Wednesday, Dec 18, 2013
Abu Dhabi: Online courses for teaching Arabic language to foreign speakers will soon be introduced in a bid to integrate expats into the UAE-Arab community, experts in the capital said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the first Abu Dhabi Forum for Teaching Arabic to Speakers of Other Languages, the Director General of the Zayed House for Islamic Culture (ZHIC), Dr. Nidal Al Tunaiji, told Gulf News: “We have several locations where expats can learn the language and are working on developing an online course that will facilitate the process further. Instilling the language strengthens our Emirati identity within non-Arabic speakers living in the UAE and so it is important for us that they learn it.”
The international Forum is being held in its first edition in the capital with a participation of 150 researchers, professors and experts in the field, from 15 different countries. The event aims to fortify the Arab and Emirati culture while finding ways to integrate the language in the UAE’s government sector.
“We hope to convert all internal communication in the public sector to Arabic and to make it the official spoken and written language there,” Al Tunaiji added.
In parallel, Doctor Sa’el Shadid, a Professor in Arabic Language at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi, revealed that starting February of next year, a course specialised in Emirati Culture will be introduced in some of the Emirate’s universities to deepen students’ connection with the UAE.
“Arabic Language teaching courses are considered mandatory pre-requisites in many public higher-education institutions such as Emirates University in Al Ain, Zayed University and the Higher Colleges of Technology,” Shadid said.
“The UAE is such a diverse environment with a multitude of nationalities continuously interacting. Therefore, it is essential that the ice between the Western and Eastern culture melts here in the UAE, and that the two cultures complement each other without one over-powering the other,” he added.
While experts praised the curriculum for Arabic in schools and universities, many were unhappy with the current amount of interest that native Arabic speakers have in the course. Dr. Samira Al Ghali, a Sudanese professor in Arabic at the Abu Dhabi University expressed concerns regarding the level of training that Arabic teachers in the UAE have and how this reflects on the students’ motivation.
“In my institution, Arabic is not a requirement. This is why, many Arabic speakers are not very interested in the course as teachers are not well-trained in modern teaching methods and lack the ability to make the learning process an interesting and enjoyable one for students,” Al Ghali said. “Technology is currently playing a key role in people’s lives and may pave the path for an innovative and efficient method of learning,” she added.
ZHIC student, 49-year-old Filipino expat and five-year Muslim convert Abdul Aziz stated his plan to learn the language by undergoing a career change that will allow him to have more free time for doing so. Other Forum attendees expressed their interest in learning Arabic in order to effectively communicate with its speakers that make up the majority of the UAE community.
- With inputs by Haneen Al-Noman, intern at Gulf News
By Nada Al Taher Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
