As a language, Arabic may seem scary, whether you hear two people speaking it with a bit of an aggressive tone, or see the terrifying Alphabet being used and written in a different direction! However! Fear not! I can assure you, i felt the same way about Dutch, and was terrified to try and articulate the words and their meanings. However, after a year of going through a successful active learning course (which our classes will follow a similiar method to), and enough practice, i could confidently say i can hold my grounds, with the fear of the Dutch language being at bay !
In my 2 years of teaching experience, without the "over-use" of "English or other" languages and starting right from the beginning with Arabic, some students and friends of mine were able to speak Arabic with me, in addition to writing full essays, and even understood the general grammatical structure of the language, all of which took no more than a couple of months.
However, it is necessary to keep in mind that Arabic is the second toughest language to learn after Chinese "Mandrin", meaning that expectations should be kept realistic, with time and practice being key.A year should suffice someone to be able to claim that they are at a "A1-B2" LEVEL, which is almost in the intermediate Zone.
For our classes, THREE TYPES or METHODS could be chosen from:
1- The active learning extensive Method
2- The "school" Method
3- The "specific university subject tutoring" Method.
1- For the first and second methods, i will usually devise a specialized text book (Word/PDF, no need to hurt trees and print...) which will include all that we need throughout the course from necessary readings, literature, and grammar of the language. this book will be modified accordingly to the purpose of learning the language that you could clarify to me beforehand (whether academic in a specific field of science, or any other purposes...)
2- However, if your goal is purely conversation, and does not include learning proper Arabic (Fusha), the method of teaching differs a little. Here only the "school method" applies. Let me elaborate: In schools, we are taught to read and write "MUM, DAD" before we learn our ABCs, Thus "conversation" will be the main focus, accompanied by brief and on the surface piecing of the principles of the grammar, punctuation, and other related aspects whenever a new one is at hand.
3-Finally, if you are studying any of the Arts or Majors in University, and you need specific help concerning Arabic Subjects (Ba. Master. PHD levels), specific short classes, through the third method, will be offered, and through which we can: answer all your question, explain anything that you are having trouble with, and specific help that could also be offered according to your needs.
