Download arabic intermediate i - Winona State University

COURSE OF STUDY
ARABIC INTERMEDIATE I
Ideal number of students in the classroom: 15 students but not to exceed 20 students: in
order to ensure effective interaction among students directed by teacher, as well as among
teachers and students.
By the end of this semester, the course will be conducted mainly in Arabic, and students will
have reached mid intermediate proficiency level in Arabic. Students will add more to their
vocabulary along with the more complex grammatical concepts that they would have developed.
Hence, students will have the ability to converse with native speakers on different topics, stating
their opinions on topics varying from family issues to educational, personal, social, political, etc.
The more formal discussions will be held mainly in formal Arabic. Students will be able to read
and comprehend various texts, of simple complexity, such as biographies, newspapers articles, or
descriptions, etc. In brief, at the end of the third semester, students will further enhance the four
language skills within a comprehensible cultural frame.
VOCABULARY:
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Vocabulary related to daily routine.
Vocabulary related to royal daily routine.
Vocabulary related to feelings.
Vocabulary related to professions.
Vocabulary related to travel.
Vocabulary related to vacation time.
Vocabulary related to one’s life in a foreign country.
Vocabulary related to accommodation.
Different prepositions used to describe location.
Vocabulary related to clothing.
Vocabulary related to geography.
Vocabulary related to freedom, human rights, etc.
GRAMMAR:
 Identifying the “root” “‫ ”المصدر‬of newly introduced words
 Learning about “‫ ”ال م ضارع ال م ن صوب‬usually referred to as “subjunctive mood” in
English. It mainly serves as a subordinate, non-finite verb form.
 The usage of “‫ال م ن صوب ال م ضارع‬, +‫ "أن‬that usually parallels the English infinitive or
gerund.
 Changing sentences using “‫ ”المصدر‬to those using “‫”ال م ضارع ال م ن صوب‬
 How and when to use the combination of the prepositions “‫ ”إلى و على‬with pronouns.
 Appropriate usage and form of object pronouns “‫”ضمائر النصب‬
 Appropriate usage of another form of “‫”المضارع‬: the “‫”المضارع المرفوع‬, the basic or
“default” form
 The difference between the two forms of “ ‫“المضارع‬
 To recognize “‫”جملة الصفة‬, and what it refers to.
 How and when to use the “‫”جملة الصفة‬, sentences that introduce and describe new entities,
joined to the noun directly; in English, the words “who, that and which” are used in these
kinds of sentences (Arabic has no such words).
 Appropriate usage of the quantifying expressions and recognizing whether they should be
followed by definite plural nouns or singular noun such as
“‫الناس‬/‫ال أحد‬/‫عدة‬/‫”كل‬
 How to form and when to use the superlative adjective: “‫”أفعل التفضيل‬
 Recognizing when an adjective is functioning as a noun, when used in a kind of “‫”إضافة‬
with an indefinite noun.
 How to form the future tense “‫( ”المستقبل‬by adding the prefix either “‫”س‬, or its long form
“‫ ”سوف‬and when to use it.
 How to negate the future tense “‫”المستقبل‬, using “‫ ”لن‬in its appropriate place.
 The difference between the two kind of sentences that begin with a verb: the one that has
the subject already contained in the verb and the other one that has the subject
independent of and following the verb
 Appropriately using the agreement rule when a sentence begins with a verb and is
followed by an independent subject: verbs will always be singular even if the subject is
plural, but will have to agree with the gender of the independent subject.
 Appropriately differentiating and using the agreement rule when a sentence begins with a
subject; in this case the verb has to agree with the subject both in gender and number.
 Accurately switching sentences that begin with a verb to those that begin with a subject
when subject is independent of verb and is in plural form, and vice versa, keeping in
mind the agreement rule.
 How to negate the past tense: “‫”نفي الماضي‬, using “‫المضارع المجزوم‬+ ‫”لم‬, used in formal
Arabic as opposed to using “‫ ”ما‬with “‫”الماضي‬, commonly used in spoken Arabic.
 Knowing when to use the three different forms of “‫”المضارع‬: ‫المجزوم‬/‫المنصوب‬/‫المرفوع‬
 When to use conjunctions such as “‫”أن‬, and the difference in usage between the Arabic
conjunction and its English counterpart “that”, the one that follows a verb.
 Appropriate usage of “‫ ”أن‬and the fact that it must be followed by a “‫”جملة إسمية‬.
 How to form “‫ ”أن‬when followed by a subject pronoun, hence using appropriate pronoun
suffixes to be attached to the conjunction “‫”أن‬.
 The difference between “‫ ”أن‬and “‫”أن‬, and learning the list of verbs used with each and
the kind of sentence used with each: ‫جملة إسمية‬/‫جملة فعلية‬
 Learning how and when to use the concept of “still”: “‫ ”ما زال‬which in Arabic is a verb.
 Appropriate conjugation, usage, and behavior of the verb “ ‫”ما زال‬
 Differentiating appropriately between using “‫بدأ‬/‫ما زال‬/‫ ”كان‬similar to “used to, still, begin
to or start to”
 Appropriate usage and connection of “‫ ”في و ب‬with the different pronouns.
 Using “‫ ”الجملة اإلسمية‬to describe places with reverse “‫ ”مبتدأ و خبر‬, and knowing when to
use this kind of reversed structure.
 The difference between definite and indefinite “‫”إضافة‬: How are they formed, when are
they used and how to include a possessive noun with an “‫”إضافة‬
 Learning the ten different “"‫ ”أوزان‬in Arabic in order to use a dictionary better,
understand and pronounce correctly a variety of related nouns and adjectives derived
from them.
 Recognizing that few roots make use of all of theoretically possible "‫”أوزان‬
 Knowing how to use "‫ ”أوزان‬of verbs in order to look up the meaning of verbs in the
dictionary.
 Forming and accurately using sentences that modify definite nouns, thus definite nouns
are followed by a definite pronoun called “‫ ”اإلسم الموصول‬that introduces the modifying
sentence (similar to English “which” or “that”).
 Appropriately using the definite pronouns “ ‫الذين‬/‫التي‬/‫ ”الذي‬to modify definite nouns.
 Recognizing when“‫من‬/‫ ”ما‬are used as relative pronouns, similar to “what/whatever”,
“who/whoever”, and appropriately using them as such.
 Appropriately choosing between the different negation particles “‫ليس‬/‫لم‬/‫لن‬/‫ما‬/‫ ”ال‬according
to the tense given or the grammatical structure.
 Recognizing and knowing when to use the appropriate conditional particles: “‫إذا‬/‫إن‬/‫”لو‬
according to verb tenses or grammatical structures.
CULTURE:
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How Arabic young men and women usually spend their weekend.
The major difference between the two Muslim sects “Sunnite” and “Shiite”.
The signification of “Ashoura’a “ “‫”عاشوراء‬and what it commemorates for the “Shiite”.
How to read and use Hotel guides in Arabic countries.
When the common expression “‫ ”إن شاء هللا‬is used.
Introducing authentic newspapers articles about some Arabic thinkers, writers, singers
and presidents: some of their accomplishments or some of their activities.
Introducing a few Arabic songs related to vocabulary learned.
Appropriate usage of the expression “‫”فرصة سعيدة‬
Recognizing some Arabic words used by native Arab people as “fillers”, similar to “like”
or “you know”: “‫”يعني‬
Using appropriate formulaic opening and closing phrases in writing letters of application
to a specific program in an Arabic university.
Learning about some famous Arabs.
Getting acquainted with the opinions of young Arab men and women on freedom related
to gender: openness.
Getting acquainted with a few Arabic cities or countries: their location, languages used
religious distribution, weather, etc.