Arabic MSA
Courses:
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This intensive, introductory course covers the fundamentals of the target language, i.e. conversational skills, everyday vocabulary, linguistic structures and essential grammatical forms, as well as culture. Students will be able to use the language for rapport building and obtaining basic information.
Course objectives:
- Communicate and exchange information about familiar topics using phrases and simple sentences;
- Handle short social interactions in everyday situations by asking and answering simple questions;
- Read and write basic phrases and short sentences.
Target Goal: ILR 0+ or above (recommended course length of four to eight weeks)
This intensive, introductory course covers the fundamentals of the target language, i.e. conversational skills, everyday vocabulary, linguistic structures and essential grammatical forms, as well as culture. Students will be able to use the language for rapport building and obtaining basic information.
Course objectives:- Communicate and exchange information about familiar topics using phrases and simple sentences;
- Handle short social interactions in everyday situations by asking and answering simple questions;
- Read and write basic phrases and short sentences.
Target Goal: ILR 0+ or above (recommended course length of four to eight weeks)
This intensive course covers the basic elements of MSA. Students are immersed in the target language using communicative methods of instruction and all four modalities of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The curriculum is thematic and provides students with enough language and cultural awareness to engage and be engaged in basic daily conversations, using simple sentence-level discourse. This is an intensive course and students are required to spend additional time completing assignments, some of which requires outside-of-class research.
Duration: 4–8 weeks
Sample MSA Tactical syllabus (6 month course)
This intensive, introductory course covers the basics of the target language. Students have no prior knowledge of the language. They will use it for professional purposes. Students will use acquired language skills to build capacity for interpersonal communication beyond simple rapport building and routine survival tasks, such as verifying information on increasingly complex descriptions and narrations of people, places, objects, and events.
Course objectives:
- Satisfy minimum courtesy requirements and maintain very simple face-to-face conversations on familiar topics;
- Handle short social interactions in everyday situations by asking and answering simple questions;
- Read very simple, connected, written material in a form equivalent to usual printing or typescript, as well as known language elements that have been recombined in new ways to achieve different meanings at a similar level of simplicity;
- Write basic phrases, short sentences, and questions on very familiar topics, as well as simple phone messages, excuses, and notes to service people.
Target Goal: 1 (dependent on course length; recommended course length of six to eight weeks)
Professional Acquisition Sample Syllabus
This intensive, introductory course covers the basics of the target language. Students have no prior knowledge of the language. They will use it for professional purposes. Students will use acquired language skills to build capacity for interpersonal communication beyond simple rapport building and routine survival tasks, such as verifying information on increasingly complex descriptions and narrations of people, places, objects, and events.
Course objectives:- Satisfy minimum courtesy requirements and maintain very simple face-to-face conversations on familiar topics;
- Handle short social interactions in everyday situations by asking and answering simple questions;
- Read very simple, connected, written material in a form equivalent to usual printing or typescript, as well as known language elements that have been recombined in new ways to achieve different meanings at a similar level of simplicity;
- Write basic phrases, short sentences, and questions on very familiar topics, as well as simple phone messages, excuses, and notes to service people.
This intensive course covers the basics of elementary Arabic MSA. Students are immersed in the target language using communicative methods of instruction and all four modalities of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The curriculum is thematic and provides students with enough language and cultural awareness to create with the language and be engaged in basic daily conversations, using simple sentence-level discourse.
This course is student-centered and conducted almost exclusively in the target language. Often, the students are introduced to the learning material before class, with classroom time then being used to deepen understanding through the interaction with peers. Students are required to spend additional time completing assignments outside of class.
Duration: 6–8 weeks
Sample MSA Professional Acquisition Syllabus
This intensive, advanced course develops students’ professional skills in the target language. Students use the language as a part of their profession, e.g. cryptologic language analysts (CLAs), and take the course to sustain and improve. The general aim of this course is to enhance students’ linguistic and cultural competences through a variety of relevant tasks, and to broaden their understanding of some of the current social, political and economic issues in the country or region where the language is spoken.
Course objectives:
- Describe and narrate events from print/multimedia sources;
- Comprehend and contextualize a structured argument that explains and defends an opinion within extended discourse;
- Discuss topics concretely and abstractly;
- Deal with a linguistically unfamiliar content;
- Recognize and attempt to replicate a high degree of linguistic/lexical accuracy;
- Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the target language’s culture and apply that knowledge to the context;
- Read with almost complete comprehension a variety of authentic prose material on unfamiliar subjects;
- Interpret material correctly, relate ideas and "read between the lines”;
- Follow accurately the essentials of conversations between educated native speakers, reasonably clear telephone calls, radio broadcasts, news stories similar to wire service reports, oral reports, etc.
Target goal: 2+/3 (recommended course length of four to six weeks)
Professional Sustainment Sample Syllabus
This intensive, advanced course develops students’ professional skills in the target language. Students use the language as a part of their profession, e.g. cryptologic language analysts (CLAs), and take the course to sustain and improve. The general aim of this course is to enhance students’ linguistic and cultural competences through a variety of relevant tasks, and to broaden their understanding of some of the current social, political and economic issues in the country or region where the language is spoken.
Course objectives:
- Describe and narrate events from print/multimedia sources;
- Comprehend and contextualize a structured argument that explains and defends an opinion within extended discourse;
- Discuss topics concretely and abstractly;
- Deal with a linguistically unfamiliar content;
- Recognize and attempt to replicate a high degree of linguistic/lexical accuracy;
- Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the target language’s culture and apply that knowledge to the context;
- Read with almost complete comprehension a variety of authentic prose material on unfamiliar subjects;
- Interpret material correctly, relate ideas and "read between the lines”;
- Follow accurately the essentials of conversations between educated native speakers, reasonably clear telephone calls, radio broadcasts, news stories similar to wire service reports, oral reports, etc.
This intensive course develops students’ professional skills in the target language (TL) in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Through a thematic curriculum, students are exposed to authentic materials, including articles, short stories, and various literary genres. The curriculum enhances students’ linguistic and cultural competencies and enables them to complete tasks that occur in real-life situations. By the end of the program, students are expected to function linguistically and culturally at the 2+/3 levels of the MSA language as defined by the Interagency Language Roundtable. This course is heavily student-centered and conducted exclusively in the TL. Students are required to spend additional time outside of the classroom completing assignments.
Duration: 4–6 weeks
Sample MSA Professional Sustainment syllabus
This advanced immersive course at the ILR level 3 (reading and listening), and levels 2 to 2+ (speaking), exposes students to the target language and culture. The program is designed to help learners gain practice and confidence in using the target language at professional levels of proficiency in listening and reading, and in communicating orally in formal and informal environments. This includes interactions with guest speakers and conversation partners, and, when the course takes place at SDSU-LARC facilities, excursions to communities and businesses where the target language is used.
Course Objectives:
- Handle with ease and confidence a large number of communicative tasks.
- Produce speech using paragraph level discourse consistently.
- Engage in conversation on a variety of cultural and social topics formally and informally.
- Deal with a situation with a complication.
- Maintain a good degree of linguistic accuracy.
- Understand standard speech from a variety of countries.
- Follow linguistically complex extended discourse (academic, speeches, professional settings, etc.).
- Command a broad range of vocabulary, including precise, and specialized type of vocabulary embedded in complex grammatical structures.
- Interpret cultural references.
- Understand text from different genres dealing with a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar subjects.
- Understand text featuring argumentation, supported opinion, and hypothesis, and use abstract linguistic formulations.
- Comprehend text through the command of broad, precise, and specialized vocabulary and complex structures.
- Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the target language’s culture and society and apply that knowledge to the context.
Target goal: Reading/Listening - 3 or higher, Speaking - 2 or higher (recommended course length of three to five weeks)
Immersion Sample Syllabus
This advanced immersive course at the ILR level 3 (reading and listening), and levels 2 to 2+ (speaking), exposes students to the target language and culture. The program is designed to help learners gain practice and confidence in using the target language at professional levels of proficiency in listening and reading, and in communicating orally in formal and informal environments. This includes interactions with guest speakers and conversation partners, and, when the course takes place at SDSU-LARC facilities, excursions to communities and businesses where the target language is used.
Course Objectives:- Handle with ease and confidence a large number of communicative tasks.
- Produce speech using paragraph level discourse consistently.
- Engage in conversation on a variety of cultural and social topics formally and informally.
- Deal with a situation with a complication.
- Maintain a good degree of linguistic accuracy.
- Understand standard speech from a variety of countries.
- Follow linguistically complex extended discourse (academic, speeches, professional settings, etc.).
- Command a broad range of vocabulary, including precise, and specialized type of vocabulary embedded in complex grammatical structures.
- Interpret cultural references.
- Understand text from different genres dealing with a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar subjects.
- Understand text featuring argumentation, supported opinion, and hypothesis, and use abstract linguistic formulations.
- Comprehend text through the command of broad, precise, and specialized vocabulary and complex structures.
- Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the target language’s culture and society and apply that knowledge to the context.
This intensive program exposes students linguistically and culturally to the MSA language at the ILR level 3/3/2 in reading, listening, and speaking. The curriculum is designed to help learners practice and gain confidence using the language at higher levels (L3/3/2) of proficiency as defined by the Interagency Language Roundtable. The course is heavily student-centered and conducted exclusively in MSA. During the program, students interact socially, culturally, and linguistically with first-language speakers. These interactions include expert speakers’ seminar sessions, frequent trips to community centers and events, interaction with community members, visits to restaurants and shops, and conversational interviews with first-language speakers.
Duration: 3–5 weeks
Summer Intensive
Summer intensive Arabic MSA begins at the 101 level, i.e. no prior knowledge of the language, and goes through 202. Classes meets for four to six hours of interactive instruction daily, Monday - Friday. They can be taken consecutively (e.g. 101 followed by 102) or individually (i.e. just 101 or just 102). In other words, they do not need to be taken as an entire eight-unit package. Depending on how many courses students take, they can earn 4-16 units of foreign language credit.
Enrollment is open to undergraduate and graduate students, working professionals, college and university faculty, and others. To inquire further and/or register for a course, please email larclanguageprograms@gmail.com. If you would like to begin at the 102 level or higher, please also include your previous language experience (i.e. course syllabus, homework sample, letter of recommendation).
Click for more information - Summer intensive Arabic MSA
Project GO – ROTC Students
The SDSU Project GO summer domestic Arabic program starts at the Year 1 – 101 level. Students applying must be ROTC and have no prior Arabic learning experience (school or heritage learner). Students with prior experience in Arabic are encouraged to apply for a Project GO summer overseas/advanced program or a different SDSU language program in which they have no prior learning experience.
Duration: 11 weeks
Credits: 16 units
Courses: 4
Sample summer intensive Arabic 101 syllabus
Click here for more information - Project GO Arabic MSA
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