Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies

ARABIC (ARAB)
PERSIAN (PERS)

Institute Director: Dr. Kassem Wahba (202) 687-1124
Assistant Director: Sarah Monsell (202) 687-2735

Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies website

Summer Arabic & Persian Language Institute: June 2 - August 8, 2008

Welcome to the Summer Arabic & Persian Language Institute at Georgetown University. This Language Institute is designed to help participants acquire skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Levantine Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, and Persian. This Language Institute is proficiency-based; materials are designed to help students develop their communicative abilities in order to perform tasks that a native speaker carries out in formal and informal situations. Students are assessed based on usage in comparison to an educated native speaker and in accordance with the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines.

Classes are small and students receive considerable individual attention inside and outside the classroom. Our faculty members are experienced, dedicated, and diverse; they aim to incorporate advanced and effective techniques, resources and technology for teaching Arabic and Persian. This Language Institute offers the student exceptional academic surroundings, including a state-of-the-art language laboratory.

Arabic: A comprehensive undergraduate program of intensive and non-intensive learning in Arabic will last ten weeks, with courses in basic, intermediate and advanced Modern Standard Arabic. These courses are not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Egyptian Arabic: Undergraduate courses in spoken Egyptian Arabic will be offered in the First and Second Sessions. These courses are not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Levantine Arabic: This Arabic dialect corresponds to the western wing of the Fertile Crescent in these undergraduate courses.

Iraqi Arabic: Undergraduate courses in spoken Iraqi Arabic will be offered in the First and Second Sessions. These courses are not open to native speakers of Arabic.

Persian: In cooperation with the Division of Eastern Mediterranean Languages, intensive and non-intensive first level Persian and intensive Advanced Persian are offered in the first and second sessions at the undergraduate level.

Application deadlines:
Non-Georgetown students - May 2, 2008
Georgetown students - May 2, 2008

Please note that applications received after these deadlines will be reviewed on a space-available individual basis.

Admission

The Summer Arabic & Persian Language Institute is open to undergraduate and graduate students, and to persons who are not academically affiliated but need a knowledge of these languages for professional or future academic purposes. A complete application includes the Summer School Application, a one page response to the Summer Arabic and Persian Language Institute quesions of Part III, and an official transcript. Please send all materials to: Georgetown University Summer School Arabic and Persian Language Institute; 3307 M. Street, NW; Suite #202; Washington, DC 20007.

Placement exams will be administered on the first day of each session to determine individual language proficiency. For further information, contact the Institute Assistant Director, Sarah Monsell at (202) 687-2735. Please be aware of prerequisites and restrictions for each course listed below.

Intensive and Non-Intensive First Level and Intensive Second Level Modern Standard Arabic:

These courses are designed to build communicative skills as well as proficiency in reading, writing and listening. Prerequisite course work for Intensive Second Level MSA: Successful completion of Volume I of Al-Kitaab fii ta'allum al-Arabiyya, by Brustad, et. al., Georgetown University Press.

Intensive Advanced Arabic:

This course focuses on developing linguistic accuracy in all skills as well as proficiency at an advanced communicative level. This course is equivalent to Arabic 211, 212, and 213, 214 for undergraduates and equivalent to 215, 216 for MAAS students. Prerequisite: Two years of Modern Standard Arabic and permission of the instructor.

Partial Tuition Scholarships

Non-Georgetown students accepted into this Language Institute are eligible to apply for a partial tuition scholarship offered by Georgetown University (Please see Financial Information). For further information and special application forms, please contact the Scholarship Coordinator, Summer School Georgetown University, 3307 M. Street, N.W., Suite #202, Washington, D.C. 20007. Tel: (202) 687-8700.

FIRST SESSION (June 2-July 3)

Non-Intensive First Level Persian I
Mostowfi
PERS-001-10
MTWR 6:00-8:00 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: None. This course introduces students to the basic structures of the Persian language. All four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing will be taught equally using the immersion method. This method will help students achieve confidence communicating in the Persian language. Aspects of Persian culture will be introduced on a regular basis. Students will participate actively through dialog. Exercises will be given at the end of each lession. At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Have basic level conversation in Persian: 5 minutes.
2. Read texts of elementary level: 30-50 words.
3. Write short paragraphs with reasonable accuracy: 50 words.
4. Develop cultural awareness through readings, films, food, music, etc.

Intensive First Level Persian I
Mostowfi
PERS-011-10
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr.; $70 lab fee

This course introduces students to the basic structures of the Persian language. All four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing will be taught equally using the immersion method. This method will help students achieve confidence communicating in the Persian language. Aspects of Persian culture will be introduced on a regular basis. Students will participate actively through dialog. Exercises will be given at the end of each lesson. Each student should have one oral presentation for five to seven minutes. At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Have basic level conversation in Persian: 10 minutes.
2. Read texts of elementary level: 100-150 words.
3. Write short paragraphs with reasonable accuracy: 100-150 words.
4. Develop cultural awareness through readings, films, music, etc.

Intensive Intermediate Persian I
Bolouri
PERS-021-10
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr.; $70 lab fee

Permission needed from Instructor. This intensive intermediate level I course is designed to continue developing the student's communicative skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). This course is conducted in the target language. Initially, it affords students a view of basic Persian, then an introduction to more complex syntactic grammatical forms. Aspects of Persian history, culture, and contemporary life are also introduced through readings, listening materials, videos and films, and through the use of language technologies (web tools). The students will also be given practice in reading aloud and giving oral presentations of materials taken from the web, media, and television broadcast. As a final project, students will write a composition of 400-500 words.

Non-Intensive First Level Modern Standard Arabic I
Kharbouch
ARAB-001-10
M-F 6:00-7:30 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: None. This video-based course focuses on developing proficiency in the standard written Arabic language, as well as formal spoken Arabic. It begins with learning of script and phonology, and works rapidly into a wide range of situation-based texts and topics that build vocabulary, grammar, and general communicative competence. By the end of this course you are expected to: 1. be able to read short texts on familiar topics and understand the main ideas without using the dictionary, 2. be able to speak about yourself and your daily life, 3. be able to carry out written transactions related to daily life and simple correspondence, 4. be able to form and understand basic sentence structures of Arabic, and 5. be familiar with some of the differences between standard and spoken Arabic. The approach that we will be using in this course is the communicative approach. In this course, there is great emphasis on speaking and communicative activities.

Intensive First Level Modern Standard Arabic I
Wahba/Mohamed
ARAB-011-10/-11
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: None. This intensive video-based course focuses on developing proficiency in standard Arabic, as well as formal spoken Arabic. It is a proficiency based course for students with no previous knowledge of Arabic. This class focuses on developing the four basic language skills of modern standard Arabic: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with a brief introduction to some aspects of the Arab culture. It begins with learning of script and pronunciation, and works rapidly into a wide range of situation-based texts and topics that build vocabulary, grammar and general communicative competence. Short authentic reading and listening materials from daily life contexts such as the newspapers and the Arabic broadcasts will be introduced. As a final project, students will write a composition of 500 words. Students are in class three hours daily, five days a week, with an equal amount of work assigned outside of the class.

Intensive Second Level Modern Standard Arabic I
Kassab
ARAB-111-10
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Bonnah
ARAB-111-11
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. non-MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Atanassova
ARAB-111-12
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. non-MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Prereq: Successful completion of Volume I of Al-Kitaab fii ta'allum al-Arabiyya, by Brustad, et. al. This course focuses on developing the four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing in modern standard Arabic. Students are expected to read and to discuss articles from both Arabic daily newspapers and other materials related to culture, economics, politics, and religions of the Middle East. In addition, students are required to listen to the news media on a regular basis, give oral presentations in Arabic. Focus is on acquisition of more complex grammatical structures, expanding vocabulary and communicative skills for active use. Students will be expected to derive meanings from context and extensively use the dictionary. As a final project students will write a composition of 1500 words. Students are in class three hours daily, five days a week, with an equal amount of work assigned outside the class. Successful completion of this course will allow students to advance to Second Level II.

Colloquial Egyptian Arabic I
Bonnah
ARAB-115-10
M-F 6:00-7:30 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: One year of Modern Standard Arabic. This course is intended to build proficiency in the Egyptian dialect, through practice of interactive functional skills such as listening comprehension, conversation tasks, and vocabulary building. It assumes knowledge of Arabic script and Modern Standard Arabic grammatical structure. It is designed to enable students to communicate effectively and appropriately in a wide variety of contexts. Activities will include news, radio, music, and movie screenings.

Levantine Arabic I
Staff
ARAB-117-10
M-F 6:00-7:30 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: One year of Modern Standard Arabic. This course is intended to build basic proficiency in the Arabic dialects of the eastern Mediterranean. It relies heavily on Syrian Arabic (mostly of the Damascus variety), with supplemental materials providing exposure to Palestinian, Lebanese and Jordanian speech. Students will be trained to comprehend aural texts, engage in conversation, build their vocabulary and acquire certain grammatical structures that distinguish Levantine Arabic from Standard Arabic. We will simulate an array of real-life situations in which competence in a spoken variety of the language can be advantageous and appreciated by native speakers. Course materials include a variety of audio and video segments, some prepared especially for students of Arabic and others from Syrian/Lebanese/Palestinian TV, cinema and theater. The course is not open to native speakers of Arabic, heritage speakers of Arabic or students who have completed three years or more of Arabic at Georgetown.

Intensive Advanced Arabic I
Al-Mufti
ARAB-215-10
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Kilany
ARAB-215-11
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. non-MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Prereq: Two years of Modern Standard Arabic and permission of the instructor. This course is designed to enable the student to reach higher levels in the various language skills and to allow students to move to a stage where they use Arabic in wider arrays of cultural, professional and social contexts. Reading and listening materials are extensive and vary depending on the themes that interest the students. Students will prepare newspaper and journal articles, short stories, reports and presentations. Students will be expected to argue and debate extensively, paraphrase and summarize texts, and begin to express points of view both speaking and writing. Emphasis will be placed on understanding nuances, idiomatic expressions, and rhetorical devices. By the end of the course, it is expected that students will be able to converse in a clear and concise participatory fashion and to carry out a wide variety of communicative tasks which requires diverse discourse strategies. Students are in class three hours daily, five days a week, with an equal amount of work assigned outside the class.

Spoken Iraqi Arabic I
Staff
ARAB-255-10
M-F 6:00-7:30 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: One year of Modern Standard Arabic. This course will introduce the features of Iraqi dialect and contrast them with MSA. It is geared primarily toward comprehension of spoken Iraqi Arabic, as a basis for building interactive skills. Students will have a variety of of classroom activities (e.g. games, presentations, assignments, etc.). Students are in class three hours daily, with an equal amount of work assigned outside of class. Materials include contemporary dialogs, translations, textbooks and accompanying CDs, specifically designed and adapted by Georgetown University for this course. This course is offered for undergraduate credit only; is a MAAS Cross-Listing; and is not open to native speakers of Iraqi Arabic.

Arab Politics in the Middle East
Jebnoun
ARAB-406-10
MTWR 7:00-8:15 p.m.
3 cr.

Prereq: High advanced proficiency in Arabic according to ACTFL required. This course is taught entirely in Arabic and is open to Undergraduate Students. Permission needed from Instructor. This course analyses the modern history of the region paying special attention to geopolitical aspects and the nation-state construction. Throughout the course, we will examine several issues in depth. We will examine the consequences of the US invasion of Iraq and its attempt to spread the values of freedom and democracy to the wider Middle East. Further, the course will examine the departure of Saddam on the politics of the region as well as the impact on regional tyranny and terrorism. Additionally, the course will examine the region's leadership and their adaptation to the changing politics of the region, paying particular attention to the impact on civil society. Lastly, the course will discuss the prospects and barriers to democratization and the expectations of political Islam on this agenda.

SECOND SESSION (July 7-August 8)

Non-Intensive First Level Persian II
Mostowfi
PERS-002-20
MTWR 6:00-8:00 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: None. This course introduces students to the basic structures of the Persian language. All four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing will be taught equally using the immersion method. This method will help students achieve confidence communicating in the Persian language. Aspects of Persian culture will be introduced on a regular basis. Students will participate actively through dialog. Exercises will be given at the end of each lession. Each student should have one oral presentation for five minutes. At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Have basic level conversations in Persian: 10 minutes.
2. Read texts of elementary level: 100-150 words.
3. Write short paragraphs with reasonable accuracy: 50 words.
4. Develop cultural awareness through readings, films, music, food, etc.

Intensive First Level Persian II
Mostowfi
PERS-012-20
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr.; $70 lab fee

This course introduces students to the basic structures of the Persian language. All four language skills: Speaking, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing will be taught equally using the immersion method. This method will help students achieve confidence communicating in the Persian language. Aspects of Persian culture will be introduced on a regular basis. Students will participate actively through dialog. Exercises will be given at the end of each lesson. Each student should have one oral presentation for ten minutes. At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Have basic conversations in Persian: 15 minutes.
2. Read texts of elementary level: 150-200 words.
3. Write short paragraphs with reasonable accuracy: 150-200 words.
4. Develop cultural awareness through readings, films, music, food, etc.

Intensive Intermediate Persian II
Bolouri
PERS-022-20
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr.; $70 lab fee

Permission needed from Instructor. This intensive intermediate level II course is designed to continue developing the student's communicative skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). This course is conducted in the target language. Initially, it affords students a view of basic Persian, then an introduction to more complex syntactic grammatical forms. Aspects of Persian history, culture, and contemporary life are also introduced through readings, listening materials, videos and films, and through the use of language technologies (web tools). The students will also be given practice in reading aloud and giving oral presentations of materials taken from the web, media, and television broadcast. As a final project, students will write a composition of 500-750 words.

Non-Intensive First Level Modern Standard Arabic II
Ishmael
ARAB-002-20
M-F 6:00-7:30 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

Intensive First Level Modern Standard Arabic II
Wahba/Mohamed
ARAB-012-20/-21
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: Successful completion of Intensive First Level Modern Standard Arabic I or permission of instructor. This course is a continuation of Intensive First Level MSA I. Short authentic reading and listening materials from daily life contexts such as the newspapers and Arabic broadcasts will be introduced to build vocabulary, grammar and general communicative competence. Students will be required to participate in varied classroom activities such as oral presentations, short story readings, and interviews. Students are in class three hours daily, five days a week, with an equal amount of work assigned outside the class. Successful completion of this course will allow students to advance to the intermediate level. As a final project students will write a composition of 1000 words. Students are in class three hours daily, five days a week, with an equal amount of work assigned outside the class.

Intensive Second Level Modern Standard Arabic II
Kassab
ARAB-112-20
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Bonnah
ARAB-112-21
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. non-MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Ricks
ARAB-112-22
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. non-MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Prereq: Successful completion of Intensive First Level Modern Standard Arabic I or permission of instructor. This course is a continuation of Second Level MSA I. The courses focus on developing the four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing in modern standard Arabic. Students are expected to read and to discuss articles from Arabic media, give oral presentations in Arabic and begin to describe, narrate, and discuss current issues. By the end of this course, students will have covered most grammatical structures, expanded their vocabulary and communicative skills for active use. As a final project students will write a composition of 2000 words. Students are in class three hours daily, five days a week, with an equal amount of work assigned outside the class. MAAS students will be required to participate in a conversation hour after class. Successful completion will allow students to reach the Advanced level.

Colloquial Egyptian Arabic II
Bonnah
ARAB-116-20
M-F 6:00-7:30 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: Successful completion of Egyptian Arabic I and permission of instructor. This course is a continuation of Colloquial Egyptian Arabic I. It will continue the objectives and work to solidify the student's skills and knowledge base at this level.

Levantine Arabic II
Staff
ARAB-118-20
M-F 6:00-7:30 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

COURSE DESCRIPTION TO COME

Intensive Advanced Arabic II
Baccouche
ARAB-216-20
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Kilany
ARAB-216-21
M-F 8:30-11:45 a.m.
6 cr. non-MAAS Students Only; $70 lab fee

Prereq: Successful completion of Advanced Modern Standard Arabic I and permission of the instructor. This course is a continuation of Advanced MSA I. It will continue the objectives and work to solidify the student's skills and knowledge base at this level. Students are in class three hours daily, five days a week, with an equal amount of work assigned outside the class. MAAS students will be required to participate in a conversation hour after class.

Spoken Iraqi Arabic II
Staff
ARAB-256-20
M-F 6:00-7:30 p.m.
3 cr.; $70 lab fee

Prereq: Spoken Iraqi Arabic I. Permission needed from Instructor.
COURSE DESCRIPTION TO COME