11 May 2009

BEIRUT: The Summer Institute for Intensive Arabic Language and Culture (SINARC) program at the Lebanese American University Beirut campus, scheduled to be held from June 22 to July 31, is already approaching capacity. "This year we had an influx of applications," said Professor Mimi Jeha, director of SINARC. "Most classes are full and that the program is now opening new sections for the first two levels to accommodate this boost in demand."

In its sixth year running, the SINARC program offers 20 hours per week of intensive Arabic instruction across a spectrum of proficiency levels, including five hours per week of Lebanese dialect.

However, SINARC takes the idea of immersion beyond the classroom, offering organized trips to historic and cultural sites such as Byblos, Baalbek, Tyr, Tripoli, the Cedars, Jeitta Grotto and the palaces of Beiteddine and Dar Al-Qamar, along with a tour of the South and an optional add-on to Damascus and Palmyra in Syria.

While other Arabic programs in the region focus more on learning independently and letting students explore terrain on their own, the SINARC program attributes its success to its "total package" quality, offering instruction and field trips along with daily guidance for Arabic homework as well as social outings, and lectures on different current issues in the region, like the Arab-Israeli conflict, Lebanese politics and history, women's issues, and issues pertaining to South Lebanon.

Based on past turnout for the program, Jeha said that about 90 percent come from United States and about 10 percent from Europe, within an age range of 19 to 24. About 50 percent are usually Middle East studies majors and 50 percent are usually of Lebanese origin, sent by their parents "to explore Lebanon, learn the language and get back in touch with their heritage, which works out well because they also wind up introducing this heritage to other non-Lebanese students," Jeha said. There are also frequent returnees to the program, including three people who signed up this year who have already completed the program twice. "Some students have even been through it four times," she said, taking this repeat business to be indicative of the program's success in being as enjoyable as it is enriching.

Despite this positive track record, however, Jeha insisted with enthusiasm that she is still striving to improve the experience offered, by including more cultural aspects. "Every year we try to do something special, to design extra activities based on the group's interests," she said, adding that students are usually very interested in Lebanese food.

"They come in wanting shawarma and falafel," she joked, adding that apart from cooking classes or falafel parties, she would like to include more outings that bear witness to Lebanon's traditional crafts and activities like visiting wineries and olive groves. She would also like to arrange for students to spend private time with families of different backgrounds, "to explore each community and get to know the multifaceted nature of Lebanese culture," she said.

Although these aspects are unique factors about the program, Jeha recognized that security concerns are still often among the first questions to come up when students get in touch with the university. "They often ask about what we do in the case of a security emergency," she said.

Citing the recent success of the SINARC contingency plan during the 2006 war, she expressed confidence in the program's ability to meet security standards with positive results: "[in 2006] we gave them the choice to evacuate or stay and finish the courses, and of 120 participants in the program, 25 decided to stay... we relocated to our Byblos campus on the hillside and they all finished their requirements and were very happy. Of course parents were concerned ... but I remember one student calmed his mother by telling her 'look, I am in a plush hotel room and I can see a Subway from my window, I'm doing great.'"

Admitting that last year's civil unrest in May led to 65 participants pulling their application and losing their deposits, Jeha insisted that she remains optimistic for this year in spite of the close coincidence with the start of the program and the June 7 elections. In her six years running the program, she has witnessed it attracting more and more interest, and despite the intense work schedule she has in the summer to ensure it runs smoothly, she confided: "I'm happy to do all of this for the success of the program and I'm very grateful for the support that the university gives me for my ideas; I want to make this as fun and comprehensive an experience as possible for everyone."

Copyright The Daily Star 2009.