Summer Intensive Arabic Program at Cornell
June 3-July 30, 2010
Cornell University Department of Near Eastern Studies
Overview
The Cornell Arabic program integrates spoken Arabic with Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in a way that reflects the use of the language by native speakers. Arabs use a spoken dialect for ordinary conversation and MSA for reading, writing, and formal speech. The Cornell program introduces spoken Arabic and MSA simultaneously, using each variety as it is used in real life. The four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are developed with a focus on communication (i.e., understanding the language and communicating ideas in it) rather than on the study of grammar. An important objective of the program is familiarizing students with basic facts about the geography, history, and culture of the Arab world.
Classes will meet for 3 1/2 hours in the morning (8:30-12) before breaking for lunch. Teachers will be available to help students with homework and for informal conversation between noon and 2 p.m. Every week will be concluded with a lunch that the students and teachers eat together at a local Middle East restaurant, where the students will have a chance to practice their Arabic with native speakers outside of the classroom. Students (except those in Elementary Arabic I) will sign a pledge to converse only in Arabic with other students in the program and with faculty members in and outside of the classroom.
The Arabic Summer Intensive Program, which is open to students from Cornell as well as students from other institutions, constitutes the first phase of the Intensive Arabic Program (IAP). The second phase takes place at Cornell and consists of fifteen weeks of intensive study in the fall, and the third and final phase involves students enrolling at the Hashemite University in Jordan for the duration of the spring semester and taking four specially designed courses taught entirely in Arabic by a Cornell Arabic faculty member.
Arabic learning community
In this program, students and teachers will form an "Arabic learning community." The teachers will work as a team, sharing the tasks of teaching, providing supplementary materials, and planning activities that enhance classroom instruction. The number of students in each class is capped at ten, so the teacher/student ratio will be around one to six.
A faculty member will join students at one of the dorms available for students during the summer session. He/she will be responsible for conducting cultural events during the evenings and weekends as well as addressing the questions and concerns of the students. Cultural events will include:
- Arabic cinema: The faculty member will join the students in viewing an Arabic film once a week. A discussion will follow the film. In this way, students will be exposed to Arabic culture through media in an informal setting.
- Word games: The faculty member will lead games that will help students build their Arabic vocabulary in an Arabic-only atmosphere, such as "Hangman," Scrabble, Taboo, Twenty Questions, "Let's Mingle," "Thinking Maps," etc., as well as crossword puzzles and pictograms.
- Arabic kitchen: Students and the faculty member will meet regularly to cook Middle Eastern cuisine.
- Arabic party: At this event, held at the end of the program, students will make a presentation about an Arabic country, city, or personality, sing an Arabic song, or recite Arabic poetry.
- Arabic dance: Students will learn traditional dances such as the folkloric Lebanese dabke.
