High Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic I

Undergraduate / Graduate

High Intermediate Arabic, the modern track, provides students with a full academic year to activate the language and grammar studied in the first two years, while expanding their cultural and literary knowledge of the Arab world. This three-quarter sequence is taught in Arabic and focuses on all four language skills. The purpose of this sequence is conceived of functionally (what can students do) rather than with an eye to finishing a given textbook. It will have reached its objective if each student leaves with a clearly improved ability to produce oral and written Arabic in a variety of contexts (personal and professional correspondence, description, prescription, comparison narration, argumentation, etc.), to listen and understand spoken MSA, and to read a variety of texts (short stories, a novel, media writing, poetry, social media, opinion pieces, etc.) and a deepened understanding of the diversity of the Arab experience. An important component of the course is taking the learning outside the classroom: through visits to an Arab neighborhood, interviews of Arabs in Chicago, producing a play.