Arabic-L:K-16:Needs High School Arabic Textbook advice

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Mon 26 Mar 2007
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Needs High School Arabic Textbook advice

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1)
Date: 26 Mar 2007
From:"abdel khila" <akhila at hotmail.com>
Subject:Needs High School Arabic Textbook advice

My district wants to start an Arabic program in the high school and I  
was asked to review some textbooks and offer my recommendation as to  
what would be the best textbook to use for the high school students.  
These are American students and would have Arabic for the first time  
ever. I would really appreciate it if there are any K-12 Arabic  
teachers here who could offer any suggestions of good textbooks to  
use with students of that level and background based on their own  
teaching experiences.


I am myself a native speaker of Arabic and I currently teach French  
at the middle school level. My department wants me to submit my  
recommendation for an appropriate textbook ASAP. I also need to  
reject at least another three books explaining why I did not think  
they were suitable for the students. I am really interested in a  
textbook that allows students to learn Arabic in a communicative and  
functional way and helps them hone different skills, a textbook that  
has authentic and valid cultural representations, is free of  
stereotypes, and most importantly is neutral in terms of religion  
(These are American students and promoting any brand of religion is  
prohibited in public schools, etc. The textbook would really be a  
supplement to the instruction in the classroom and a guide for  
students for homework, etc. I am planning on using and creating other  
resources besides the book.

I was able to get the textbook "Ahlan wa Sahlan" by Mahdi Alosh from  
a friend who uses it at the university level. It is an ok book;  
however, it is dense and lectures a lot. I am not sure if it is  
appropriate for High school kids. I also looked at Alif Baa and  
Alkitaab. I hate to say both books are poor textbooks in terms of  
what we are looking for. Alif Baa focuses solely on form and Arabic  
writing (which are of course very important)in a very static way, we  
are however  looking more for a book that can teach students Arabic  
writing gradually coupled with other skills also like speaking,, etc.  
I also noticed ALKEETAB FII TA'ALLUM AL-ARABIYYA somewhat lacks a lot  
of functional objectives and the lessons in it are sequenced somewhat  
poorly.

I am thinking more and more there are really no Arabic textbooks for  
k-12 students and I might have to end up using college Arabic  
textbooks or do without a textbook altogether!

I apologize for my message being long. I really appreciate any help  
or suggestions.
Abdelkader

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End of Arabic-L:  26 Mar 2007