INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR | 2014 LANGUAGE SUPPLEMENT 1 An exercise to learn Arabic. Chinese, which were up 19.1 percent and 18.2 percent, and 18.2 percent, up 19.1 percent were which Chinese, which MLA survey, As of the most recent respectively. the eighth most- was Arabic published in 2010, was with colleges and universities, in U.S. studied language nationwide. 35,083 course enrollments approximately
U.S. undergraduate students are enrolling in Arabic in enrolling students are undergraduate U.S. “The ability to speak Arabic is an increasingly im- is an increasingly Arabic ability to speak “The East is a Middle “The Holzapfel. says portant skill,” Although of fields.” for a wide variety area burgeoning in the intelligence community employment he says students, Arabic many among “white whale” is the hears of job opportunities at the State he regularly companies as well. and with private Department of conflicts in the number the growing given “And, lan- “Arabic he adds, Africa,” East and North Middle critical in humanitarian increasingly skills are guage a has added a senior, who is now Holzapfel, efforts.” “couldn’t he East studies and says minor in Middle full. class was that the Portuguese thankful” be more to the Modern According numbers. courses in record conducts foreign which Association (MLA), Language at the national level, surveys enrollment language at U.S. language far the fastest-growing is by Arabic events After the catastrophic colleges and universities. for the first time moved Arabic 2001, 11, of September studied in the languages into the top 10 list of foreign be- of 126.5 percent at a rate growing United States, had enrollment Arabic By 2009 2002 and 2006. tween far outpacing the sec- another 46.3 percent, grown and Korean languages, fastest-growing ond and third BY VICKI VALOSIK at the Univer- MAJOR in his senior year HISTORY A EUROPEAN LUKE HOLZAPFEL, but when his in college, Portuguese planned to take (UNH), Hampshire sity of New Arabic one of the last seats in introductory he snagged full, was of choice language out. things worked way for the he is happy Now instead. Arabic Is Bloom ng Is Bloom Arabic Arabic reasons, business, and cultural strategic, For institutions—even at U.S. rapidly have grown programs favorites. surpassing some traditional
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LANGUAGE SUPPLEMENT LANGUAGE
I EDUCATOR 2014 2 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR | 2014 LANGUAGE SUPPLEMENT butter, andcosmetic products. local villages,helping themsupportthemselvesand their families.Theco-opisalsorun by women;theyprocessargannuts to Tech University. Here, sheisatawomen’s arganoilcooperative intheOurikavalleyofAtlasMountainsMorocco.The co Alexa Smith(shownsecondfromthe left),studiedArabic in Morocco2012,nowusesherlanguageskillsinternational ing 400attimes, according toElliottColla, chair oftheDepartment courses persemester. After 9/11thatnumber quickly grew, reach- tween 125and150Georgetown studentsenrolled in Arabic language surge instudentinterest. PriortoSeptember 11, 2001, there were be- years, such astheoneatGeorgetown University, have alsofeltthe of language, andavariety ofcontentcoursestaughtin Arabic. gram hassinceexplodedto58different classes, includingfouryears 2001, withjustthree beginning sectionsoffirst-year Arabic. The pro- students whoknow Arabic.” but studentswhoknow themaren’t gettingtousethemasmuch as trends. Italian andGermanare beautifulandimportantlanguages, tant becausewe are preparing ournew generation tofaceglobal second year inarow. To Doueiri, thismakes sense. “Arabic isimpor- CSUSB graduated more Arabic majorsthanFrench majorsforthe of the Arabic Language Program atCSUSB, explainingthatin2013, languages. Bernardino (CSUSB), Arabic enrollment issurpassing traditional At someuniversities, such asCalifornia StateUniversity, San Longtime Foreign LanguageFavorites Arabic BecomingMorePopular ThanSome Older Arabic programs thathave enjoyed robust enrollment for CSUSB, which isonaquartersystem, startedoffering Arabic in “The balancehasreally shifted,” says Dany Doueiri, coordinator global village.” know theMiddle Eastisahotspot. They want tobeapartofthe are intelligent, smart, they pay attentiontoworld affairs, andthey Hampshire. “People aren’t asking ‘Where’s Iraq?’ anymore. Students Ruwa Majid-Pokorny, lecturer of Arabic attheUniversity ofNew fueled abroad interest intheregion anditslanguage.” by current events andsecuritydiscourse, andtherevolutions have all non-European languages, student interest in Arabic ispropelled instruction isonethatshouldholdstrong forthetimebeing. Like for themomentatleast,” says Colla. “The new plateaufor Arabic hovers ataround 350. “We thinkthattheboomin Arabic hasended, of Arabic andIslamicStudiesatGeorgetown. Enrollment currently associate professor of Arabic atMiamiUniversity inOxford, Ohio. tive director ofthe American Association of Teachers of Arabic and growing well before 2001according toElizabethBergman, execu- which have longbeentiedtoU.S. nationalsecurityinterests, were more recent uprisingsacross theregion, Arabic language studies, the increased publicinterest intheMiddle Eastsince9/11andthe While theboomin Arabic language hasundoubtedly beenfueledby Become EvenMorePopular Since Arabic Was Growing Before9/11ButHas “After 9/11, Arabic was more onthemindsofpeople,” says -op employs widows from -op employswidowsfrom education positionatTexas make argan oil, argan make arganoil,
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEXA SMITH 4 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR | 2014 LANGUAGE SUPPLEMENT University ofJordan Arabic professor, Areej ( University ofNew HampshirestudentKerriHagstrom poseswithher port from theFulbrightprogram hasbeencriticalintheuniversity’s began offering Arabic in2005response tostudentdemand, sup- guages Program. For theUniversity ofNew Hampshire, which first Program, The GilmanScholarship, andthe Teachers ofCriticalLan- at theuniversity level, includingtheCriticalLanguages Scholarship Arabic language initiatives forteachers andforstudentsK–12 tance of Arabic asa “critical language” andsupportedavariety of George W. Bushin2006. The NSLIfurtheremphasizedtheimpor- National SecurityLanguage Initiative (NSLI)introduced by President and more resources.” stay. We neededmore teachers, more classrooms, more textbooks, the U.S. interest inthe Arab world was increasing andwas here to September 2002, ithadbecomecleartoalloftheUnitedStatesthat 9/11 theupward trend becameanupward spike,” says Bergman. “By tion. Itcontinued toinch upwards for thenexttwo decades. “After in 1960to3,4661980, according totheModernLanguage Associa- tional enrollment inuniversity-level Arabic coursesrose from 541 “uncommonly taughtlanguages,” such as Arabic. As aresult, na- universities tobuildforeign language programs, particularly for Defense ofEducation Act of1958provided federal fundsforU.S. guage training in theU.S.” says Bergman. Title VI oftheNational “Since thedays ofSputnik, theU.S. government hassupportedlan- That needwas filled, inpart, by programs fundedthrough the ). media intheMiddle East, taughtin Arabic.” to maintainmotivation andinterest: Arab culture, Arabic literature, seeing,” says Hassan, “is anincrease inhigherlevel classesdesigned two years oflanguage training foradvanced students. “What we are and more schools are realizing aneedtoprovide optionsbeyond directly intointermediateoradvanced classes. As withUNH, more students thechance toentercollegewithbasicproficiency andmove necessary touse Arabic academically. Startinginhighschool gives Project, ittakes between five andseven years toachieve thelevel gan University anddirector oftheFlagship K–12 Arabic Curriculum According to Wafa Hassan, assistantprofessor at Western Michi- program, aimtoexposehighschool studentstothe Arabic language. an added benefit. sure studentshave gainedtotheEgyptiandialecthasproven tobe was abletoofferathird year of Arabic forthefirsttime. The expo- as alanguage teaching assistant, and, asaresult, thedepartment successfully applied tobringaFulbrightfellow from EgypttoUNH ‘Wouldn’t itbeniceifwe didn’t have topay forit?’” The university year of Arabic sincethedemandwas clearly there. Butwe thought, and budgetwere hugeobstacles. Last year we decidedtoadd athird step oftheway we were thinkingaboutexpanding, buttheeconomy ability toincrease its Arabic offerings. Majid-Pokorny recalls, “Each have usedmy language to converse withour program partners, write an efforttospeak withthemintheirnative tongue,” says Erickson. “I made tolearntheirlanguage, understandtheir culture, and make development inrural Morocco. “They appreciated the effortthatI preservationist andfoundedanonprofit thatfocusesoncommunity ickson now lives inMorocco, where sheworks asanarchitectural in theMiddle East, returned tocampustake Arabic classes. Er- State University in2000andthen, inpursuitofhergoaltowork dina Erickson, whoreceived amaster’s ofarchitecture from Montana speak Arabic.” in theMiddleandotherprofessionals Eastneedengineers whocan but alsoforbusiness. Somany American-based companiesworking the UnitedStates, notonly fornationalsecurityandthemilitary, Wafa Hassan. “Arabic isoneofthemostimportantlanguages for tive continues toprove true, and notjustforlanguage majors, says idea that Arabic language skillsmake ajobapplicant more competi- that Arabic willgive themalegupwhenitcomestojob.” The Bergman, “we’ve seenanenormousspike inpeoplewhobelieve Arabic forprofessional reasons. “Over thelastseveral years,” says to Bergman, however, thebiggestgrowth isamongthosestudying Arabic-speaking parent butnever learnedthelanguage. According language, such asstudentswhoare oftheMuslimfaithorhave an academic interest in Arab culture orapersonalconnectiontothe A growing number ofstudentsare pursuing Arabic becauseofan Cultural ConnectionsSparkInterest Other programs, such asSTARTALK andtheLanguage Flagship “Speaking Arabic was thegateway tomy career,” says CloeMe-
PHOTO COURTESY OF KERRI HAGSTROM 6 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR | 2014 LANGUAGE SUPPLEMENT perience anew culture, orpractice aspecificdialect, there are students receiving academiccredit fortheirstudy abroad programs. ure IIEconsidersconservative sinceitincludesonly degree-seeking year, 7,206university studentsstudiedintheMENA region, afig- steadily rose over thenextdecade. Duringthe2010–2011school prior to9/11. The number dippedto902thefollowing year, butthen in theMiddle EastandNorth Africa (MENA) duringtheschool year national Education(IIE), 2,139 American university studentsstudied region. According tothe also leadtogreater participationinstudy abroad programs inthe The growth in Arabic enrollment throughout thepastdecadehas Programs AbroadAbound Arabic LanguageImmersion the work thatIamdoingwithoutknowing Arabic.” contracts, andmeetwiththeMoroccan government. Icouldnotdo Arabic literature, mediaintheMiddleEast, taughtin Arabic. For studentswanting tobeimmersedinthelanguage, ex- www.auce STANDARD ARABIC ARABIC STANDARD …and many more! many …and QUR’ANIC STUDIES “ BUSINESS WRITING WRITING BUSINESS POLITICAL TEXTS designed tomaintainmotivation andinterest: Arab culture, CALLIGRAPHY TRANSLATION TRANSLATION COLLOQUIAL COLLOQUIAL INCLUDE: COURSES MODERN ARABIC ARABIC What we areseeing, isanincreaseinhigherlevel classes gyp
t.edu/huss/ali new t.edu/huss/ali THET ARABIC LANGUAGE INSTITUTE H E
A IMMERSE A HISTORY OF EXCELLENCE OFEXCELLENCE A HISTORY world. someby of the bestArabic instructors in the small, tailored to your skill level, and taught theArabWorld, Cairo, Egypt. Classes are language while living in the cultural seat of States with an 80-year history of excellence. is fully accredited inUnitedthe and Egypt Arabic language instructionALI training. and faculty with comprehensivediversified and and students both Arabic, providing of study be the leading academic centerthe for TheArabic Language Institute continues to R Open Doors A B I C L report by theInstituteofInter- A yourself in Arabic the N G U y A ork@auce G E I N gyp S T I T t.edu t.edu U T E 2008 and2012, enrollment took ahitlastsummer(to63students as applications to AUB’s intensive summerprogram doubledbetween when worrisome events ofterms.” occur nearthebeginnings Although tend tobeinfluenced by regional events, withenrollments dropping intensive Arabic-as-foreign-language program, says, “Our enrollments guages atthe American University of Beirut(AUB), which offersan Wilmsen, chair oftheDepartment of Arabic andNearEasternLan- programs inJordan and Oman have experiencedasurge. David reduced numbers—or inthecaseofSyria, completely shutdown— the country. While someprograms inEgyptandLebanonhave seen but whethertheimpacthasbeenpositive ornegative depends on been impactedby theevents intheMiddle EastandNorth Africa, language. That’s how you learnit.” where itisspoken andpick uponthecultural cuesconnectedtothe to learnthanotherlanguages. You definitely needtogoaplace “I don’t thinkIwould have learnedthelanguage. Arabic isharder to continue hisstudiesinEgypt. “If Ihadn’t goneabroad,” hesays, Scholarship fundedby theNationalSecurityEducationProgram Al Akhawayn University learning Arabic andlaterreceived aBoren MSU graduate withaBA inanthropology, spenthisjunioryear at create anintegrated study abroad program. GabeLavin, arecent in 1995, itpartnered with Al Akhawayn University inMorocco to they are studying.” merse themselves intheculture andsocietyofthelanguages we understandthatfluency isreached only whenstudentsim- program isintensive by American standards,” says Colla. “Still, town University, study abroad isaprogram requirement. “Our says Bergman. For some Arabic majors, such asthoseatGeorge- see pictures, andread theblogsofstudentsstudying there,” what itwould belike tostudy in Amman,’ they cangoonline, to informationviatheinternet. “When studentssay, ‘I wonder ential learningatcollegesanduniversities andgreater access studying abroad becauseofanincreased pushtoward experi- tural understanding, Bergman believes thatmore studentsare abroad, such asbetterlanguage absorption andimproved cul- dition tothegrowing awareness ofthebenefitsstudying to language centersanduniversities across theregion. Inad- led by U.S. faculty. Studentsare alsotraveling independently private companiestoarrange forprograms in-countrylogistics with schools intheregion, whileothersare choosing touse U.S. universities andcollegeshave longstandingpartnerships more opportunitiesthanever tostudy intheMiddle East. Many In recent years, enrollments ineducationabroad programs have Montana StateUniversity (MSU)was aheadofthecurve when, ’’ 8 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR | 2014 LANGUAGE SUPPLEMENT proved by “leaps andbounds” duringherprogram inMorocco. Smith of 11percent. Arabic hasgrown tobetween 175and185, withanacceptance rate hort of86. Inrecent years, thenumber ofavailable scholarships for students toJordan, Morocco, andOman, beganin2006with aco- the U.S. Department ofStateandcurrently sends Arabic-language Critical Language Scholarship program (CLS), which isfundedby study have becomemore plentiful, as well asmore competitive. The phasis on Arabic, scholarships totheregion forintensive language Over thepastdecade, astheU.S. government hasplacedmore em- Scholarships HaveanImpact highly safeOmanisbeingdiscovered.” to “regional securitythreats which suddenly meanthat ancientand be aneven larger enrollment in2014andcredits CIL’s growth, inpart, CIL President and Academic DeanLarryBrown anticipatesthere will ment nearly triplesince2011, from 122studentsin2011to326 2013. for InternationalLearning(CIL)inOmanhasseenitsstudentenroll- ries aboutthecivil war inneighboringSyria.” Incontrast, theCenter compared toaround 80or90theprevious summers) “because ofwor- Where willyour Arabic skillstake you? Alexa Smith, aCLSparticipantin2012, says thather Arabic im- advanced levels Beginning through Small classsizes 4-5 hoursofinstructionperday June 16–August8,2014 Program Highlights Arabic SUMMER INTENSIVELANGUAGEPROGRAM Be theSolution 4 Chinese 4 French 4 Japanese ®
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go.miis.edu/silp 4 Spanish 4 Russian
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(831) 647-4115 experience intheNovember/December2013issueof Invite anInternationalStudentHomeforThanksgiving,” aboutherpersonal VICKI VALOSIK you canignore.” people whospeakthelanguage,” says Hassan. “This isnotanumber stand Arabic culture andwant tocommunicate withthe350million students inthisnew generation of Americans really want tounder- standing isamotivating factorformany young people. “So many and humanizethem, thenitishard forthebigotrytocontinue.” Arab cultures have tooffer,” Smithrecalls. “When you meetpeople to exposepeopleallthewonderful thingsthat Arabic speakers and to choose Arabic asherthird language. “I wanted todowhatIcould German), aninterest inmarginalized immigrant populationsledher Smith was aGermanmajor(andlaterearnedmaster’s degree in invested inthemandnotjustprocess theirpaperwork.” Even though guage skillsallow herto “get toknow themonadeeper level, get with studentsfrom theMiddle Eastandfeelsthather Arabic lan- Sponsored StudentPrograms at Texas Tech. Sheregularly interacts on adaily basisthrough herjobascoordinator fortheInternational is astudy abroad successstory, asshecontinues touseher Arabic According to Wafa Hassan, thisdesire forcross-cultural under- Application Deadline: Our summerprogramcanhelpyougetthere. translation &interpretationorlanguageteaching. careers ininternationalpolicy, business, Your languageskillscanleadtoexciting isafreelancewriterinWashington, D.C. Shewrote “IfYou
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