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Fun is the new requisite for Arabic in schools

Community learning approach to encourage use of language in daily life

Writing your own CV in Arabic is not a skill many expatriate job-seekers may have. However, walk into a school in Dubai and students may surprise you by handing in a brief Arabic profile about themselves.

Leila Gemei from Dubai International Academy doing calligraphy in Arabic at the Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Medical Academy, Dubai Healthcare City, on Monday. — KT photos by Rahul Gajjar

Arabic education has remained a key source of worry for private schools in Dubai for several years but efforts are being made to help more students learn the language. From role-playing activities to word of the day exercises, teachers are making an all out attempt to make language lessons more engaging.

Asma Mustafa Ahmed has been an Arabic teacher for the last 15 years in Dubai. She says students here have limited opportunities to practise the language.

“Arabic is not a difficult language to learn. The main problem faced by students is they can’t practise what they learn. They are only exposed to the language during their Arabic lessons in class. Getting a chance to practise is very difficult as most people speak English here.”

She believes in using activities to create interest among students. “Learning has to be fun and doing activities is one of the ways of making Arabic classes interesting. During exams, we test students on their vocabulary, writing skills and grammar. Reading is also one of the core areas of evaluation,” she said.

The difficulty in learning Arabic is far greater for students coming from outside the UAE. Students who are new to Dubai’s education system often find it hard to cope with the burden of learning a new language.

Fatemah Anwar Ali, an Arabic supervisor at GEMS Modern Academy, said, “We have programmes for such students who are new to the language. These students are given a yearly lesson plan to benefit from a modified syllabus which allows them to get gradually introduced to the subject. They also faced a simplified exam, keeping in view their basic understanding.”

Compulsory Arabic

The Arabic subject is compulsory for students and rules stipulated by the Ministry of Education mandate every student to pass end-year examinations. For students, the additional emphasis on Arabic is often seen as an added burden rather than an opportunity. Verona Margelle from United International Private School has been learning the language for nine years. She says, “I have been learning Arabic since Grade 1 and honestly I used to be afraid of learning it initially. Through the years, I have been able to understand better, and slowly it started becoming a little bit easier.”

Thousands of students like Verona struggle to speak the language even after years of classes. A few phrases and words are all they manage to scrape through a basic conversation.

“It is hard to speak fluently but I can say a few phrases and maybe one day I will speak fluently. At school, we already have English and Filipino lessons. Every day we have a 40-minute Arabic class. It would be better if the teachers can focus more on grammar and vocabulary during daily lessons.”

Mohammed Raza, a Grade 9 student at the Crescent English School in Dubai, said, “My Arabic is not that great but I can manage a basic conversation. Whenever there is an exam, we will memorise key words and prepare ourselves to write an essay on any given topic.”

Nada Sunil, another student at the school, said: “It is not very difficult to read or write Arabic once you start learning with the right attitude. Our teachers make a lot of effort to improve our conversational skills.”

Other second languages

Schools offer a variety of second languages for students including French, German, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu and Tamil, among others. The compulsion of Arabic subject makes it a third language at most schools.

“Our school has provided Arabic in addition to a second language which is a more intensive study of the regular lessons. It focuses on life skills and lots of students opt for it because learning the local language is a key skill in the future, especially for employment,” said Sunil.

Education regulator Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) hosted a new initiative on Monday to take Arabic teaching ‘beyond classroom borders’.

At the latest edition of its ‘What Works’ series, students wore “I’m learning Arabic badges”, while teachers wore “I’m a community tutor badges”. The two groups were encouraged to mingle, giving students the chance to practise their Arabic in a real environment, and teachers a better understanding of where they need assistance.

This ‘community learning’ approach has been designed by schools to encourage the use of Arabic in everyday life.

muaz@khaleejtimes.com