The American University in Cairo s1

The American University in Cairo

The Academy of Liberal Arts Department of Arabic Language Instruction

Winter/Spring 2018 Insructors: Shahira Yacout & Shereen El Ezabi Course Title: Elementary Spoken Egyptian and Modern Standard Arabic

Course Description:

This is an accelerated, Arabic language course for beginners, focusing on the spoken Arabic of Cairo. It introduces students to the phonology of Arabic, its writing system, basic structures, as well as high frequency words and expressions Student Learning Outcomes:

1. understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics. 2. demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between some of the practices and perspectives of the culture studied. 3. demonstrate an understanding of the nature of language by comparing the language they study and their own. 4. use the language both within and beyond the classroom setting. 5. articulate the importance of learning another language in order to engage people unlike them in terms that affirm others as persons created in God’s image.

Schedule:

Weeks 1 & 2 (January 8-Januaary 19, 2018) intensive (3 hours/day)

- Egyptian -Arabic greetings and forms of address - Self- Introduction phrases and sentences

- Interrogatives, numbers and basic directions. - Basic constructions such as “I want”, “ I like”, “May I?” , “Can you?” etc., followed by high frequency words related to food, drink, transportation, as well as common verbs, such as “ go”, “come”, “see”, “walk”, “sleep”, “eat”, “drink”, “buy” etc.

- Overview of Arabic alphabet (referencing proper nouns, names, Arabic-English cognates etc.) - Completion of Arabic script.

Weeks 3-9 (January 31-March 14)

Mondays and Wednesdays 9:00-10:30

- High frequency words and expressions selected from students’ input and questions from the interval since the last session before trip.

- Expansion of vocabulary related to family, hobbies, academic and professional pursuits.

- Basic phrase and sentence structures with emphasis on the categories of definiteness and indefiniteness

- Subject pronouns.

- Possessives

- Basic verb conjugations and negation

- Popular songs with discussion of themes and familiar linguistic items

Final Exam: Wednesday March 14

Required Textbooks

- Alif Baa’, by Mahmoud AL Batal, Kristen Brostad and Abbas El Tonsi

- Kallimni ‘Arabi Bishweesh, by Samia Louis