Houston Community College Northwest
Course Outline for Beginning Arabic II, 1412
Fall, 2012
Class Number 23598
Time and location
T/Th 7:00P.M.-9:30P.M. Spring Branch Campus Rm 711
Instructor
Franjie Tannous
Office Hours: I am available half an hour before the class or by arrangement.
Email: franjie.tannous@hccs.edu
Textbook
Ahlan Wa Sahlan by Mahdi Alosh, Second Edition (ISBN 978-0-300-12272-5)
Course Description
Arabic 1412, Beginning Arabic II, is a four credit-hour course, which meets five hours per week.
It is part of the four-semester beginning and intermediate (1411-1412, 2311-2312) sequence. The
course transfers to universities as foreign language credit. It also satisfies the cross-cultural
component of the HCCS core curriculum.
In Arabic 1412 you will listen to, speak, read and write Arabic. Vocabulary, language patterns,
and grammar are introduced and applied in the context of practical communication. You will
learn Arabic vocabulary, expressions, and structures relating to college studies, personal identity,
home and family, getting acquainted, describing people and places, activities and leisure, dining
and cuisine, transactions in a store or restaurant.
You will also learn cultural information about values, beliefs, and practices related to the above
situations and to speakers of Arabic. In a more general sense, you will learn about the cultural
contexts of the Arabic language. The class includes dialogues, tapes, oral and written exercises,
role-playing, partner or group work.
End-of-Semester Performance Level Descriptions
Listening Comprehension: Comprehend words, phrases, and sentences of the standard spoken
language where the context is familiar.
Speaking: Speak using words, phrases, and some short sentences in a limited number of familiar
contexts. Speech will be hesitant with frequent inaccuracies.
Reading: Read and interpret the language that will consist mainly of vocabulary previously
learned. May be able to understand materials at a higher level where the material is
contextualized.
Writing: Write short simple sentences, using learned vocabulary and a limited number of
grammatical structures. Topics deal mainly with personal life and interests.
Cultural Awareness
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Be able to identify regions and countries where Arabic is spoken.
Demonstrate knowledge of a few basic facts about several Arabic-speaking countries or
regions.
Show understanding of Arabic customs relating to introductions and initial social
contacts, interaction in public places, dining, interaction between family and friends.
Demonstrate understanding of the interrelationship between culture and language.
Attendance and Promptness
Class will begin at 7:00 p.m. Please be on time, as coming and going disrupt the class.
Attendance is required. If you miss more than 4 classes (No matter what your excuses are),I’ll
drop you from my class before the last day for Administrative/Student Withdrawal, which is
Friday, November the 2nd, before 4:30 p.m. IF you violate the attendance policy after the latter
date, I’ll not grade your homework, and you’ll not be allowed to take the final exam. Therefore,
your final grade will be an F for this class. I take attendance in the beginning, middle, or end of
the class. If I call your name any time and you’re not present, I mark you absent.
P.S. Students whose first language is Arabic have to take two major exams and the final. It’s not
required to attend every class (except for the first two weeks), nor is it required to turn
homework.
Class Buddies
It is your responsibility to find a class buddy, who can get handouts for you if you are absent and
who will let you know about any assignments that you miss.
Course Grade
50% 3 major tests (Oral and Written Portions)
30% final exam (Oral and Written Portions)
20% Written homework
HCCS Grading System:
90-100%
80-89%
70-79%
60-69%
59 & below
=
=
=
=
=
A
B
C
D
F
Makeup Policy
There is no makeup for any major test made during any absence. Therefore, your grade will be
ZERO if you miss any test. Therefore, try not to miss any class and be on time.
Cell Phones and Beepers
Please turn off all cell phones and beepers before class. Their use disrupts the class.
Policy on Academic Dishonesty
Students are expected to do their own work, unless an assignment is made specifically as a group
assignment. Plagiarism (handing in another person’s work as your own), or cheating will result
in a grade of F for the assignment, or test in question. For a second offense, the student may
receive a grade of F for the course.
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Reasonable Accommodations
Any student with a documented disability (e.g. physical, learning,, psychiatric, vision, hearing,
etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the Disability Support
Services Office, SJAC 102, 713-718-6164 at the beginning of each semester. Faculty members
are authorized to provide only the accommodations requested by the Disability Support Services
Office.
I hope you find Arabic an interesting and rewarding subject. I look forward to working with you
this semester!
Franjie Tannous
August, 2012
Note: I reserve the right to change any portion of the syllabus if the need arises
Course Schedule
Week 1:
Aug 28: Introducing oneself; syllabus; review Arabic alphabet; review
present tense and surrounding items; lesson 7: Arabic print media;
inquiring about and describing activities or objects
Aug 30: Lesson 7: Making polite requests and offers using the imperative;
The imperative; the cases of the nouns; expression possession;
Listening; DVD
Week 2:
Sep 04:Lesson 8: Requesting and declining things politely; expressing
likes and dislikes; adverbials of time; food and drink; describing
daily activities
Sep 06: Lesson 8: revisiting the imperative; preposition and attached
pronouns; plurals of nouns; listening; DVD
Week 3:
Sep 11:Lesson 9: describing daily activities; giving background
information; telling time formally and informally
Sep 13: Lesson 9: mass and count nouns; counting in the hundreds and
thousands; listening; DVD
Week 4:
Sep 18:Lesson 10: Describing people, objects, possessions and activities;
learning about family and geography in the Arabic-speaking world;
conjugation and negation of the past tense
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Sep 20: Lesson 10: Verbal nouns; noun-adjective agreement; different
names for family; listening; DVD; review for Exam I
Week 5:
Week 6:
Week 7:
Sep 25: Exam I (Lessons 7-10)
Sep 27: : Lesson 11: describing activities in the past, present, and future;
expressing sequence; expressing certainty or uncertainty; reporting
other people’s speech; superlative and comparative degrees
Oct 02: Lesson 11: verb ‫ ;كان‬Arab and Muslim Calendars; Five special
nouns; listening; DVD
Oct 04: Lesson 12: describing the four seasons; describing the weather
Oct 09: Lesson 12: The partitive nouns; converting temperature scales;
listening; DVD
Oct 11: Lesson 13: describing daily activities; negating imperatives
Week 8:
Oct 16: Lesson 13: weak verbs; expressing reason; position of the verb in
the Arabic sentence; swearing or giving an oath; listening; DVD
Oct 18:Lesson 14: describing activities in the past, present, and future;
expressing contrast
Week 9:
Oct 23: Lesson 14: expressing reason; position of the demonstratives in
DVD; review for exam II
Oct 25: Exam II (Lessons 11-14)
Week 10:
Oct 30: Lesson 15: describing events such as national and religious
Nov 01: Lesson 15: Passive verb; verb ‫ ; صار‬listening; DVD
Week 11:
Nov 06:Lesson 16: describing people, activities, and past events; Arabic
verb forms
Nov 08: Lesson 16: Arabic verb forms; ordinal numbers; listening; DVD
Week 12:
Nov 13 :Lesson 17: making appointments and schedules and describing
activities; dual and plural nouns in Idafa structure; expressing
frequency; expressing exception
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Nov 15: Lesson 17: explaining reason using the subjunctive verb; active
and passive participles
Week 13:
Nov 20: Lesson 17: negate the present tense with ‫ ;لم‬weak verbs; listening;
DVD
Nov 22: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY !
Week 14:
Nov 27: Lesson 18: describing activities in the past and present; reading
newspaper advertisements.
Nov 29: describing floor plans, house fixtures;
and furniture; describing neighborhood business and their location
Week 15:
Dec 04: Lesson 18: expressing intention using present tense structure; the
noun of instrument
Dec. 06: Lesson 18: prepositions and relational concepts; adverbs and
prepositions of place; listening; DVD; review for final exam
Week 16:
Dec 11: No Class
Dec. 13: FINAL EXAM AT 7:30 P.M.
EGLS3 -- Evaluation for Greater Learning Student Survey System
At Houston Community College, professors believe that thoughtful student feedback is necessary to
improve teaching and learning. During a designated time, you will be asked to answer a short online
survey of research-based questions related to instruction. The anonymous results of the survey will
be made available to your professors and division chairs for continual improvement of instruction.
Look for the survey as part of the Houston Community College Student System online near the end
of the term.
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