'There's no genuine interest in learning Arabic'

Gabrielle Zhou Liang speaking about Gesture Responsive education at the What Works Fusion event held by KHDA

Expatriate school students in the UAE do not show a genuine interest in learning the Arabic language, making it harder for Arabic teachers to teach them the language, says teachers.
Many students treat the learning of the language as a 'chore', without genuine desire to master the language, making it impossible for Arabic language teachers to get students proficient in the language. However, even with the introduction of the new teaching and learning techniques in classrooms, progress is still very slow, according to a few Arabic teachers in Dubai.
Khaleej Times caught up with some Arabic teachers in Dubai who stated that only a handful of expatriate students grow to become proficient in the language, while a vast majority stick to only learning the script.
The teachers were attending What Works Fusion - the final What Works event of the academic year, hosted by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) on Monday.
Maha Ezzat, Arabic teacher at Greenfield Community School has been teaching the language for the last three years. She said: "Children automatically tend to accept that Arabic is a very hard subject.... They tend to shy away from making serious attempts at learning the language. The problem is a fixed mind-set, which is something that needs to change," said Ezzat.
Battling the challenges in learning and teaching Arabic, What Works focused on 'Gesture Responsive' education, featuring a talk by Gabrielle Zhou Liang, a Chinese teacher who has been living and working in Singapore since 2006.
Liang's gesture responsive method of teaching Chinese gained huge popularity among children belonging to the 5-8 years age groups in Singapore.
Her method of teaching Chinese as a second language in international schools meant that students were gifted with a greater understanding of the spoken language before developing the skills of speaking. "Using gestures while teaching students a foreign language helps them memorise words and phrases far more easily than using traditional teaching methods like worksheets and text books," said Liang.
She added: For example, if you're teaching kids about foods like 'burger' you depict that with a gesture of holding a burger in front of your face. In that way, children end up associating the gesture with the word and they don't forget it easily either. At some point in the conversation, people tend to use gestures and their hands to express themselves. The technique has done well with students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well," she explained.
"Using culturally appropriate signs to depict the words and phrases works very well on students," she added.
According to Ezzat, children need to feel comfortable while learning languages and if you provide a fun context and games while learning, interest in the subject is developed.
Raefa Sukkar and Mysa Shamsi, Arabic teachers at the Japanese School in Dubai said they have the additional challenge of teaching Japanese children Arabic because many children have the pre-conceived notion that they will be living in the UAE for a very short while.
"When expatriate students are not mentally open to learning a new language, it becomes harder for teachers to teach them," said Sukkar.
Shamsi said: "However, many children are receptive to learning new things and making learning interactive for them always works."
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

Dhanusha Gokulan

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com