Arabic Language Program
ARAB 4300/6300
======================================================
Instructor:
Abdelkader Ben Rhit email:abdelkader_benrhit@yahoo.fr
benrhit@uga.edu
ARAB
4300/6300: Class meets at (R 205 C) MWF: 3:30-4:25 pm.
Office Hours: By appointment W.2:30 to 3:30 and Fri. 2:30 to 3:30
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Instructional Materials:
1.
Ashtiany Julia, ÒMedia ArabicÓ, Edinburgh University Press,
2006.
2.
Kendall Elisabeth, ÒThe Top 1,000 Words for Understanding Media ArabicÓ,
Georgetown University Press, 2006.
Course
Description:
This course provides additional practice to help students attain
a higher level of skill development (e.g., listening, speaking, reading and
writing) and linguistic accuracy. This course adopts a skill-based approach in
which students gain mastery of the language through the use of authentic
materials taken from various sources (Books, periodicals, videos, and radio
documentaries). The selection of the materials is based on the complexity of
the tasks and the studentsÕ professional and personal interest. Teaching
vocabulary and grammar is integrated to the skill-based activities, and is
incorporated in the class activities as an aid to overcome any communication
problems. Teaching techniques are student-centered, with the instructor as the
facilitator, and the goal of teaching to make students independent users of
Arabic. It is expected that students will make mistakes when creating with the
language. Trial and error are necessary parts of language acquisition. All
class sessions will be conducted mostly in Arabic.
50% of the materials are articles from newspapers and magazines,
and other sources.
Course Objectives:
By the end of the course, students are expected to reach a proficiency
level. Students will be able to achieve the following outcomes:
Listening:
Able to understand sentence-length utterances
which consist of recombinations of learned utterances on a variety of topics.
Content continues to refer primarily to basic personal background and needs,
social conventions and somewhat more complex tasks, such as lodging,
transportation, and shopping. Additional content areas include political topics
and activities, and a greater diversity of instructions and directions.
Listening tasks not only pertain to spontaneous face-to-face conversations but
also to T.V news, programs and some deliberate speech, such as simple
announcements and reports and bulletin news over the media.
Speaking:
Able to handle successfully a variety of
uncomplicated, basic, and communicative tasks and social situations. Can talk
simply about self and family members. Can ask and answer questions and
participate in simple conversations on topics beyond the most immediate needs;
e.g., personal history and leisure time activities, narrate stories and
describe events. Utterance length increases slightly. Pronunciation may
continue to be strongly influenced by first language and fluency may still be
strained. Limited vocabulary still necessitates hesitation and may bring about
slightly unexpected circumlocution
Reading:
Able to read consistently with increased
understanding simple, connected texts dealing with a variety of basic and
social needs. Such texts are still linguistically noncomplex and have a clear
underlying internal structure. They impart basic information about which the
reader has to make minimal suppositions and to which the reader brings personal
interest and/or knowledge. Examples may include short, straightforward
descriptions of persons, places, things written for a wide audience. And
speaker will be able to narrate short stories.
Writing
Able to meet a number of practical writing
needs. Can write short, simple letters. Content involves personal preferences,
daily routine, everyday events, and other topics grounded in personal
experience and non personal such as political matters. Can express present and
past times. Evidence of control of the syntax of non-complex sentences and
basic inflectional morphology, such as declensions and conjugation. Writing
tends to be a loose collection of sentences or sentence fragments on a given topic
and provides little evidence of conscious organization.
- Class Attendance and Participation: 10%
- Homework: 10%
- Quizzes: 50%
- Mid-term: 10%
-
Final:
20%
Active
Class Participation
Students should participate in the classroom activities, which targets understanding and language production. These activities should be done on frequent basis. This requires from the students to come prepared to participate. Active participation entails the following:
(a) Class attendance. Class attendance is obligatory. Students are allowed to miss only four hours of class for medical or emergency reasons. Teachers should be notified within 24 hours.
(b) Homework assignments: Students are expected to submit their assignments on time. Late assignments will be corrected but will have a negative impact in your grade as shown in Appendix A.
The
studentsÕ overall class participation will be graded according to the rating
criteria in Appendix A.
*
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The written and oral exams
Chapter 1
The written exams
They will test your mastery of vocabulary and grammar points. They also include reading, writing and listening tasks to assess the effective use of language in context. A typical exam contains 4 sections:
Listening Section: Students will listen to an audio or video clip followed by general
comprehension questions.
Grammar Section: The understanding of grammar is tested through multiple choice or
sentence completion tasks.
Reading Section: Reading comprehension will be test by short texts to check the general
understanding of the text.
Writing Section: At this level, students will be asked to write a paragraph or two about
one of the topics they covered.
Chapter 1
The Oral exam
By the end of the course, you will meet with your instructor for an individual oral interview to assess your overall ability to speak Arabic. The week(s) for the oral exam are shown on the calendar of activities.
The oral grade is based on 4 criteria:
(1) Pronunciation comprehensibility: refers to the clarity of the sounds and other phonetic features such as (Shadah, Tanween, etc.) Native-like speech is not expected.
(2) Vocabulary: refers to the knowledge of the words and phrases needed to carry out the conversation or situation.
(3) Structure: refers to the knowledge of forms and structure needed to carry out the conversation or situation. The structure should be correct and comprehensible.
(4) Fluency: refers to the easy and ready flow of words.
The scoring will be based on
Appendix B. (The Scoring Scheme for Oral Grade)
Grading Scale
|
100-95 |
A |
Pass |
|
94-90 |
A- |
Pass |
|
89-87 |
B+ |
Pass |
|
86-83 |
B |
Pass |
|
82-80 |
B- |
Pass |
|
79-75 |
C+ |
Fail |
|
74 & below |
F |
Fail |
á
Remember: The teacher facilitates the work and only you can do the work.
á Active
participation in classroom activities
requires your presence, and prior preparation. You are allowed to miss only 4 classes per semester. If you miss any extra class, one point
per class will be deducted from your final grade.
á Excused absences should be properly documented. In cases of emergencies, students should present their documents on the next day of return to class. The documents must be on a doctorÕs official stationary and be signed by the doctor. The excuse does not need to contain a description of the illness or medical treatment.
á To be in good shape, at least an hour of outside classroom work is needed for every hour of classroom instruction.
á
Be on time;
turn off all phones
v N.B: All the lessons mentioned in the Calendar of
activities and assignments are from Julia AshtianyÕs book Media Arabic.
Calendar of
Activities and Assignments
Week
|
Activity
|
Home/classroom assignments/exams
|
|
Week 1 Begins 01/07/08 |
Review |
Review Your CV |
|
Week 2 Begins 01/14/08 |
Lesson One: Reports and Statements Lesson Two: Visits |
Assignments to be distributed in Class |
|
Week 3 Begins 01/21/08 |
Lesson 3: Titles Lesson 4: Messages, Receptions and Meetings |
Assignments to be distributed in Class
|
|
Week 4 Begins 01/28/08 |
Lesson 5: Synonyms and Padding ÔFramesÕ, ÔFramesÕ and ÔFillingsÕ |
Assignments to be
distributed in Class |
|
Week 5 Begins 02/04/08 |
Lesson 6: Coinages in Politics New Vocabulary: Using Newspapers as a source |
Translation of an
articles from a newspaper |
|
Week 6 Begins 02/11/08 |
Lesson 7: Newspaper Material- Format and
Style
|
Translation of articles
from Newspapers: Preparation for proficiency Listening to TV and Radio
News |
|
Week 7 Begins 02/18/08 |
Lesson 8: Politics
-Political Change
-Political Trends
-Political Appointments
|
Assignments to be
distributed in class |
|
Week 8 Begins 02/25/08 |
Classroom Practice |
1st oral exam THERE ARE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS |
|
Week 9 Begins 03/03/08 |
Lesson 9: War Invasion and
Side-effects of War + articles from
Newspapers Preparation for
proficiency |
Write a report about war in Iraq,
|
|
Week 10 Begins 03/17/08 |
Lesson 10: Troops and
Military Hardware + articles from
Newspapers Preparation for
proficiency |
Write a report about the Endeavors of the US army in Iraq |
|
Week 11 Begins 03/24/08 |
Lesson 11: Law and Order Strikes, Demonstrations
and Crime + articles from
Newspapers Preparation for
proficiency |
Translate page 94 from (Media Arabic) by Julia
Ashtiany. |
|
Week 12 Begins 04/07/08 |
Lesson 12: Economic
Affairs State and Consumer + articles from
Newspapers Preparation for
proficiency |
Listen to the 4 news on this site: http://www.un.org/arabic/radio/ and answer the questions that will be provided to
you. |
|
Week 13 Begins 04/14/08 |
Lesson 13: Disaster and Aid
Disaster Reports |
2nd oral exam THERE ARE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS |
á
Our philosophy in
teaching is more exposure to wide-variety of texts in various fields. The focus
is on comprehension and vocabulary.
á
Each student selects an
area of focus to share its news with students on daily basis. Therefore, there
is a daily exposure to the news.
Appendix A
Assessment
criteria for Active Class Preparation
|
Grade |
Description |
|
A |
q
The student does not
have unjustified absences in the class. q
He submits all assignments
and exams on time with 90% accuracy. q
He takes an active
role in class discussions. q
His class
presentations are carefully thought out and prepared. |
|
B |
q
The student has a
maximum of 1 unjustified absence in the class. q
He submits all his
assignments on time with 85% accuracy. q
He takes an active
role in class discussions. q
His class
presentations are carefully thought out and prepared. |
|
C |
q
The student has a
maximum of 2 unjustified absences in the class. q
He has failed to
submit a maximum of 2 assignments on time. q
He submits his
assignments with 80% accuracy. q
He participates in
class when called, but does not take an active role in class discussions. q
His class
presentations are carefully thought out and prepared. |
|
D |
q
The student has a
maximum of 3 unjustified absences in the class. q
He has failed to
submit a maximum of 3 assignments on time. q
He submits his
assignments with 75% accuracy. q
He participates in
class when called, but does not take and active role in class discussion. q
His class
presentations are carefully thought out and prepared. |
|
F |
q
The student has more
than 3 unjustified absences. q
He has failed to
submit a maximum of 3 assignments on time. |
Daily Activities
á
Narration: What did
you do? 3-4 sentences
á
News about a specific
country (area) 2-3 pieces of news
á
Vocabulary review
á
Going through a
lesson from the textbook
á
Watching an extra
movies once a week (20-30 minutes)
The Final Grade sheet
Instructor: Abdelkader Ben Rhit
|
|
Name |
Class Participation & Attendanc |
Homework |
Quizzes |
Mid-term |
Final |
Total 100 |
|
|
|
10 % |
10 % |
50
% |
10 % |
20 % |
100% |
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1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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4 |
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5 |
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6 |
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7 |
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9 |
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10 |
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Spring 2008
Signature:
THANK YOU VERY
MUCH FOR CHOOSING THE
MEDIA ARABIC COURSE AND WISHING YOU ALL
THE BEST
بالتوفيق
إنشاء الله