Arabic Courses QCAS teaches both Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Classical/Qur’anic Arabic. Written Arabic (in contrast to the regional colloquial Arabic dialects) is linguistically a very conservative language which has hardly changed in its over 1400 years of history, with the exception of the falling out of use of some archaisms and field specific vocabulary (see separate link on History and Forms of Arabic). Consequently students can take courses and/or individual tuition with QCAS which combine material that is both modern and classical (e.g. by working through newspaper or political/economic type articles as well as extracts from pre-modern Arabic works such as the Hadith or Arabian Nights) or confine themselves to either MSA or Classical Arabic. Arab-Islamic culture can seem particularly alien to westerners approaching it for the first time, but our Arabic linguists are perfectly qualified to provide the necessary historical, religious, and political context to aspects of the language and writings studied or translated. Teaching Method and Style All our teaching, whether in small group classes or individual tuition, is ultimately aimed at achieving one primary goal: to help the student achieve a solid command of written Arabic, whether for academic, religious, cultural, or professional purposes. Our extensive professional and academic experience of Arabic has demonstrated that the most effective way to achieve this goal has been to combine the best of both traditional and contemporary language teaching methodologies. This essentially involves making student interaction an integral part of the learning process by doing substantial work on Arabic grammar, pronunciation, and idiomatic English translation while always engaging, prompting, and testing the students’ knowledge and understanding of the language. This approach helps both the teacher and student establish what aspects of the language require additional work to ensure as much progress as possible. Group Classes QCAS ensures that its classes are restricted to no more than 12 students, so as to allow for as much individual teacher-student interaction as possible and our teachers actively encourage full participation by every student in equal measure. QCAS tries as far as is humanly possible to ensure that there is little if any disparity in the language abilities of individual students, only enrolling students in classes suitable for their level. At least 6 students of the same level are required to open a class at that particular level. QCAS offers classes at all levels of ability, from Elementary/Upper Elementary to Intermediate and Advanced. However, in the event that there are not enough students of the same level to open a corresponding class, we will probably advise the interested students to consider taking individual tuition, providing a teacher is available. Of course, many students may prefer individual tuition anyway due to its inherently flexible character (see link).Our group classes can be held at Edgware Road, or in Wembley, where we expect to confirm and renovate a dedicated site to open in Autumn 2010. Course Types We offer several kinds of Arabic courses (the first 4 of which can be taken on an individual as well as group basis): - General MSA/Classical Arabic for those not taking any other Arabic based course at another institution, mainly using the provided textbook ‘ Mastering Arabic’ (by: Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar) but incorporating some supplementary written and audio-visual material.
Duration & Cost: Group Courses (min. 6/max. 12 students) of 10 weeks duration, 2 hours per class – Total £195. - MSA/Classical Arabic Exam Preparation Courses for university/further education students, including seminars on course units/modules.
- Arabic for Middle East Political Affairs specifically aimed at those working as/interested in becoming (e.g.) journalists, diplomats, or development professionals, incorporating written and audio-visual materials ranging from ‘A Week in the Middle East’ to articles from al-Quds and recordings from al-Jazeera.
Duration & Cost: Group Courses (min. 6/max. 12 students) of 10 weeks duration, 2 hours per class - Total £195. - Classical/Qur’anic Arabic for those who need the language for cultural/religious reasons or to help promote inter-faith dialogue and understanding, incorporating ‘Arabic Through the Qur’an’ by Alan Jones and additional material from the Qur’an, Hadith, and Qur’anic Exegesis (Tafsir).
Duration & Cost: Group Courses (min. 6/max. 12 students) of 10 weeks duration, 2 hours per class - Total £195. Individual Tuition This is a very popular method for students of Arabic at QCAS. It can be taken instead of, or supplementary to a group/exam preparation course and is particularly suited for very busy people who cannot commit to attending a class at the same time every week , and those who prefer the extended individual engagement with a teacher which individual tuition entails. Individual tuition is tailor-made to meet the particular needs and interests of individual students, which also helps establish what teaching materials to use (e.g. Mabadi' al-'Arabiyyah by ash-shartuni, Mastering Arabic’ by: Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar, or a combination of other course materials). Like QCAS group courses, our individual Arabic tuition combines the best of both traditional (pronunciation, grammar, and translation oriented) and contemporary (student centred, teach-test approach) language teaching methodology. Consequently every individual tutoring session is based on the teacher directly involving the student in the learning process to produce the most effective and productive outcome, and has proven to be an extremely enjoyable and engaging means for students to learn and improve their Modern/Classical Arabic in a more focused and systematic way. Duration & Cost: £25 per hour. Locations: Crawford Place, Edgware Road, W1H 4LP, 856-858 Harrow Road, Wembley, HA0 2PX, or even home (if within the inner London area). |
