December 1, 2022
When we were in Math class in the third grade, one of my friends asked the teacher: “Why are we learning Math?” The teacher calmly said: “It helps you in life.” Our teacher did not give us any examples! What did that mean for a third grader at that time? Simply nothing! I enjoyed Math as a child, but I would have enjoyed it even more if we connected Math to everyday life and future careers.
Teaching the Arabic language reminded me of my third-grade experience. As a foreign language, it could be a challenge to the teacher and students. I always tell my students that Arabic is not a difficult language, but it takes a longer time to learn because everything is new to an English speaker; a new alphabet, new syntax, and new usage. I believe that students can easily learn Arabic if they have the motivation. In my more than twenty years of teaching Arabic as a second language, I made sure I found a reason to motivate my students to keep on learning!
Getting students engaged with the language and the culture was my key strategy. My students had many hands-on activities, gamification, formative assessments, and project-based learning. I gave them opportunities to collaborate and take charge of their learning. Lessons were filled with many images and movies to help students recall and enjoy the content. I even introduced the cultural products and practices. Students enjoyed learning about other cultures, making new food recipes, and singing simple lines from Arabic songs. I did my best to keep my students motivated!
The truth is that their learning journey became even more enjoyable and exciting when I introduced authentic materials to our class. Authentic material is written in the target language for native speakers—the people of the language. Through discovering authentic material, language became full of life and excitement! It helped students make connections with native speakers by seeing how the language is used in everyday life. For example, students practiced numbers by seeing road signs in Arabic countries and price tags in Arabic stores; they learned the weather by reading newspapers or watching the news in the target language. Students had a reason to memorize the days of the week; to practice their knowledge students were given the chance to analyze original Arabic invitations to different occasions. They were curious to find and communicate the days and times of each occasion. Students enjoyed using their analytical skills for finding the answers while using authentic original invitations.
Instead of looking at beautiful slideshows on making Arabic dishes, students learned about recipes from an original Arabic magazine. The examples go on and on! One student said, “It feels like I am living in an Arab country!” Authentic material in language classes helps students connect with the people of the language, discover how it is used daily, and motivates them to learn and practice their language skills. I highly encourage every educator to bring language to life by putting authentic materials in the hands of the learners. I saw a big difference in the level of motivation, involvement, and enthusiasm after I decided to use authentic materials in my teaching of Arabic.
Great article! I totally agree with Thana Jarjour that using authentic material in the class and immersing students in cultural experience are very rewarding for both the learner and the teacher. The learners will have hand on the everyday usage of language which makes it more interesting to them than just dry slides of information scrolling in front of them. And the teachers will be occupied with a interesting full-of-life material preparation that bring them closer to the learners’ needs and their achievement. As an experienced teacher of 17 years of experience in teaching both Arabic and English language for non-native speakers I can say Thana Jarjour has put it the right way through this article. grateful for her for providing the inspiring examples.
Thank you for taking the time to read and provide such valuable feedback.
Thana Jarjour
Great article! I totally agree with Thana Jarjour that using authentic material in the class and immersing students in cultural experience are very rewarding for both the learner and the teacher. The learners will have hand on the everyday usage of language which makes it more interesting to them than just dry slides of information scrolling in front of them. And the teachers will be occupied with interesting full-of-life material preparation that bring them closer to the learners’ needs and their achievement. As an experienced teacher of 17 years of experience in teaching both Arabic and English language for non-native speakers I can say Thana Jarjour has put it the right way through this article. Grateful for her for providing the inspiring examples.
Thank you for taking the time to read and provide this positive feedback.
Thank you Thana Jarjour for this interesting article. I totally agree with you. I experienced this in my classes. This is the best way to motivate and engage the students.
Thank you for taking the time to read and provide this positive feedback.
Nice article. It is so important for students to have access to authentic materials in order to prepare them to engage with speakers of other languages in authentic settings. The beauty also in authentic resources is the ability to use them for learners across all levels, novice to advanced learners can engage with the same artifacts simply by creating an appropriate task for the level of the learners. Thanks for sharing your experience Dr. Jarjour.
Thank you for taking the time to read and provide this positive feedback.
Also, Thank you for being my role model!
The benefits of learning a foreign language and in specific Arabic language in U.S far outweigh any price that can be put on a world language program. Using authentic materials as Thana proposed enriches the class and engage the students. The benefits mentioned in this article are amazing.Thank you for this interesting article
Thank you for taking the time to read and provide this positive feedback!
Excellent article of how to make a foreign language class successful. Dr. Thana Jarjour tackled the most important component in learning, ie, language and culture immersion. Immersion is possible to be practiced even in classroom setting through exposing students to authentic life and culture of the people. I commend Dr. Jarjour for providing real-life examples of how authentic material can promote motivation, excitement and success in FL learning. I am confident that this article will be a great tool in the hands of FL educators.
Thank you for taking the time to read and provide this positive feedback!
As a language teacher Arabic and French I extremly agree with Dr Thana that authentic materials will no-doubt expose students to culture, so it can actually take the context into consideration instead of just looking at how language is used. The fact that these resources are the real deal will also increase students’ motivation and better meet the learner’s needs.
Thank you Dr. Thana for this excellent article. I found it very interesting and was impressed by the level of detail you went into.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article and provide this positive feedback!
Thana, what a delight it was reading your article on the benefits of authentic material use! To add on to your argument, authentic materials not only motivates students in their Arabic language learning journey, but also engages them in activities that require critical thinking and the use of higher order thinking skills- a skill set and tier 3 activities that to date are not used in every language classroom sadly.
So your testimony through this article is a great call for more use of authentic resources, thank you 😊
Thank you Majd for taking the time to read this article and provide this insightful positive feedback! We keep learning!
Dr. Thana touched on an interesting and important topic using authentic materials in class. It is great methodology to introduce culture into lesson. Authentic material provides the learners many important advantages and encourage them with increase productivity and interest in language learning. Thank you Dr Thana Jarjour for sharing with us your experience .
Thank you Nirouz for taking the time to read the article and provide this positive feedback!
Thank you for taking the time to read this article and provide this insightful positive feedback! We keep learning!
Great article! Thank you Dr. Thana for sharing your experience of using authentic materials in language learning classroom. Learners of foreign language will learn faster when they see real-life examples. Using authentic materials help students relate better to the language and its culture.
Yes, using authentic material makes a big difference in the learning experience. Thank you Haya for taking the time to read this article and provide this insightful positive feedback!
Thana, I love how you made a connection from your own experience as a student and applied it on making Arabic accessible to your students. Giving them different opportunities to experience the rich culture. Thank you for sharing. Great article!
Thank you, Hala, for your encouraging feedback! I appreciate your taking the time to read the article and provide kind comments.
Thank you Dr. Jarjour for bringing that up and stressing on how important it is.
I have worked with Dr. Jarjour in CTYonline – Johns Hopkins University, and tutored her students, each student once a week for a half hour. I was always amazed by the eagerness, and enjoyment students had learning one of the most difficult languages, the Arabic language!
Having adopted authenticity in teaching this complicated language, I believe have played a significant part in it.
Students would be enthusiastic to try food recipes or sing in Arabic and make the learning part of their daily lives!
Thank you again for such a great article as usual!
Thank you Reem for sharing this positive feedback! I am glad you experienced using authentic material in your teaching, and you know the difference it made.
Thank you, Hala, for your encouraging feedback! I appreciate your taking the time to read the article and provide kind comments.
Dear Thanaa
I admire your unique method of teaching the Arabic language to English speakers because of the radical change in the way of expression and pronunciation. I thank God for this blessing and the unique talent that the Almighty has bestowed upon you, so that you will be a blessing to the students who learn the Arabic language under your supervision and care. You will be a role model for many student in years forward.
you are a gift.
You are right, Arabic language is new to learners in many aspects, so adding the culture and authentic material to the learning experience helps students connect with the people of the language and motivates them to overcome obstacles. Thank you so much for your insightful input and the uplifting, positive feedback!
Implemented by Backward Design, using Authentic Material is indeed an excellent gateway to motivation and learning objectives.
By using authentic, culturally engaging material, Dr. Thana creates an immersion learning environment in a non-Arabic Speaking country.
The simulation helps students live the language and practice it daily, as if they are in an Arabic-speaking country, even for one hour a day.
Young learners and teens often need to find a reason for their learning, and without sufficient convincing, most students would either drop the course or study barely enough to get a passing mark. This is true for languages, math, physics and other subjects.
I strongly support the approach and would use it in our classes, as well.
Thank you, Professor Dr. Vali, for giving your valuable feedback. It means a lot to me. I am grateful for your leadership and guidance at Education Canada College and Universal American University, where I learned to improve my skills as a language educator.
Great subject sister Thana thank you for the insight in put I admire your your way in teaching the Arabic language and the culture
Thank you, Professor Samira, for your kind and encouraging feedback; it means a lot to hear from an experienced language teacher like you.
Great article Dr. Thana.
I have always admired your approach in teaching Arabic language to the Talented Youth Program at Johns Hopkins University. Your students were always excited and very engaged in your classes because of your authentic materials in your slides and the songs and storied that you enriched their imagination with. Thank you for sharing our beautiful language with the world in a wonderful way.
Thank you, Ilham, for sharing your insightful feedback, as you saw firsthand how using authentic material motivated our students.
I had the wonderful opportunity to learn Arabic with Dr. Jarjour for years, and can personally verify that the authentic experiences I had in her Arabic classes (and those that she oversaw) have stuck with me for years; to this day, I can sing the Days of the Week song in Arabic, and remember how wonderful homemade kunafeh tastes.
This kind of approach to language learning is vital to keeping up interest and to widening students’ awareness of the topic. In a language that requires the patience that Arabic does, students really do need to have the authentic experiences that keep them grounded in their end goal––engaging with the beautiful, compelling cultures and people that the language gives them access to.
Wonderful article! More subjects should be taught this way.
Dear Timothy,
Your precious feedback means the world to me! I still remember the culture projects you created! Your remarkable achievement in mastering Arabic has been one of my best rewards as a teacher. Thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to write such a kind comment.