Senior Lecturer of Arabic at NYU Abu Dhabi’s Division of Arts and Humanities, Nasser Isleem, has co-authored a new book entitled Arabic Grammar in Action: Proficiency-based and Contextualized Activities, with Associate Professor and Director of Asian Studies at the College of Charleston Ghazi Abuhakema. The book, now available on Amazon, is designed to focus on advanced level Arabic learners and address the traditional methods used in teaching Arabic grammar.
Arabic Grammar in Action: Proficiency-based and Contextualized Activities, builds on what the advanced language learners know at a certain proficiency level and creates communicative activities that reinforce such knowledge and background. The book moves the learner from monotonous mechanical drills to creative types of materials and activities that develop the functional ability. It features a variety of communicative activities, such as pair work, role plays, and identifying the grammatical rules in real-life contexts, which reinforce the development of all language skills, especially listening and writing. The plethora of audio and visual files targeting certain grammatical constructs train the learner’s ear to listen to the sounds, syllables, words, and longer texts.
Arabic Grammar in Action: Proficiency-based and Contextualized Activities, addresses the traditional methods used in teaching Arabic grammar
Commenting on this creative approach to language learning, Isleem said: “Most Arabic learners complain that the way Arabic grammar is taught is dry and not conducive to learning the language. Therefore, we are introducing this book to offer students an enjoyable learning experience by using songs, proverbs, and other cultural expressions and components.”
“The material included in the book takes learners to an upper level of understanding the literature, the music and the different venues of Arabic culture that are not restricted to a specific geographical region but rather extended to the different parts of the Arab World. The book is designed in a way to cater for a diverse audience,” he added.
The book makes teaching Arabic grammar more enjoyable and promotes the learners’ artistic abilities
Learning Arabic grammar can be challenging to many; hence, the book focuses on the communicative aspect of language use and how grammatical constructs are contextualized in real-life situations. It explores new innovative approaches where learners are encouraged to use the grammatical rules under study communicatively. The book shifts learning grammar from the rigid mode to the real-life mode.