Introduction

Students have recently finished learning how to read in Arabic and are now starting to speak about themselves in Arabic. In keeping with the theme of speaking about themselves, in this unit students will learn to describe their own families. In the process they will explore, compare and contrast, how marriage and dating practices, and inheritence laws have shaped families differently in the Arabic speaking world vs. America. Students will also look at the social, genetic, health and financial impacts these practices have on families.

In this unit students will:

• Describe their own families
• Use the correct Arabic terminology to describe members of families
• Discuss the similarities and differences between Islamic family structures and western families in terms of kinship, naming practices, marriage within families, milk kinship, and genetic issues related to cousin marriage
• Use independent and attached pronouns correctly
• Use comparative adjectives
• Understand 5 name Arabic names
• Read and write a family tree in Arabic