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<span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">Arabic-L: Wed 27 Nov 2013</span><br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <</span><a href="mailto:dilworth_parkinson@byu.edu" style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif" target="_blank">dilworth_parkinson@byu.edu</a><span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">></span><br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
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<br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">1) Subject: </span><font face="arial, sans-serif">Using Shami materials from Al-Kitaab</font><br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">-------------------------</span><span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">Messages----------------------</span><span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">-------------</span><br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">1)</span><br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">Date: </span><span style="font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">27 Nov 2013</span><br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">From: </span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">David Wilmsen <<a href="mailto:david.wilmsen@gmail.com" target="_blank">david.wilmsen@gmail.com</a>></span><br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<span style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">Subject: </span><font face="arial, sans-serif">Using Shami materials from Al-Kitaab</font><br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<br style="font-size:13.333333969116211px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">I must respectfully disagree with Professor Jorgenson as to the nature of</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">the Shami materials in the third edition of al-kitaab. While agreeing with</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">him that those are generally of fine quality for what they represent (but</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">see below), I cannot agree that they may stand alone as a class in</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">vernacular Arabic. They are clearly designed and intended to follow the</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">sequence of the lessons in written Arabic of al-kitaab, and as such cannot</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">meet the requirements of a course in spoken Arabic, in which learning to</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">meet basic needs in the target language must take priority.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Our students complain, for instance, that after weeks and months of</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">studying Arabic, they still have not acquired such basic items as colours</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">and common grocery items, toiletries and health products, basic household</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">furnishings, and other such quotidian concepts as are likely to come up in</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">conversation several times in a day or week while they attempt operating in</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Arabic.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">I maintain that learning things like annexation and adjectival agreement</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">would be much less conceptually challenging were students to begin learning</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">constructions like *miftāḥ is-sayyāra* and *sayāra kiḥliyya* or if</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">you will *miftāḥ</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">il-bāb *and* bāb* *ša''iti i**ẓ-ẓġīrə *than they would encountering *maktab</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">al-qubūl *or *al-umam al-mutaḥida, *the latter being a perennial butt of</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">complaint and ridicule amongst our students.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">This does not mean that one cannot and does not discuss the United Nations</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">in vernacular Arabic; we do, just listen to Maysoun Abou Asaad pronouncing</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">it in the dialect of Damascus in lesson one (if you can hear her, that is,</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">the sound quality being quite compressed in the first several lessons). But</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">in a good colloquial Arabic class, one should start by learning to procure</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">and to use sandwiches, shoelaces, tickets, toothpaste, tangerines, water</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">bottles, and wicker baskets, their colours, sizes, better and worse</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">qualities, and directions for their utilization or preparation, none of the</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">vocabulary or idiomatic usages for which al-kitaab supplies, at least not</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">in the early lessons. As things stand now, instructors must provide all of</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">these things as they arise in class or as they themselves see the need. We</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">all do such things, anyway, but we should not be compelled by the textbook</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">to have to do it. A good book will provide us the framework. This one</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">doesn't.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">A further example in the grammar not the lexis: colloquial lessons should,</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">as a matter of course, be giving not just the means of saying, for example,</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">'I want' and 'I don't want', but also 'I want it' and 'I don't want it',</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">which al-kitaab does not provide - at least not in the Shamy dialect. Yet,</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">such constructions are to be encountered by students dozens of times in a</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">single day. My estimate (based in observation) is four to eight times an</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">hour. It does, however, eventually get round to instructing students to</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">express such things in acceptably idiomatic Arabic writing.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">This, then, brings up another frailty of the latest approach promulgated in</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">the third edition of al-kitaab. In its commendable effort to introduce</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">genuine spoken Arabic into the Arabic classroom, it ends by delimiting</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">students' exposure to and practice with the Arabic of writing, leaving</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">students to make their own way through a jumble of slightly conflicting</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">rules of, say, verb conjugations, permitting them to choose for the time</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">being, the manner in which they wish to conjugate in their early attempts</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">at composition.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">The result, I am afraid, is that what we have in our hands is neither a</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">textbook in spoken Arabic nor one in the Arabic of modern writing.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"> In my two years of teaching out of book i third edition, I have observed a</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">noticeable decrease in third edition students' preparedness after a year of</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">study for continuing on to the next stage. Perhaps this will become less</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">critical now that they will be transitioning to the 3rd edition of book ii</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">rather than going from book i third edition to book ii second edition. But</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">that rather seems to defeat the goal of language pedagogy.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">I think it time that the profession open a discussion about our means,</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">methods, and goals in the teaching of this wonderful language.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">David Wilmsen</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Associate Professor of Arabic</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Chair, Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Languages</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">American University of Beirut</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Bliss Street, Hamra</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Beirut, Lebanon</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">1107 2020</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">tel: +961-1-350000 ext. 3850/1</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
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End of Arabic-L: 27 Nov 2013</div></div>