Job Discussion Forums

[eihpos]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows of any good resources for beginner Arabic speaking students? I'm teaching a small group of Arabic speakers next week, and the course is based on an elementary text. However, their level is lower so I'll need a bit of extra help to help them! It would be good to get some resources specifically aimed at Arabic learners' difficulties. Advice is appreciated!

Thanks!

[nomad soul]

Their ages? What skills are you teaching? Objectives?

[eihpos]

I haven't met them yet but I think they're in their late 20's/early 30's. It's a general English course focusing on communication skills - especially speaking, listening and pronunciation. Some very basic writing and spelling perhaps.

[nomad soul]

In terms of basic language issues, Arabic L1 speakers have pronunciation challenges with the letter "p" because this sound doesn't exist in their alphabet. Their tendency is to use "b" as in "beoble" instead of "people." There's no "v" sound in the Arabic alphabet as well; they may substitute it with "f" when speaking. Also, the colloquial form of Arabic excludes the verb to be. For example, an Arabic speaker might say, "He happy" in English. The same goes for the indefinite article "a," as in, "He sees ball" and not, "He sees a ball." The definite article "the" also creates issues; whereas, the student might say, "at the home" instead of "at home." There are some pronoun challenges with using he/she/it and I/me. And since Arabic is written phonetically, Arabic L1 speakers often spell English words as they sound (e.g., "becaus," "befor"). It interferes with their pronunciation as well when reading, such as saying "stop-ped" as a two-syllabic word. Hopefully, your students will already be familiar with the Roman alphabet, especially writing the letters because Arabic is written from right to left. Lastly, in addition to grammar problems, they'll have word order issues. Like Spanish, adjectives in Arabic come after the noun, as in "the dog brown."

As for resources, having a clear understanding of Arabic L1 speakers' problems is critical in determining strategies and activities to use in your class. For more on Arabic to English interference issues, do an Internet search on arabic language interference english.

Good luck!

[eihpos]

Thanks a lot, that info gives me a great basis to go on. I have very little experience with Arabic speakers at this level, so this is a brilliant help!

[Dedicated]

If the Arab students are beginners and they need writing skills, try

Keep Writing (Books 1 and 2) by Richard Harrison (Longman).

[grahamb]

A good book about the difficulties faced by learners of different nationalities is "Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and Other Problems" by Swan and Smith (CUP).

[psychedelicacy]

Arab learners, aside from communication problems involving 'p' (it's amazing what a difference it makes), tend to be good at speaking and listening as Arabs (a) are highly communicative people and (b) get exposed to a lot of English in their daily lives. Vowels and diphthongs in English are difficult as well, because Arabic doesn't have as many. Reading and writing (and spelling), however, are the biggest challenges for obvious reasons. If a teacher is in total control of what material he or she uses, I would focus almost exclusively on reading and writing.

But of course, it depends on why particular learners need English. If they need it because they need to speak and listen to English at work, clearly it would be remiss not to focus almost exclusively on those skills.