Al-kitab Al-asasi Reviews

Aimed at the growing number of students studying Arabic worldwide, the Kallimni ‘Arabi series takes an innovative, functional approach to the study of Egyptian colloquial Arabic—the spoken dialect most frequently studied and most widely understood in the Arab world. Kallimni ‘Arabi Mazboot, the fourth book in the series, is designed for adult students at the early advanced stage of learning the language. Drawing on her years of experience as an Arabic instructor, author Samia Louis has developed a course rich in everyday cultural content and real-life functional language as well as comprehensive grammar. Written in accordance with the ACTFL guidelines for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, this highly structured course trains students in the crucial skills, with emphasis on listening and speaking. Each chapter includes a conversation unit that enables students to improve their communication skills and allows for progressive acquisition of vocabulary and grammar through interactive classroom tasks and everyday situations, from expressing personal likes and dislikes to initiating conversations and describing events and experiences. The accompanying audio CD has recordings of each chapter’s dialogues and exercises, made by native Egyptian speakers to enrich the student’s exposure to the spoken language in its natural context and speed. The DVD comprises a series of video programs entitled “People’s Opinions,” which further help the students to place colloquial Egyptian within context. “The books in the [Kallimni ‘Arabi] series altogether present the best Arabic textbooks available . . . miles ahead of most others.”—David Wilmsen, American University of Beirut

Kalaam Gamiil Volume 2 further develops learners’ skills in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, along parallel tracks of vocabulary and grammar. It is designed to enable students to communicate effectively with native speakers in a wider range of social situations, with a higher degree of accuracy and fluency. It aims to do so by expanding learners’ vocabulary and idiomatic expressions, increasing their command of grammar (both syntax and morphology), as well as instilling a measure of cross-cultural understanding. Structured around more sophisticated topics that go beyond those of daily life conversations to cover social and cultural issues and concepts, each lesson includes two situations (often dialogues), a vocabulary list, preparatory sentences using the new vocabulary items and grammatical structures, explanations of the grammar in English, relevant cultural information, in addition to a variety of mechanical drills and communicative exercises. The book, volume two of a two-part series, focuses on the speaking and listening skills that will enable high intermediate to advanced students to handle a variety of more complicated communicative tasks successfully. Click here to listen to the associated tracks on Soundcloud.