UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES
& INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
SSCs 2015-2016
Arabic Syllabus A
Prerequisite for entry
For complete beginners or those who have had only very little contact with the language.
Course duration
Year 1 students: double-block (16 x 3-hour classes. Block 1: 8 x 3-hour classes; Block 2: workshops and tutorials related
to Project).
Year 2 students: single block (8 x 3-hour classes).
Self-Study
40 hours in total.
Course codes
LCAM6001
Aims and Objectives
The aim of the course is to enable student to function at a basic every day survival level (basic vocabulary, grammar,
morphology, syntax and phonetics). On completion of the course students should be able to communicate in and
understand Arabic on a number of practical every day matters. Cultural awareness will be developed. Language learning
skills, including autonomous learning and how to approach authentic materials will be developed. Some transferable
skills will also be developed. Medical related issues/vocabulary will also be covered.
Functions
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Basic conversation (Greeting);
Being able to talk about Jobs;
Introducing family’s members;
Asking about weather and climate;
Counting numbers (1-10);
Being able to talk and ask about directions (on, in, above, between ... etc.);
Talking about countries and nationalities and geographical position;
Talking about what happened (Past Tense);
Describing things (nouns & adjectives);
Days of the week;
Talking about daily routine (Present Tense);
Using a dictionary, an introduction (root & stem);
Talking about daily routine (Present Tense);
Arab countries and some basic concepts of Arabic culture.
Course Content
Main topics/themes to be covered
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Personal Introduction (name, nationality and job);
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Introduction of close people family and friends (names, jobs);
Describing things around;
Jobs and places of work;
Time, days of the week and seasons;
Dining out, variety of Arabic foods & drinks;
Healthy food and drinks
At the grocery (shopping);
At the hospital (basic information about medicine)
Hobbies & Interests;
Basic daily life routine (My mother is a doctor);
Making an appointment with a doctor (body parts and some basic health words and expressions);
Cold & Flu (symptoms and cure).
Skills
Reading
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reading for gist and scanning for specific descriptive information;
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reading basic narrations;
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short articles;
Writing
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personal presentation;
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portrait of themselves and others / people and places;
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telling stories;
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practising different formats: touristic brochure, interview, film review…).
Linguistic Structures
Grammar
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Introduction to the Modern Standard Arabic;
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The Alphabet Calligraphy;
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Letters of the alphabet;
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Long & Short Vowels;
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Interrogatives (yes /no questions);
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Gender and number;
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The verb to have (I you/male, you/female);
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Sun & Moon Letters;
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Nouns & adjectives;
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Numbers (1-10); Ordinal Numbers
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Preposition articles (on, in, above, between ... etc);
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Possessive articles (my, your m-f, his, her …etc);
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Introduction to the past tense;
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Basic verbs (to go, come back, drink, eat, read and write);
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Past tense forms (I, you (m-f), he, she , we, you and they;
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Dual and plural (sound masculine and feminine plural);
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Present Tense;
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Basic verbs (to go, come back, drink, eat, read and write);
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Present tense forms ( I, you (m-f), he, she , we, you and they;
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Additional verbs in both past and present tenses;
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Introduction to the future tense; basic verbs.
Learning Resources
There will be no specific textbook, however various materials from different books and sources will be distributed to all
students.
Additional Material
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Mastering Arabic , Jane Wighwick and Mahmood Jaafar (Macmillan), New edition – ISBN: 9780230013100
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Al-Kitabb fi Ta'llum Al-Arabiyya, Mahmood Al-batal & others, (Georgetown University Press) 1995 – ISBN:
9781589011045
A selection of authentic material will also be used.
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials available for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.
materials available for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.