COURSE SYLLASBUS – SPRING 2008
639 COLLOQ. ARABIC LEVANTINE
Class location:
Class meets:
Instructor:
Office:
Phone:
Office hours:
MW 1:30- 3:00
Salwa Shishani
Williams Hall 839
(215)746-3141
Wednesday 12:30- 1:30
Friday 11:00- 12:00
E-mail: shishani@sas.upenn.edu
Arabic Levantine
This course in Levantine Arabic is for beginning students of Arabic who are seeking to
develop communicative oral skills in colloquial Levantine Arabic, the dialect used in
Jerusalem and in contemporary Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine/Israel. The course
is designed to enable learners to communicate in spoken Levantine Arabic using the four
skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Emphasis is placed on the learner’s ability
to speak and listen. The course focuses on spoken rather than standard written Arabic, and will
therefore target primarily the oral skills, speaking and listening.
Required Course Materials:

Colloquial Arabic (Levantine) by Leslie McLoughlin
Course Requirements and Grade Distribution:
You are expected to come to class regularly and to come PREPARED for class
activities. This means that BEFORE you come to class you should listen to the tapes,
study the new vocabulary, prepare for the drills that are to be done in class, and be ready
to answer questions. Missing class not only means a couple of hours of extra work for
you to catch up, it is also unfair to your classmates because you will slow everyone down.
Grading Policy:
Your final grade will be based on the following:
One or Two Oral Interviews: 20%
Class Presentation: 10%
Listening quizzes: 20%
Homework : 20%
Class attendance and participation: 10%
Final listening quiz: 20%