EARLY BIRD FEES apply for some courses!

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is an introductory Arabic course in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). It is not in dialectal Arabic. The course will begin by providing students with an understanding of the importance of and key areas where Arabic is spoken, and the differences between MSA and dialectal Arabic. Each lesson is basically split into two halves: the first half is focused on acquiring a comprehensive grounding in the Arabic alphabet and numbering system (and by the end of the course students will have learned the entire Arabic alphabet) and learning to identify, reproduce and join the letters; the second half is focused on conversational Arabic for leisure, social, work and family purposes. The tutor will train students to use transliterations (and translations) which aid the learning of conversational Arabic before students have fully acquired the Arabic alphabet. The course will also cover foundational grammatical concepts from which to form basic sentences, enabling students to be well-equipped and confident to progress to higher levels of Arabic. Students will be encouraged to actively participate in oral and written exercises with both the tutor and their classmates. The learning environment is sociable and relaxed, but focused. The course is for absolute beginners. No prior knowledge is required.

Great course for business travelers or for those working in the hospitality and tourism industries, or for leisure travelers.

COURSE CONTENT
• Arabic alphabet – alif, baa, taa, thaa etc. (initial, medial, final and independent forms of all letters)
• Short vowels and diacritical markings: fatHa, kasra, Damma, shadda, sukuun, hamza, laam alif, dagger alif etc.
• Connecting and non-connecting letters
• Long vowels – alif, waw, yaa
• Numbering system (cardinal numbers)
• Tanween (e.g. double Damma)
• Greetings and basic conversation e.g. feelings, travel, social
• Nationalities
• Addressing people
• Genders
• Basic verbs e.g. to study, to write, to understand
• Discussion of the Middle East and North Africa region e.g. history, dialectal Arabic etc.
• Difference between al-fusHa and al-aamiyya
• Nouns and possessive adjectives e.g. ‘my sister’ and 'his house'
• Noun-adjective construction e.g. ‘the man is tall’ versus ‘the tall man’ versus 'a tall man'
• IDaafa
• Sun and moon letters
• Regular letter-joining training
• Training in the use of transliterations

COURSE OUTCOMES
By the end of the 8-week course students should:
• Be able to read, recognise and reproduce all letters of the Arabic alphabet
• Have basic skills in writing in Arabic (joining letters)
• Be able to converse at a basic level in Arabic with friends, family and colleagues
• Be able to recognise and reproduce basic grammatical structures in Arabic