Arabic

Length of Course Year 8 : One year

Year 8 is the second year of the three year Key Stage 3 Arabic programme

Course description and aims

During the course of the one year the students will develop skills in four domains – listening, speaking, reading, and writing necessary for effective interaction in Arabic. Students will develop knowledge of the culture of Arabic-speaking communities and an understanding of the interdependence of language and culture, thereby encouraging reflection on their own cultural heritage.

The purpose of the Arabic programme is to develop all fours skills and of listening, speaking, reading and writing through a wide range of activities intended for the development of oracy and literacy skills leading from contextualized practice to meaningful use.

Main concepts and topics covered

Set (1)

The course is presented in a topic-based approach that ensures students are given the opportunity to develop their skills and languages within the framework of up-to-date themes relevant to the modern Arab world. The course includes an abundance of exercises to aid learning and encourage practice in listening, speaking, reading and writing. The main topics include:

1. Myself and Others

· Talking about yourself

· My family

· Describing character

2. House and Home

· Rooms in the house

· Describing your home

· For rent

3. Work and Routine

· Talking about work

· A day in the life of……

· Situations vacant

4. Sport and Leisure

· Sport preferences

· Free time

· Going out

5. Travel and Tourism

· Around town

· Means of transportation

· Letter of complaint

6. Food and Cooking

· Food

· Measures

· At the greengrocer

7. Clothes and Colours

· Describing outfit

· Describing colour

· At the clothes shop

8. Education and Training

· School and university

· Subjects

· In the examination hall

· Instructions

9. News and Media

· News

· Broadcasting

· Comparing media

10. Climate and the Environment

· Weather plans

· Holiday plans

· Possibilities

11. Health and Happiness

· The body

· Illness

· At the pharmacy

12. Arts and Cinema

· Culture

· Film genres

· Reviewing

Set (2)

The content is organised around different topic areas, which provide contexts for the acquisition of vocabulary and the study of grammar and structures. Through the study of these Topic areas, students gain insight into:

· Islamic Culture: eg.( طارق بن زياد Tariq Ben Zeyad),

· Scientific topics: eg. الاتصالات communication

· Arabic culture: eg.( الأمثال العربية Arabic proverbs )

· Adventure stories: eg.(الجمل وأكياس الملح the camel and the salt bags)

· Famous characters: (الحسن بن الهيثم AlHassan Ben Alhaitham )

The Arabic programme aims to ensure that all students:

· Understand and respond to spoken and written language form from a variety of authentic sources.

· Speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say including thorough discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.

· Can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt.

· Acquire an understanding of the Arabic culture around them.

Language Content

Set (1):

First person singular, past, present, future tenses, asking questions (f/m), use of adjectives, connectives in extended writing, demonstrative pronouns, prepositions, personal pronouns, singular and plural of numbers, questions types, interrogative pronouns, 2nd and 3rd personal pronouns, Verbs of making order singular, dual, plural of nouns

using adverbs, comparative and superlative

Set (2): Singular nouns in different grammatical states, broken plural, sound masculine plural in grammatical states, sound feminine plural in grammatical states, dual names and their grammatical states, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, connectives, particles in conjunctions.

Course outcomes

Listening and Responding

To organise and respond to key ideas from spoken texts in familiar contexts

Reading and Responding

To organise and respond to key ideas from written texts in familiar contexts

Speaking

To interact with others by sharing key points of information in Arabic

Writing

To understand and develop writing skills on a moderate level To write texts to present key points of information in Arabic Communication

To share information and ideas in a small group

Cultures

To understand and compare/contrast own culture to that of Arab Countries

Types of assessment

· End of unit tests

· Level assessments each term

· End of year exam

Methodology

A variety of teaching strategies and approaches are used to help students remain focused and to make teaching effective and enjoyable e.g.

· Group work

· Pair work

· Individual work

· Games

· Different kinds of listening activities such as selective and detailed listening

· Different kinds of oral work such as conducting surveys, role plays, songs, interviews and presentations

· Different kinds of written work such as dialogues, short letters/essays, fill in the blanks etc.

· Using Information Technology

Text and materials

Set (1) : Mastering Arabic (2)

Set (2): Uhibbu Al Arabeyya level (5) – أحب العربية (5)

Workbook

CDs Flashcards Worksheets

Information Technology Websites

Grading policy

All assessment is criterion referenced and aligned to learning objectives as outlined in the teacher’s projections for the term. Teachers mark work on the basis of mark schemes made in collaboration with colleagues of the same year group.

Formative assessments may be given a mark, a grade or a comment. This values teacher judgment and informs the learner about strengths and areas of development. All summative assessments are graded on a scale as published in the whole school assessment policy.

Additional expectations

For learning a Language regular revision of vocabulary and grammar is necessary. Additional reading (story books, according to the language level the student has achieved) is strongly recommended, as are the language websites to which the school has a subscription.