Thursday, December 21, 2006
Auralog Releases It's Arabic Product
Auralog released their Arabic product and the description looks impressive but they provide no Iraqi or Levant which are crucial to learn for anyone trying to learn Arabic today. The focus seems to be completely on North African dialects. It is too expensive to buy for the regular student (almost 500 USD) which will guarantee that it is available only in labs of large educational institutions. I heard some good reviews though from some military folks who had access to it.
My Training Gets Mentioned In AP
This is one of very few training classes I am allowed to talk about. The students were unscreened for language learning ability and ages ranged from 18 to 43. They took the new Iraqi DLPT 5 and scored 0+ , all in less than 100 hours of class time and in less than 30 days. I believe their skills were above 0+ (a solid 1) because the Iraqi DLPT 5 focused so much on geopolitical material rather than the practical usage of the language (which is what I was asked to train them for). Nevertheless, it was a success as it takes the military usually up to 400 hours to achieve these results. The article contains a little error about my biography. I learned the Iraqi dialect growing up in Kuwait and visiting Iraq frequently but I never lived in Iraq.
Here is a part of the full article:
Cultural, language skills part of Navy's new onshore role
By MELISSA NELSON, The Associated Press
Nov 24,:19 AM
PENSACOLA, Fla. - Boats and weapons are Lt. Joseph Michaels' priorities in getting his 53-man squadron ready to patrol Iraq's rivers. But a close second is something the Navy sailor hadn't given much thought to before now - Iraqi language and culture.
Michaels and the men of Riverine Group 1 will head to Iraq in January from their training base in Little Creek, Va. While preparing to deploy, they are among the first sailors learning about the day-to-day lives of Iraqis - everything from their more-limited sense of personal space to traditional Arabic greetings.
Their Jordanian-American instructor, who spent years in Iraq, taught squadron leaders by speaking to them only in Arabic. He also had them greet one another every morning according to the customs of a traditional Iraqi family.
"There is a lot more holding hands and touching cheeks. It's more touchy-feely over there and it was really uncomfortable the first few days," said Michaels, who will oversee a detachment of four river boats patrolling the country's dangerous inland waterways.
"He taught us about as much language as you could learn in 30 days. I thought my head would explode," he said.
And Michaels said he was surprised to learn that even making extended eye contact with an Iraqi woman could cause the woman to be punished.
"The Iraqi men look down on a woman even if she is just looked at by an American man," he said.
The Navy developed the training as part of its expanding onshore role in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its new Expeditionary Combat Command at Little Creek opened this year. The command oversees about 40,000 sailors who work inland, including the Riverine squadron, Navy construction crews known as Seabees and explosive ordnance technicians. There are about 4,300 sailors currently in Iraq and 1,300 in Afghanistan.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Language and Culture Training, a Military Tool
Language and culture training for the military is not new and has been going on for a while. I think that in one month though you can do much more than just the basics of the language. I can actually put my students at 1+ or even 2 in that amount of time.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Arabic and Kurdish Divide
Moroccan Arabic on August 12th
Great opportunity for learning Moroccan Arabic. If you live near Rockland, Maine this is an opportunity you shouldn't miss.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
An Example of Name Analysis
This article is a great example of using cultural, historical and linguistic knowledge in analytics. A good read.
Public Libraries as a Resource for Foreign Language Learning
Public libraries in America are one of the best functioning and worth while public institutions. Making language resources available there is a wonderful idea. Language material is usually very expensive. Buying it through the public library system is a great idea. I have been learning Farsi for three years now using the resources of our great public library system here in the Salt lake City area. I also use it when I am designing curriculum or tests for other languages. Since we are now in a phase where we are trying to encourage the learning of critical foreign languages in this country I totally believe that public libraries should jump on board and use some of the available public funding to finance their purchases of foreign language learning material.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Phenomenal Growth in Demand for the Arabic Language
This is a great report on the demand for Arabic language instructors. A recommended read.
technorati tags:Arabic, instruction
Friday, July 07, 2006
Olive Tree Dictionary
The Olive Tree Dictionary is one of the oldest Arabic English dictionaries. It was written to help people connect and communicate. This article features Yohanan Elihay the author of the dictionary. A good read. I have lost my OTD a while ago and now I want to go get one.
Language and Wealth
This article wonders whether there is a relation between wealth and language. It also makes other good points. A great read.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
New Immersion Course for Arabic
Concordia Language Villages is adding Arabic to its successful language immersion programs. The article doesn't mention the audience for this program but historically they targeted youth. I believe that they should target adult learners also leveraging their experience in other immersion programs.
I don't have enough knowledge about their program and methodology or data about historical performance. Concordia historically used a mix of cultural and linguistic education. This style is usually the most successful. In general, a successful immersion program for Arabic that makes the language stick is harder to design and administer compared to other languages. Here in the United States we lack the skills and enough teachers who are experienced with this kind of teaching style, we lack the curriculum to make it successful and there is no effort that I am aware of for developing rapid acquisition-by-immersion curriculum. Having a group of students in a classroom or even living with a language speaker, and forcing them to speak the language has its advantages for sure but doing it for short periods of time (2 to 9 weeks) without the proper curriculum and methods rarely produces significant acquisition or reinforcement (personal opinion based on 15 years of experience). At any rate, good luck to Concordia. I will investigate the program and come back to you all with a better assessment of it or new information.
I don't have enough knowledge about their program and methodology or data about historical performance. Concordia historically used a mix of cultural and linguistic education. This style is usually the most successful. In general, a successful immersion program for Arabic that makes the language stick is harder to design and administer compared to other languages. Here in the United States we lack the skills and enough teachers who are experienced with this kind of teaching style, we lack the curriculum to make it successful and there is no effort that I am aware of for developing rapid acquisition-by-immersion curriculum. Having a group of students in a classroom or even living with a language speaker, and forcing them to speak the language has its advantages for sure but doing it for short periods of time (2 to 9 weeks) without the proper curriculum and methods rarely produces significant acquisition or reinforcement (personal opinion based on 15 years of experience). At any rate, good luck to Concordia. I will investigate the program and come back to you all with a better assessment of it or new information.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Explosion of Arabic Material on the Web
With Western news operations expanding into the Arabic market there will be more and more opportunities for Arabic language learners. What I am hoping is that some of these organizations would actually provide dual materials that display both the Arabic and English side by side. This would be very useful not only for the Arabic reader but also for the English readers trying to learn Arabic. I also hope that these organizations would go into areas like podcasting and other kinds of audio-visual material.
"July 5, 2006
Western News Operations Expand Into Arabic Market
By DOREEN CARVAJAL
PARIS — A media competition for minds and market share in the Middle East is evolving as a crowd of Western news organizations prepares to deliver headlines — and geopolitical views — in the language of the Koran.
Backed by government financing, Germany's public international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, is poised to beam as much as 24 hours of daily news programming in Arabic this autumn. France's yet-to-be-named CNN-style channel is in development for a year-end opening, along with a Web site in Arabic and later in 2007 an Arabic television version. And the state-owned Russia Today has similar plans for an Arabic Web site and television presence.
From the United States, CNN is watching the development of its Arabic Web site, which attracts more than 300,000 unique visitors monthly, before it decides whether to pursue television plans.
'I'm losing track,' said Jerry Timmins, head of the BBC World Service's operations in Africa and the Middle East. 'There's pretty much of an announcement a week.'
The BBC World Service itself is also in the fray, with £19 million, or $35 million, from the British government for"
"July 5, 2006
Western News Operations Expand Into Arabic Market
By DOREEN CARVAJAL
PARIS — A media competition for minds and market share in the Middle East is evolving as a crowd of Western news organizations prepares to deliver headlines — and geopolitical views — in the language of the Koran.
Backed by government financing, Germany's public international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, is poised to beam as much as 24 hours of daily news programming in Arabic this autumn. France's yet-to-be-named CNN-style channel is in development for a year-end opening, along with a Web site in Arabic and later in 2007 an Arabic television version. And the state-owned Russia Today has similar plans for an Arabic Web site and television presence.
From the United States, CNN is watching the development of its Arabic Web site, which attracts more than 300,000 unique visitors monthly, before it decides whether to pursue television plans.
'I'm losing track,' said Jerry Timmins, head of the BBC World Service's operations in Africa and the Middle East. 'There's pretty much of an announcement a week.'
The BBC World Service itself is also in the fray, with £19 million, or $35 million, from the British government for"
Monday, June 12, 2006
A Piece of Advice for Minnesota
This news from Minnesota is very encouraging. I just hope that this enthusiasm spells over to other states. It seems to me from this article that the people in charge are aware of the challenges, or at least most of them, namely:
1) Lack of qualified people to teach.
2) The need for training the teachers on modern teaching methods.
A third challenge I add here is that the students need to "learn how to learn". I am not aware of any current language program that takes this need into consideration. I am not talking here just about discipline and love for learning but more specifically about teaching student modern Psycholinguistic and memory techniques to help them memorize and understand. Pimsleur has the best approach in the field followed closely by the Rosetta Stone. These tools work directly with the student's memory and language control centers in the brain to aid the memorization experience.
Another problem I spot is that these classes might become to academic in their approach. The best experience a language student can have is to be able to communicate in class with peers and his/her teacher. Always communicate in class! Talk about anything and everything. Textbooks DO NOT have everything the students need to learn.
A final comment on the subject. My military students always complain that they have been taught the 'biggest words' like 'nuclear war' or 'conference' but in the meantime they don't know things like car parts' names and household tools, etc. Teachers should focus More on that during their in-class time.This could be done imply by using any of the 'commercial' material out there rather than academic Arabic text books. This commercial material is extremely valuable because its main focus is on the things that people 'must' know. Unfortunately, Academic teachers do not use such material in their in-class instruction and never take it seriously.
1) Lack of qualified people to teach.
2) The need for training the teachers on modern teaching methods.
A third challenge I add here is that the students need to "learn how to learn". I am not aware of any current language program that takes this need into consideration. I am not talking here just about discipline and love for learning but more specifically about teaching student modern Psycholinguistic and memory techniques to help them memorize and understand. Pimsleur has the best approach in the field followed closely by the Rosetta Stone. These tools work directly with the student's memory and language control centers in the brain to aid the memorization experience.
Another problem I spot is that these classes might become to academic in their approach. The best experience a language student can have is to be able to communicate in class with peers and his/her teacher. Always communicate in class! Talk about anything and everything. Textbooks DO NOT have everything the students need to learn.
A final comment on the subject. My military students always complain that they have been taught the 'biggest words' like 'nuclear war' or 'conference' but in the meantime they don't know things like car parts' names and household tools, etc. Teachers should focus More on that during their in-class time.This could be done imply by using any of the 'commercial' material out there rather than academic Arabic text books. This commercial material is extremely valuable because its main focus is on the things that people 'must' know. Unfortunately, Academic teachers do not use such material in their in-class instruction and never take it seriously.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)