Arabic

Length of Course Year 7 : One year

Year 7 is the first 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)

1. Getting started

· Greetings and leave-taking

· Pronouns

· Putting words together

· Simple sentences

2. Family

· Talk about family

· Family members names

· Character description

· Where you live and who you live with

3. Jobs

· Types of jobs

· Where people work

· Jobs done by family and friends

· Job preferences

4. Describing things

· Definite and indefinite words

· Opposites

· Possessive nouns

· Adjectives

· Question forms

· Sun and moon letters

5. Places

· Where you live

· Describing your city or town

· Amenities

6. Countries and People

· Names of countries

· Location of countries

· Nationality

7. Counting things

· Numbers

· Handwritten numbers

· Counting

8. Plurals and Colours

· Word roots

· External and internal plurals

· Vocabulary learning

· Colour adjectives

9. Eating and drinking

· At the gorcer’s

· Describing packaging

· My favourite dish

· Group words

· At the restaurant

10. What happened yesterday?

· What happened yesterday?

· Asking questions about the past

11. Wish you were here

· Plural patterns 3 and 4

· Numbers 11-100

· What’s the weather like?

· An enjoyable trip

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.(امتحان الكرماء – test for honorable people),

· ( فانوس رمضان – Ramadan lantern)

· Scientific topics: eg. (مع العلماء – with scientists)

· Arabic culture: eg. ( - عودة حمار جحا )the return of Juha’s donkey)

· Adventure stories: eg. (أميرة البحار السبعة – princess of the seven seas)

· Famous characters: (قائد ومعركة – leader and battle)

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) : Position of Alphabets, short and long vowels, feminine /masculine, demonstrative pronouns, negation, Adjectives, possessive pronouns, attached pronouns ,singular/dual/plural, definite/indefinite articles, connectives and verbs

Set (2): singular/plural, demonstrative pronouns, verbs in their three tenses, exclamation, yes/no questions, forming questions, question words, personal pronouns, subject pronouns, third person pronouns.

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 (1)

Set (2) : Uhibbu Al-Arabeyya Level (4) – أحب العربية

Workbook

CDs Flashcards Worksheets

Information Technology Websites

DVDs

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.