the US. It is located in the Detroit Metro Area, where Wayne State University is located. A Hookah lounge will serve as a Language Club for an authentic interactive and creative learning environment, which will create learning opportunities for the students (heritage and non-heritage) outside the classroom, helping them practice their linguistic skills in the real world while staying 80% within the Target language. (Social Distancing and mask-wearing will be practiced.)

Audience

The target audience is Arabic learners who have completed at least two Arabic courses. The majority of Arabic learners (ALs) are planning to visit the Middle East so that they can experience the Arab culture first hand. This course will introduce students to Arabic culture because they will visit Hookah Lounge in Dearborn where Levantine style is very authentic and Ishtar Restaurant, which represents Middle East culture. By visiting these sites, students will able to apply Arab courtesies appropriately.

Content and Design

Arabic Language and Culture Program introduce students to life in the Middle East through classroom discussions and face-to-face visits to Hookah Lounges and Ishtar Restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan. The course has four units: 1) Introducing self, 2) Identifying numbers and days of the week, 3) Talking about family members, student life, occupation, and leisure activities, and 4) Expressing emotions and feelings, 5) Arabic food and drink. Learning goals are outlined below:

Goal 1: Students can greet each other and say good-bye, and they can introduce themselves by name, nationality, and profession. Standards targeted is interpersonal communication.

Goal 2: Students can use number combinations from 0 to 5000 in situations to express their age, address, phone numbers, dates, time, price Standards is interpersonal communication, and cultural comparison.

Goal 3: Students can introduce others, especially family members, by name, nationality, and occupation.

Goal 4: Students can talk about how they feel using a wide range of adjectives.

Goal 5: Students will be able to talk about their majors and minors.

Goal 6: Students will be able to communicate by providing information about what they like and dislike doing in their leisure time.

Goal 7: Students will be able to relate to Arabic culture as it relates to food and drinks. For accomplishing this objective, students will prepare for the Taste of Arabia party and visit the Hookah lounge in Dearborn. Heritage students who form the majority of the class will prepare for a cultural day by inviting non-heritage student s to Arabic traditional dishes from different countries. This is a big authentic event that incorporates Arabic culture into the course. It will be held in the Ishtar restaurant, which represents the Middle Eastern culture in many ways. Second, students will visit Hookah Lounge in Dearborn where they will be able to rehearse their Arabic language skills.

Arabic Language and Culture Course are designed to introduce students to life in the Middle East, both linguistically and culturally. That is, it incorporates both Arabic language and culture. Additionally, it provides a comprehensive introduction to Arab culture through class discussions and f2f visits to places of cultural significance. This course takes 14 weeks and offers 25 contact hours, as elaborated below.

· Eight hours to introduce themselves. This unit differs from prior units in that learners will be taught to introduce themselves in a week dedicated to the acquisition of listening, cultural, and speaking skills. The Arabic Language and Culture Program differs from the...

Furthermore, it familiarizes fellows with multiple sociolinguistic Arabic Language Levels, highlighting the cultural settings for the application of Arabic frameworks and vocabulary. Teaching materials utilized in the program include 4 Arabic multi-media book units (book title - “Hadduuta MaSriyya” “An Egyptian Story”), which is, at present, in the development phase, by three senior CASA educators. The textbook is in its final stage of editing and revision and is expected to be published in the spring.
· Eight hours weekly dedicated to additional MSA skills development in the areas of listening, reading, writing, and speaking via Egypt: Culture and Society course. This program especially emphasizes listening to and reading the news every day, which familiarizes fellows with historical, economic, political, and social elements that have marked the history of Egypt and resulted in the modern-day Egyptian nation. In this program, CASA will utilize its novel listening and reading material intended specifically for this program, which is currently in the editing stage for publication in spring.

· 3-4 hours weekly dedicated to practicing verbal communication skills by fellows through discussing Egyptian society and culture with their language partners — commonly Egyptian college-goers – in small groups made up of 4 or 5 students. This activity, titled Mishwaar wa Dardasha “Field Trip and Conversation,” involves individual groups meeting up with their respective language partners for visiting a site in Cairo (for instance, al-Hussein, Sayyida Zaynab, or Azhar Park, to name a few), exploring it, and discussing several problems and subjects associated with their study of Egypt and personal experiences in the country.

· Three hours weekly dedicated to the area of service-learning, which aims at extending learning beyond classroom settings and into real-world (community) settings. In summer 2007, students collaborated with a couple of non-governmental organizations in Cairo’s Mokattam area, one which aids matriarchal families and the other that caters to children hailing from underprivileged households.

Additionally, fellows commit a further 3-4 hours every day to complete homework assignments as well as taking part in various cultural activities in Cairo, as boat rides on the River Nile, watching a movie at the theater, visiting local markets, and cafes, etc.

The program will introduce students to life in the Middle East, both linguistically and culturally. It provides an extensive introduction to Arabic culture and society through lectures and tours of sites of historical and cultural significance. This program takes 14 weeks and offers three context hours per week as follows:

· Three hours a week devoted to the development of speaking, listening, and cultural skills.

· Two to three hours a week devoted to allowing students to practice their oral skills and engage in discussions of Arabic culture and society. Students will visit the Arab American museum.

· Four hours a week devoted to service-learning, aiming to expand learning beyond the classroom and into the community.

· Students will participate in several cultural activities in Michigan, such as visiting local cafés

Teaching techniques:

· class discussions in Arabic

· In this section, I will explain two lesson plans for teaching the act of refusal according to Arabic pragmatics. The lesson plans include role-play, discussion, and practice.

Lesson Plan 1:

· Teaching the Act of Refusal According to Arabic Pragmatics: Welcoming and Serving Guests (Arabic Beginners/Intermediate Level)

· This pragmatics lesson is for university-level students ranging from ages 18 and older. Most of whom speak English as their native language and come from American cultural backgrounds. The number of students can range from five to fifteen students. This lesson is for students who have covered at least three months of Arabic. Therefore, they have learned the alphabet, can read and write at a basic level and know how to use basic terms.

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· Communicative Goal: Students will be able to welcome guests, offer and refuse food and beverages according to Arabic pragmatics. More specifically: Hosts will walk behind the guests and sit down after they have sat down. Hosts will serve coffee and sweets with their right hand, and the guests will…