Colloquial Arabic: Levantine Dialect 1

Catalog description

This course complements the student’s knowledge of Standard Arabic to include proficiency in Levantine Arabic, one of the major Arabic dialects, with emphasis on daily life tasks, conversational fluency, and cultural sensibility. A prerequisite for this class is Intermediate Arabic 201 ( ARABL-UH 2110 ) or an equivalent proficiency level determined through a placement test. This is a full semester conversation-based course during which students focus on the communicative skills, and develop automated production skills necessary to function in an Arabic speaking environment. It is designed to build student’s abilities in listening and speaking. At the end of the semester students should be able to use the Shami dialect to participate actively in conversations by using linguistic and cultural expressions to make requests, express, and describe preferences. Tasks and assignments required for this course include daily homework, periodic quizzes, weekly oral entries, presentation skits, oral film summary, oral interviews, a homestay, and an oral final exam.