Lughatuna Al-Fusha Reviews

Based on the cumulative experience of three leading teachers of Arabic as a foreign language, Kalaam Gamiil builds and develops communicative skills in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, along parallel tracks of vocabulary and grammar. It is designed for students who have reached the lower intermediate level of Modern Standard Arabic and are now ready to branch out into their first experience of a major spoken dialect. Structured around basic topics that crop up in daily conversations, lessons each include a situation, a vocabulary list, preparatory sentences using the new vocabulary items, explanations of grammar in English, cultural information, and a variety of mechanical drills and communicative exercises. The book, volume one of a two-part series, focuses on the speaking and listening skills that will enable intermediate students to handle a variety of uncomplicated communicative tasks with native speakers of Egyptian Arabic successfully. Click here to listen to the associated Kalaam Gamiil tracks (Lessons 1 to 12) on Soundcloud.

Advanced and High Intermediate Arabic learners can benefit greatly from reading texts that cover a broad range of different themes, to build their vocabulary and attain a higher proficiency level. The authors of this textbook have carefully selected a lively variety of texts that cover controversial issues and current events, which are likely to arouse students’ attention and interest. In the course of reading to learn, students will not only practice strategies (skimming, scanning, careful reading, and guessing for vocabulary recognition), but they will also engage more deeply in the material as informative of Arab and Egyptian society, politics, and culture. Another important objective is to direct the attention of the student to MSA connectors, which are essential for comprehension. Readers will begin to notice high-frequency words and idiomatic expressions in multiple contexts, reinforcing their retention and ability to then use them in discussion. The grammatical structures of MSA styles occurring in the texts can be reviewed and reinforced. The texts appear in order from least to greatest linguistic complexity, and to a certain extent, by the topic which they tackle. This makes it easy for instructors to choose the most level-appropriate material to present to their classes. An experimental copy of the book has been piloted over the last four years at the Arabic Language Institute at the American University in Cairo, with the result that the first 15 lessons have been deemed correct for the high intermediate level and the remaining lessons for advanced students. The book includes exercises after every five lessons, and all the drills are gathered in an appendix following the text, as well as a glossary for all vocabulary items.