2014 STARTALK/NHLRC Teacher
Workshop
June 23-27, 2014
Arabic
Let's Celebrate!
By Anita Husen and Reem Mehdoui
Student Profile
• Intermediate-level, college.
• - Mixed class (L2+HL).
• - Typical HL Learner:
-1.5 or 2nd generation, one or both parents of Arab
descent.
-Familiar with regional dialect (speaking+listening)
-Coming to class with:
-Intermediate-Mid: Dialect, for listening and
speaking.
-Novice-Mid: MSA (Modern Standard Arabic), for all
4 skills.
Themes
-Main theme: Cultural Celebrations
-Possible sub-themes:
• family
• immigration
• inter-generational changes
• religion
• rituals
Pre-requisites
• Have socio-linguistic awareness of varieties of
Arabic.
• Comprehend a short video clip in MSA on
familiar cultural topics.
• Write in MSA a paragraph-long essay on a
personal, familiar topic.
• Speak in a ESA (Educated Spoken Arabic)-MSA,
to a native speaker.
Objectives
• Content Objectives
-Learn about a festival in Sudan
-Create interview questions
-Conduct an interview
• Language Objectives
-Listen and summarize a video
-Write a personal, persuasive essay
-Practice using new vocabulary
-Hypothesize and role play
-Write a comparative essay
Resources (Authentic Materials)
• Short video clip (Al Jazeera): "Mango Festival in Khartoum, Sudan"
http://www.aljazeera.net/reportslibrary/pages/1ac4e476-defb-475787bc-137b62c684f2
• Community (interviews)
Day 0: Agenda and Preparation
• From the previous week...
• Agenda explained this week's lesson plan, based on a 3
day/week class 55 minutes in length.
• Students were arranged in groups of 2-4 with at least
one HL and one L2 based on varied proficiency.
• Students selected, contacted, and arranged interview
appointment with an older native speaker in the local
community.
Lesson Plan
Day 1
• (5 min) Warm-up.
• (15 min) Watch video once, discuss with partner.
Watch twice, confirm/deny with same partner. Watch
third time.
• (15 min) As a class, we discuss video.
• (15 min) Discuss with a new partner your favorite
holiday and report to class information from partner.
• (5 min) Distribute basic vocab list. Re-explain
homework assignment to write about favorite holiday
using 3-5 new vocab specific to their holiday.
Lesson Plan
Day 2
• (5 min) Collect writing assignment.
• (10 min) Write new vocab on the board.
• (30 min) Work in groups to prepare 5-8
interview questions. Teacher rotates between
groups to provide feedback, assistance, and
reviews vocab on board
• (10 min) Review revised vocab list from board.
Lesson Plan
Day 3
• (15 min) Role-play activity, round 1. Re-enact.
• (15 min) Role-play, round 2. Re-enact with
embellishment off-script.
• (15 min) Role-play, round 3. Re-enact without
the script at hand.
• (10 min) Reflection in English. Explanation of
writing assignment #2. Compare and contrast
how one holiday/event is celebrated at home
vs. abroad or past vs. now.
Assessment
• Formative Assessment:
-Student-generated vocab list --> assessing appropriate
lexical knowledge and contextual usage
-Interview questions --> assessing knowledge and
application of appropriate interview format and register
• Summative Assessment:
-Both writing assignments --> content, lexical variety, use
of supporting an argument to defend preference,
comparison and aspect
• Meta-cognitive Awareness:
-Discussion about interview process
THANK YOU!