Course Books (must be bought by students)

Mastering Arabic 2 by Jane Wightwick & Mahmoud Gaafar; ISBN 978-0-230-22086-7 (book and double audio CD pack).

Recommended Material:

• Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary ISBN-10: 0879500034
• Mastering Arabic Grammar by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar ISNB 978-1-4039-4109-1

A copy of the coursebook can be purchased from the University Bookshop, telephone: (024) 7652 3388.

Supplementary Material

• http://readarabic.nflc.org
• http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu
• Moodle resources and activities.

Course Description

The course is aimed at students who completed level 1 or those who have equivalent knowledge as described in detail for that level at the University of Warwick Language Centre website.

The course aims at enhancing the learning process in all the communication skills of reading, writing, listening, speaking and grammar but in more in-depth.

Reading Comprehension: students will be exposed to authentic texts of various topics with detailed in-class discussions which aim at teaching strategies and skills that are necessary for fluent reading. From those texts students will be engaged in question-answer sessions and will be given exercises with the purpose of understanding the processes behind these texts.

Writing and Speaking: students will be engaged in writing exercises on authentic themes discussed in the class. The approach is not using the vocabulary in its “isolate” form but its use in real contexts. “Find Out” activities and simple interviews with classmates will be introduced. Students will be given a regular homework on a specific theme and discussions will take place around students’ production to identify new structures and common patterns of errors.

Listening: much of the reading activities will be conjoined with listening comprehension of authentic texts. Students will listen to audio/visual material several times before they engage in open ended questions that give an indication of their understanding. The material is very selective and aims at enhancing the learning of this skill at different tempos.

Grammar: the learning of this skill will be through a combination of the narrative framework, reading comprehension and writing drills produced by students. The texts of this skill are authentic stories where the natural sequencing of structure is discussed and analysed. The new grammatical skills will include full details of the past and present tense verbs, interrogative particles, some plural forms, negation of the present tense, and cases (nominative, accusative, and genitive).

Culture: the course will include a cultural component derived from interviews, various video clips and short drama scenes where students can discuss in the class and watch at home.

Colloquial Varieties: due to the varying dialects spoken across the Arab World, you will get to appreciate the major differences between MSA and the dialects through a summary of the processes involved that make those dialects deviate from MSA form. This will be done through listening to audio clips and watching short video clips.

Learning Outcomes

• General: Carry out communicative tasks with basic language proficiency in familiar social situations, using basic grammar and vocabulary.
• Reading: Ability to read with confidence short authentic texts and understand their structures and discuss their content.
• Writing: Ability to produce short texts with coherent structures based on understanding context and grammatical structures.
• Speaking: Communicate orally in everyday situations and describe and explain yourself on familiar topics.
• Listening: Understand dialogues on common themes and obtain general and detailed information from audio materials.

Syllabus

Unit 1: Myself and others: introductions, nationalities, professions, forms of greetings, personalities, childhood, overview of Egypt.

Unit 2: House and Home: Describing your house, renting a house, overview of Saudi Arabia.

Unit 3: Work and routine: talking abou your work, a day in the life of a professional, biography, job vacancies, overview of Syria.

Unit 4: Sport and leisure, general concepts, talking about preferences, giving reasons, talking about leisure time and going out, types of activities, overview of Morocco.

Unit 5: Travel and tourism, around town, asking for directions, means of transport, travel in the Arab World, sample blogs, complaint letter, overview of Tunisia.

Unit 6: Food and cooking, talking about food, food shops, talking about measures; at the greengrocer's, at the restaurant, methods of cooking, Ramadan (fasting month), overview of Lebanon.

Unit 7: Review

Unit 8: Clothes and colours, describing colours, at the clothes shop, at a wedding party, clothes show, overview of Iraq.

Unit 9: Education and training, school and university, talking about subjects, in the exam hall, giving instructions, overview of Algeria.

Unit 10: News and media, taking about news, broadcasting, comparing media, the King's speech, overview of Gulf countries and Yemen.

Unit 11: Climate and the environment, talking about the weather, holiday plans, talking about possibilities, overview of Libya.

Unit 12: Health and happiness, talking about the body and illness, at the pharmacy, talking about health, giving advice, overview of the Sudan.

Unit 13: Arts and cinema, talking about culture, film genres; past habits, reviewing, overview of Jordan and Palestine.

Unit 14: Review.

• Important Notes
• 
• Speaking Examinations Information for Students
• Test/exam marks in the Language Centre
• Grammar Skills

Assessment Scheme:

Termly tests, listening exam, oral test, and final written exam

Exam summary and skills weighting: Assessment

Marking criteria (written): Arabic marking criteria (written) levels 1/2

Marking criteria (oral): Marking criteria (oral) levels 1 and 2