What is Arabic for Life Program?
An educational program that enables learners to communicate in Arabic in daily-life situations. Dialogues, vocabularies, linguistic and cultural expressions are both supported with pictures and translated into the language of learners for better language acquisition and retention
Purpose of Arabic for Life Program
Daily communication is the main purpose of learning foreign languages; our program aims to enable non-native speakers to use daily-life Arabic through daily situations and topics such as market, restaurant, hotel, bank, school, work, occasions, etc
As a learner, after studying this program, you will handle conversations in diverse communicative situations to achieve your purposes
Arabic for Life Program enhances language practicing to overcome the common problem of studying vocabulary and grammar without being able to use the language practically
Components
Student Book
Description
The book contains 20 units, each one starts with an introduction page in the form of communication situations and related daily conversations. The introduction page also contains the ‘Learn’ box presenting new words, grammar, reading and speaking
After the introduction page comes the lessons which are sub-ideas of the introduction, each lesson also contains the ‘Learn’ box
At the end of each unit, there is a page for idioms that includes a number of sayings, proverbs, etc. These cultural expressions are related to the unit’s content; they are presented along with translation of both their literal and figurative meaning
Authoring Philosophy
Introducing vocabulary, expressions, sentences, dialogues, and cultural expressions related to of these situations, in addition to basic grammar
Building linguistic and cultural content according to the principles of the communicative approach in teaching foreign languages
Selecting the most common and comprehensive communication situations to satisfy learners’ communication needs and cover various areas of life
Using illustrative means, such as: pictures selected according to educational criteria to help learners recognize and remember vocabulary and linguistic structures by evoking the mental image of these vocabulary
Providing translation in the learner’s language to understand the meanings of vocabulary and linguistic structures
Supporting the four language skills (listening – speaking – reading – writing) in addition to the most common grammar rules
Addressing the cultural dimension of the Arabic language by presenting topics that cover the entire Arab world and include foods, clothes, customs, traditions, social occasions, cultural expressions and proverbs
Presenting vocabulary and linguistic structures in a way that supports comprehensiveness of the unit
Adopting the international standards for teaching foreign languages
Language functionality and practicing the four language skills (listening – speaking – reading – writing)
Choosing content in light of communicative situations and learners’ needs
Adopting Modern Standard Arabic in all book units
Training on language elements such as vocabulary and linguistics structures
Presenting grammar and dictation rules functionally
Introducing the common Arab culture
Contributing to cross-cultural communication between learners and Arabic speakers
Description of Units
The book contains 20 units that differ in topics and number of lessons
Each unit starts with an introduction in the form of form of communication situations and related daily conversations
The introduction page contains the following
Conversation sentences
Words with illustrations
More Vocabulary: words that are related to the communication situations on the page, but have no illustrations
‘Learn’ box, which contains
New Words: These are expressions and vocabularies that are composed of two or more words contained in the lesson where that combination gives new meaning
Grammar: This section covers rules of grammar, morphology and dictation, which are presented as examples with the rules highlighted in a different colour to make them stand out
Read: A group of sentences that use the lesson’s vocabulary, aimed at developing reading aloud skills
Speak: This section aims to develop speaking skills by practising oral expressions individually or in a conversation about the lesson’s topic
Then comes the unit’s lessons which are sub-ideas of the unit topic; at the end of each unit, there is the Idioms page
Annexes
Arabic / English alphabetically‐ordered index of the book’s vocabularies and their transliterations
English / Arabic alphabetically‐ordered index of the book’s vocabularies
List of Arabic irregular plurals
List of conjugation of verbs (past – present – future)
List of attribution irregular verbs to pronouns
Workbook
Use this Workbook to practice and be able to communicate using the language, vocabulary, grammar and dictation skills presented in the Arabic for Life textbook. Repetition will help learners navigate with increasing ease through everyday situations and life experiences in the Arab World or when communicating with native-Arabic speakers. The Workbook helps learners enhance and practice what they have learnt through a variety of increasingly challenging questions and exercises that cover different thinking skills, especially those of higher order. Cultural awareness is important when understanding a foreign language or society, both to provide context and to avoid awkward situations. Pictures, examples, sentences and idioms in Arabic for Life aim to enhance cultural awareness and involve learners in interactive communicative situations to practice language skills and become more culturally aware of the Arab World
Teacher Guide
The Teacher Guide provides teachers with modern teaching strategies suitable for the program and its linguistic and cultural content in light of the communicative purposes. The Guide presents learning outcomes, suitable time, teaching methods, teaching aids and suggested assessment methods
Teachers need this guide since teaching the Arabic language to non-native speakers requires some educational skills to make learners develop Arabic skills. The Arabic language teachers usually face some challenges when teaching non-native speakers because the latter need to acquire different language system than their mother tongue in phonetics, linguistic structures, cultural aspects and others
The guide provides the Arabic language teachers with teaching strategies suitable for Arabic for Life book that focuses on communication. The book uses daily situations and experiences that learners may face when living in the Arab World or communicating with Arabs in their societies. The book aims to develop essential daily-life language skills and covers the four language skills (listening – speaking – reading – writing), in addition to the cultural dimension, as language is the carrier of culture
The Teacher Guide aims to achieve the book objectives through creating modern educational environment that supports learners’ participation and provides expertise that promotes linguistics skills and high order ones. This environment also adopts modern technology and tools where teachers have awareness of how to plan, guide and manage the education process so learners can overcome the difficulties of learning a foreign language
Teacher Guide includes the following
A number of teaching methods in the form of procedures and suggestions, from which teachers choose what they deem appropriate for the educational situation
A set of educational aids that enrich the educational situation
Appropriate assessment methods for measuring the progress of learners
A set of expected common mistakes by learners so teachers can choose in the light of the appropriate teaching strategies
Content of the book is presented interactively to cover pronunciation of vocabularies, expressions and sentences; the book includes videos for conversations of the introduction page, speaking, grammar and idioms’ pictures
