Arabic Language and Culture Course: Middle East Culture

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 remaining introductory-level programs in a colloquial language in its utilization of fellows’ advanced Arabic Language knowledge for swift course introduction. 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.
· 95
· 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 take sweets and coffee with their right hand as well.
· When they want to refuse the second cup of coffee, they will shake the cup to indicate they have had enough.
· Standards: Interpersonal Communication and Cultural Comparison.
· Activity 1 Let’s visit our friend! (Role-Play)
· Time allotted for activity: 30 minutes
· Teaching aids include: An Arabic native speaker as a guest, plates, cups, a coffee pitcher, a tray, real sweets if possible, or pictures of food and beverages.
· Description of Activity:
· For modeling the role-play, the instructor will be the host, and the Arabic native speaker will play the role of the guest. Both of them will engage in a typical dialogue that you find in Arab houses receiving guests. The instructor will offer him or her coffee, tea, or juice; the guest will refuse at the beginning and then choose a beverage. The instructor will put sweet pictures on the guest’s plate.
Students will be in groups of five (two hosts and three guests), or in the case of a class of only five, in one group, each student will take turns being the host and practice welcoming guests and serving them.
Activity 2: Speech bubble scenarios
Communicative goal: Students can negotiate and judge what will be the most pragmatically appropriate phrase to interject into the scenarios.
Standards: Interpersonal speaking and writing, and cultural comparison.
Time allotted for activity: 20 minutes
In pairs, students will negotiate what should go in the speech bubbles. (See Appendix D)
Formative Assessment: Students will act out each scenario with the phrases they chose for each one.
Lesson Plan 2:
Teaching the Act of Refusal According to Arabic Pragmatics: Refusing a gift. (Arabic 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 5 to 15 students. This lesson is for students who have covered at least two semesters of Arabic. Therefore, they can understand and form decent paragraphs. They have a basic grasp of the Arab culture beyond Arab cuisine and clothing. Some have perhaps been to the Arab world and have experienced a bit of day-to-day pragmatic exchanges in the Arab culture.
Communicative Goal: Students can make pragmatically appropriate refusals to gifts.
Standards: Interpersonal speaking and writing, Culture Comparison, and Presentational speaking.
Activity: 1 Do I refuse a gift?
Time allotted for activity: 20 minutes
Teaching aids: Native Arabic speaker
Description of Activity:
For modeling, the instructor and native Arabic speaker will act out a scenario where he/she admires a pin on the instructor’s jacket. The instructor then takes it off and offers it as a gift. He/she tries to refuse in the most appropriate way possible. The instructor insists and manages to make him/her accept.
Both the instructor and class guest then make a point to the students that despite the acceptance of the gift, it was important to refuse many times to show politeness otherwise, he/she would be perceived as extremely rude and ungrateful if he/she accepted the pin from the first offer. Most importantly, students are advised not to admire Arabs belongings because most likely, they will offer it as a gift, which can be an embarrassing situation.
The instructor and guest act out another scenario where one gives a gift to the other. The class guest refuses the gift then praises the instructor (gift giver) before accepting. In pairs, students offer each other gifts in turn. (Of course, for pretend). Students can choose to admire their belongings if they want.
Formative Assessment: Students in pairs receive speech bubble dialogues (in Arabic) to negotiate and judge what appropriate phrases pragmatically fit into the scenario. Students then act out their scenario
· Conclusion
Participants
Approximately 20 ALs will take this course. The participants in this course are students who speak English as their first language.
Impact and Assessment
When this course ends, students will have an understanding of products, perspectives, and practices of cultures that speak the targeted language (Arabic). The students describe the customs and traditions of the Arabic culture, such as greetings, celebrations, and courtesies. As for connections and comparisons and communities, the students can utilize information garnered from a study of the target language as well as information gathered on other topics for reinforcing each other. Students demonstrate knowledge of geographical locations and identify major countries, cities, and geographical features of the places where the target language (Arabic) is spoken.
5 C’s of foreign language education describes knowledge and abilities students should be able to acquire by the end of this project.
· Students should appreciate the Arabic culture.
· Using Arabic in the real world: the restaurant.
Students will visit Arab restaurants. By doing so, they involve themselves with the target language community.
Students will practice Arabic in real-life cultural settings.
-students can count money using correct currency terms.

Timeline
Activities
Date

Submit project proposal
August 2020

Grant notification
September 2020

Developing instructional materials.
December 2020

Teacher training
February 2020

Teaching Arabic 2xx
March 2021

Preparing results report
July 2021



Budget
Budget
The table below presents an Itemized Budget and Budget Narrative for implementing the Arabic Language and Culture course.
Category
Quantity/Rate
Unit Price (US$)
Total(US$)
Notes

1. Material Supplies

Curriculum development
1
300
300


Guides and Assessment Tools for tutors
4
35
120








Instructional materials
20
50
1000
Includes folders, print outs etc.

1. Personnel

Program Coordinator Allowance
1*35
1200
1200
The coordinator fee entails an hourly rate of $40 for 30 hours. The fee will cater for preparation, planning, and participation in the program

Teaching Assistant Allowance
1*30
500
500
The teaching assistant hourly rate of $20 for 25 hours. The expense will cater for the preparation, planning, and participation in the program

1. Excursion Expenses

Excursion fee at Hookah Lounge
23
50
1150
Include 20 students, instructor, teaching assistant, and the guest native speaker

Excursion fee at Ishtar Restaurant
23
50
1150


Guest Allowance – Hookah Lounge and Ishtar Restaurant
1
200
200
An allowance for the Native Speaker Guest that will be helpful for students to experience authentic Arabic Experience

Excursions Travel Expense
22
15
330
Travel bus expense for the excursion at the Hookah Lounge and the at Ishtar Restaurant

University Classroom Fee and Administrative Fees
1
430
230
The expense covers the classroom fee and other associated expenses.

Miscellaneous Expense Allowance
1
200
200
The budget line for an unforeseen miscellaneous expense such as additional expense in purchasing the instruction materials or additional expense during excursions.

1. Total Project Budget
6,600




The proposed project implementation will enhance the vibrancy of students seeking to which will not only enable them to live abroad conveniently but will also build on their long-term professional goals. Moreover, by the students being multilingual and able to engage in intercultural communication, they present an invaluable asset as American Ambassadors to the Middle East. By students generating interest in the Arabic culture, they foster increasing research in linguistic and cultural Arabic skills.




References
Center for Arabic Study Abroad (Casa). (2012). USED Grant Proposal, 2008-2012. Cairo, Egypt, The University Of Texas, Austin. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpsgpa/texas.doc
Center for Cross-Cultural Learning. (2008). Arabic Course Description and Syllabus. Boston University Morocco Program. Department of Moroccan Languages and Culture CCCL. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/abroad/files/2009/12/syllabus-rabat-language-and-liberal-arts-rabat-arabic.pdf
General English Activities Worksheets Games. https://www.teach-this.com/general-activities-worksheets
Learn Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) Online with Arab Academy. https://www.arabacademy.com/msa/
Syllabus for Spanish Culture - Instructure. https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/902107/assignments/syllabus
Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1820&context=gradreports