Courses taught by Arabic faculty
2008/2009
Arabic 1B/2B - Intensive Elementary Modern Standard Arabic
Description:
The purpose of this course is to develop students' proficiency and communication in Modern Standard Arabic in the four basic language skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading (both oral and comprehension), and Writing. Cultural aspects are built into the course. This course as well as subsequent Arabic language courses helps students to rapidly advance in this language and prepares them for more advanced work on literary Arabic, as well as to work, travel or study abroad. By the end of this course, the majority of students should be expected to reach a level of Intermediate Low, according to ACTFL proficiency rating.
The teaching/learning process in this course is proficiency-based, where emphasis is placed on functional usage of the language and on communication in context in the four basic skills rather than solely on the conscious learning of grammar rules and mere cognitive understanding of the language. Students should consult grammar notes and rules of the structures in the textbook.
Requirements:
Attendance and participation. Prompt completion of assignments and homework. Completing Language Lab. assignments. Short weekly quizzes. Five tests (3 written and 2 oral), and a final.
Prerequisites:
Not open to native speakers of Arabic. Students with prior knowledge of Arabic should have the consent of the instructor.
Texts and Materials:
Peter Abboud, et al., Elementary Modern Standard Arabic.
Supplementary materials and exercises provided by the instructor.
Language Lab.
Grading:
No make-ups for tests or finals will be given unless students can provide a medical report.
Attendance and Participation: 20 %
Homework assignments (satisfactory and punctual): 15 %
Lab. Work: 15%
Tests and quizzes: 25 %
Final Examination: 25 %
1.5 credits.
Professor Attieh.
Arabic 1B/2B Drills
Arabic Lecturer Yamine Mermer and Sawsan Abbadi. Two sections
Arabic 3B/4B - Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic I and II
Course Description:
This course is designed to build upon skills in comprehension, listening, reading and writing developed in earlier courses. Students will gain increased vocabulary and a greater understanding of more complex grammatical structures. They will be able to approach prose, fiction, and non-fiction written in the language. Students will also increase their proficiency in Arabic script and sound system, widen their working vocabulary, learn key grammatical concepts, and practice conversation and dictation.
This course is the continuation of Arabic 002B, Intensive Beginners Arabic. Because the material covered in this course hinges heavily on the previous course, students are expected to review and be familiar with the previous lessons they took in Arabic 001B and 002B. After each new lesson, students are advised to thoroughly go over drills taken; not reviewing the lesson may hinder students' progress and understanding of subsequent lessons. Students are also encouraged to read in advance the lesson that is to be taken in the next class.
Prerequisites:
Arabic 002B or equivalent or permission of the Department.
Text and Materials:
Supplementary materials and exercises provided by the instructor.
Language Lab.
Student Evaluation:
Following is the distribution of marks:
Quizzes including dictation: 15%
Assignments and homework: 15%
Lab. work: 15%
Participation & Attendance: 15%
End of Term Exam: 20%
Final Exam: 20%
Students are expected to participate in classroom discussions. The instructor must be notified in advance if a student will be unable to attend a class for any reason. Marks will be deducted for late assignments. If there is a compelling reason why you are unable to finish an assignment by the deadline, please speak to the instructor before the assignment is due.
Arabic 3B/4B Drills
Arabic Lecturer Yamine Mermer.
ARABIC 005A. Arabic Conversation
Description:
A 0.5-credit conversation course concentrating on the development of intermediate skills in speaking and listening through texts and multimedia materials in Modern Standard Arabic. The aim of the course is for the student to acquire well-rounded communication skills and socio-cultural competence. The selected materials seek to stimulate students' curiosity and engagement with the ultimate goal of awakening a strong desire to express themselves in the language. Students are required to read chosen texts (including Internet materials) and prepare assignments all for the purpose of generating discussion in class. Moreover, students have to write out skits or reports for oral presentation in Arabic before they present them in class. The class is conducted entirely in Arabic.
The class may be divided into smaller groups if the need arises to facilitate conversation.
Prerequisites:
For students presently or previously in Arabic 003 or Arabic 004 or the equivalent.
ARABIC 006A. Advanced Arabic Conversation
Description:
A 0.5-credit conversation course concentrating on the development of advanced skills in speaking and listening through texts and multimedia materials in Modern Standard Arabic. The aim of the course is for the student to acquire well-rounded communication skills and socio-cultural competence. The selected materials seek to stimulate students' curiosity and engagement with the ultimate goal of awakening a strong desire to express themselves in the language. Students are required to read chosen texts (including Internet materials) and prepare assignments all for the purpose of generating discussion in class. Moreover, students have to write out skits or reports for oral presentation in Arabic before they present them in class. The class is conducted entirely in Arabic.
The class may be divided into smaller groups if the need arises to facilitate conversation.
Prerequisites:
For students presently or previously in Arabic 011 or above.
ARABIC 011. Advanced Arabic I
Description:
This is a course designed to: (1) conduct a quick review of the basic structures, grammar, and the first 1000 most frequent words of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) learned in earlier courses, (2) introduce the next 750 high frequency words in a variety of contexts with strong cultural content, (3) drill students in the more advanced grammatical structures of MSA, and (4) train students in developing reading skills that will assist them in comprehending a variety of MSA authentic reading passages of various genres and erforming reading tasks ranging from Intermediate to Intermediate High on the ACTFL scale.
The students are expected to discuss orally and in writing the texts in the textbook and the materials read, as well as prepare outlines and summaries for them, to converse on a variety of subjects, including everyday experiences, and to engage in these activities using strings that range from several sentences (including complex ones) to a cohesive paragraph-length discourse at the Intermediate High level.
Prerequisites:
Successful completion of Arabic 004B. Control of the 1000 most frequently used vocabulary and of the basic grammatical structures of MSA, reading and speaking competence at the level of Intermediate Mid, and consent of the instructor.
Requirements:
Six tests (with oral components), assignments for every class, and a final. Texts and Readings:
Abboud, et al., Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic, Revised Edition
Additional audio-visual materials to be provided by instructor
Grading:
Homework and assignments: 20%
Attendance and participation: 20%
Tests: 30%
Final: 30%
Arabic 012. Advanced Arabic II
Description:
This is a course designed to: (1) conduct a quick review of the basic structures, grammar, and the first 1750 most frequent words of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) learned in earlier courses, (2) introduce the next 750 high frequency words in a variety of contexts with strong cultural content, (3) drill students in the more advanced grammatical structures of MSA, and (4) train students in developing reading skills that will assist them in comprehending a variety of MSA authentic reading passages of various genres and performing reading tasks ranging from Intermediate to Intermediate High on the ACTFL scale.
The students are expected to discuss orally and in writing the texts in the textbook and the materials read, as well as prepare outlines and summaries for them, to converse on a variety of subjects, including everyday experiences, and to engage in these activities using strings that range from several sentences (including complex ones) to a cohesive paragraph-length discourse at the Intermediate High level.
Prerequisites:
Successful completion of Arabic 011. Control of the 1750 most frequently used vocabulary and of the basic grammatical structures of MSA, reading and speaking competence at the level of Intermediate Mid, and consent of the instructor.
Requirements:
Six tests (with oral components), assignments for every class, and a final.
Texts and Readings:
Abboud, et al., Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic, Revised Edition Additional audio-visual materials to be provided by instructor
Grading:
Homework and assignments: 20%
Attendance and participation: 20%
Tests: 30%
Final: 30%
Course Number
ARAB 027
WMST 027
Instructor
Walid Hamarneh
Description
The main aim of the course is to trace the shifts and changes in the constructions of women as literary characters in the modern fiction of the Arab World within the context of changing social, political, and cultural conditions. As the emphasis is on the literary institution itself we will start with readings by two seminal male writers. Al-Hakim exemplifies the by now well known and contradictory image of the woman/mother/nation or homeland, while Mahfuz shifted to a more nuanced construction of women characters that is in tandem with his conceptions of the novel as a realistic genre. With the second half of the twentieth Century and the quick shifts within the institutions of the Arabic novel, women writings became central to the institution itself and contributed greatly to its transformation. The rise of new social movements and the increasing role of women in society and culture resulted in quick and somewhat radical transformations of the constructions of women in fiction mostly as a result of writings by women themselves. Most of the readings for the course will try to trace and discuss the different paths charted by women writers during the last three decades of the twentieth Century. We will try to cover as many parts of the Arab World as possible, but due to the centrality of the Levant within Arab culture and literature as well as the availability of translations, the emphasis will be on Egypt and Lebanon. We will look at novels that address many issues facing women in the Arab World but also at women within the larger context of social and political challenges. We will then move to works that look at the Civil war in Lebanon which lasted for more than a decade and examine works revolving around women during the war by women writers, and end the course by examining two works related to the civil war in Lebanon, one by a woman writer who assumes the voice of a gay man during the war and one by a gay male writer who writes a first person novel of a woman.
In order to get a better picture of the culture and society we will also be watching movies that discuss some of the issues facing women in Arab societies.
Students will be asked to make class presentations and to write a final essay of an analytical and comparative nature.
Texts:
Provisional reading list:
These will be the basic texts. Some other background materials will be required readings too and will be provided by the instructor.
Tawfiq al-Hakim: Return of the Spirit.
Najib Mahfuz: Midaq Alley and Miramar.
Sahar Khalifah: Wild Thorns.
Ghada al-Samman: Beirut 75
Nawal Sadawi: Woman at Point Zero and She Has No Place In Paradise.
Alifa Rifaat: Distant View of the Minaret.
Hanan al-Shaykh: Women of Sand and Myrrh.
Etel Adnan: Sitt Marie-Rose.
Ahlam Mostghanemi: Memory in the Flesh
Hoda Barakat: The Stone of Laughter
Rabih Alameddine: I, the Divine: A Novel in First Chapters
Grading:
30% attendance and participation, 30% class presentations, 40% final essay.
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