Spring 2020 Arabic Pedagogy Conference:
The Student-Centered Arabic Classroom
Saturday, May 30, 2020
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. CDT
To be held virtually on Zoom
This year, the Chicago Arabic Teachers Council (CATC) Spring Arabic Pedagogy Conference takes up the question of how to foster a student-centered Arabic classroom. The conference will feature presentations on project-based learning, second-language acquisition strategies, and other key topics in Arabic pedagogy. We will also devote time to reflecting on our distance-learning experiences during COVID-19 school closures and brainstorming how to move forward after this difficult moment in language education.
يتناول مجلس مدرسي اللغة العربية في شيكاغو السؤال التالي: كيف نبني صفاً متمحوراً حول الطلاب؟ سيتضمن المؤتمر محاضرات في التعلم القائم على المشروعات واستراتيجيات اكتساب اللغة الثانية وغيرها من الموضوعات الرئيسية في مجال تدريس اللغة العربية للناطقين بغيرها. كما أننا سنخصص وقتاً للتأمل في التعلم عن خلال أزمة فيروس كورونا وكيفية المضي قدماً بعد هذه اللحظة الصعبة في تدريس اللغات.
Conference Schedule
• Postsecondary Networking Session Zoom Meeting, hosted by Noha Forster: https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/3587442953
• High School Networking Session Zoom Meeting, hosted by Fadi Abughoush and Lena Krause: https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/91878935699
• Private Islamic School Networking Session Zoom Meeting, hosted by Mutazz Alabd: https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/92815894287?pwd=cklCZi9ycHpOeGxEYWVtV1Zwd3oyUT09
• Elementary and Middle School Networking Session Zoom Meeting, hosted by Alice Saba: https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/99779727520
9:30 a.m. Registration/Webinar opens
10:00 a.m. Nabila Hammami: Arabic as a World Language: From Theory to Practice
11:00 a.m. Emma Trentman: Bridging Theory and Practice: Curriculum Development in the Arabic Classroom
12:00 p.m. Lunchtime networking sessions*
1:00 p.m. Mohammad Alhawary: Contextualizing the Role of Input in the Arabic Foreign Language Classroom
2:00 p.m. Nada Shaath: Building a Successful Arabic Program – Lessons Learned
3:00 p.m. Closing Panel: Looking Ahead
* During the lunch hour, there will be networking sessions on Zoom according to educational context (elementary, high school, university, private Islamic school).
Presentations
Arabic as a World Language: From Theory to Practice
Nabila Hammami
The session focuses on backward design and unit planning with the aim of connecting theory with practice. First, it will review frameworks for language learning and acquisition. Next, it will address standards-based thematic unit plans, highlighting the importance of utilizing Backward Design and integrating the three modes of communication in assessment. Finally, it will introduce educators to a sample unit that includes strategies of using storytelling to maximize language learning experiences.
Presentation in English
Bridging Theory and Practice: Curriculum Development in the Arabic Classroom
Emma Trentman
Although language textbooks provide a ready-made resource for teachers and students, they are not always rooted in research-based approaches to language learning. This presentation describes the development of an Intermediate Arabic curriculum from its textbook origins to thematic units developed by the instructors. It describes how the instructors drew from genre-based and multilingual approaches to develop the units as well as successes and challenges in the curricular development.
Presentation in Arabic, with slides in English
Building a successful Arabic program: lessons learned
Nada Shaath
This presentation focuses on how LA teachers were able to create, maintain, and expand the Arabic program by building quality instruction focused on developing linguist skills through real life application, Project Based Learning, and 21st century skills. How this program is currently serving k-12 students who have been historically underserved, providing them with opportunities to enrolling in colleges, while successfully obtaining federal and private grants.
Presentation in English, with Arabic translation for slides
Contextualizing the Role of Input in the Arabic Foreign Language Classroom
Mohammad Alhawary
This talk focuses on the importance of the role of input as one among the few most important factors for learning a foreign language. A comparison will be made between first language acquisition factors with those relevant to learning a second language. The implications are relevant to both face-to-face as well as virtual learning.
Presentation in English, slides in Arabic
Conference Speakers
Nabila Hammami
Nabila Barada-Hammami, ED.D, is a high school Arabic teacher, a world language Chair in Dearborn public Schools, and an Arabic and English language adjunct professor at Henry Ford Community College. She also serves as an instructional coach at Wayne State University. Dr. Hammami has a doctorate degree in Teacher Leadership with a focus on language and culture. Her research study sought to understand the complexities and challenges that characterize Arabic cultural awareness, especially after the emergence of the new state graduation requirements for foreign language and the development of the Arabic National Standards in 2006. Dr. Hammami also serves as a world language curriculum review committee member in Dearborn Public Schools since 1997. She was an advisory member of the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC) in the field of Arabic language from 2007 to 2010, a role that enabled her to collaborate with various school and university language leaders in Michigan. In 2012, she received the Dora Johnson Award in recognition of excellence in teaching Arabic as a world language. In 2019, Dr. Hammami received the ACTFL Arabic SIG Veteran Teacher Award.
Emma Trentman
Emma Trentman is Associate Professor of Arabic at the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on language and intercultural learning during study abroad, virtual exchange, and in the language classroom. She is particularly interested in multilingual approaches to language learning. She teaches all levels of Arabic at the University of New Mexico and directs the UNM Arabic STARTALK Student Program.
Nada Shaath
Nada Shaath has 24 years of experience in teaching, creating, managing, and expanding Arabic programs from bottom up with focus on improving instruction, and building capacity among teachers. Ms. Shaath is currently serving as a Specialist World Languages and Cultures Department in Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters overseeing programs, instructions, and policies. She is an educator, a mom and a dreamer.
Mohammad Alhawary
Mohammad T. Alhawary is Professor of Arabic Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Arabic language and Arabic theoretical and applied linguistics at the University of Michigan. He has published numerous journal articles, book chapters, and reviews on Arabic linguistics and second language acquisition. His most recent book publications include: Arabic Second Language Acquisition of Morphosyntax (Yale University Press, 2009), Modern Standard Arabic Grammar: A Learner’s Guide (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), Arabic Grammar in context (Routledge, 2016), The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Second Language Acquisition (Routledge, 2018), and Arabic Second Language Learning and Effects of Input, Transfer, and Typology (Georgetown University Press, 2019).