arabicclassinterm1

171 Intermediate Arabic I

Syllabus

Supplementary Materials information

Audiotapes information

Student feedback

Other resources

Syllabus from Fall 2000

[Some information like the professor's phone number, email, etc. removed]

Course Outline

The course includes 6 chapters, with an introduction that includes the objectives for every exercise. Each chapter has one main theme with many exercises. The last chapter is about the Seerah of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). This chapter is for intensive reading that requires the understanding of the general meanings of each paragraph.

Course Materials:

Textbook: Arabic: A Bridge to Islamic Culture (Intermediate Arabic I) by Dr. Mamdouh N. Mohamed.

6 Audiotapes: Arabic: A Bridge to Islamic Culture (Intermediate Arabic I) by Dr. Mamdouh N Mohamed

Study Tips:

Study the objectives of each exercise well; develop flash cards, and read loudly until your family becomes tired of you; listen to the tapes well; especially the Seerah tape, #6, which you should try to listen to at least once a day; and finally; call your teacher regularly.

Exam Schedule:

EXAM	STUDENTS RECEIVE	DUE TO INSTRUCTORS	MATERIAL COVERED
Exam 1	October 9, 2000	October 14, 2000	Chapters 1-2
Exam 2	November 6, 2000	November 11, 2000	Chapters 3-4
Oral Exam		December 2-15, 2000	Chapters 5-6

Supplementary materials information

None

Audiotapes information

The audiotapes are by Dr. Mamdouh Mohamed, who reads the reading sections and most of the exercises. Usually he explains the exercises and may do one exercise as an example.

Student Feedback

Three words: Vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary.

Memorize the vocabulary through any way you can: by flashcards or anything else. This is the key and all subsequent classes build on this vocabulary. If you don't concentrate on vocabulary now, you will probably regret it later.

This class seems hard at first, but inshaAllah, you will be learning a lot even though you don't realize it. Dr. Mamdouh's method is very different from many Arabic language books and tapes you may have seen before. He practically does not touch grammar and relies on the student to "learn by ear". You have to practice reading the sections out loud over and over, almost to the point that you have them memorized. You do have to memorize the vocabulary, and there is a lot of it. By knowing the vocabulary, you should be able to translate the sentences word by word from Arabic to English.

There are at least 4 parts to learning a language: listening, reading, speaking, and writing (i.e., while understanding). Classes like this one concentrate on the first two. You are practically never asked to speak or write in Arabic, but you will constantly be asked to listen and read, while understanding what that is. (By the way, in Arabic, there is a 5^th part, which is being able to read without understanding, because the Arabic letters are so much different from the English ones. The prerequisite oral exam checks for this 5^th skill).

Also, Dr. Mamdouh does not always define every word before he uses it. Sometimes, you will be required to determine the meaning of the word from the context or to look it up in the dictionary, just like you do with English.

There is no way to cram for this class. It requires a lot of time and a lot of effort. Consider this class the equivalent of 2 other classes; i.e. consider this as a 6-hour class.

Other Resources

Books

Audio