The Schools Arabic Competition.
Lincoln Park High School was invited by Limbloom Technical Academy to a competition in Arabic Language and Music. Limbloom is one of Chicago public schools in the south side of Chicago.
We had seven students taking part in that competition. Two of them recited poetry to one of the most famous Arab poets, Nizar Qabbani. They memorized the poem and said it in front of everyone as well as the judges who were from the University of Chicago. Two more students prepared two powerpoint presentations about Egypt and Arabic music.
We also had a student dancing and another playing the guitar, both of them used Arabic music. It was clear that our students did a great job and we were so proud of them and of their performance. They got four prizes and were offered some nice Arabic food.
the most important thing concerning this competition is that it shows everyone how Arabic is taught in Chicago which shows as well the teachers` interest in that rich culture.
A Visit To Dearborn, Michigan.
Professionally speaking, the three-day professional development visit to Dearborn Michigan was so beneficial. I was amazed to learn first-hand about that large Arab community and to find 90% of school kids belonging to Arab Countries. We were three high school teachers and six elementary teachers from Chicago Public Schools. Secondary School teachers visited two High Schools.
The first school was Fortson High School. The school is one of the biggest high schools in the area. It has 2600 students, 95% of them are from Arab family but they were all born in America. The school looks very good and clean as it is nearly new. They have 300 students taking Arabic and they are between Arabic1, 2, 3 and 4.The first class we visited was Arabic one and they were having an oral test. The teacher designed an activity in which students say their personal autobiography orally to him. The second class was Arabic Two and the teacher started with a bell ringer activity which was really successful. The third class was in the second school we visited (Dearborn High School). The teacher used a video to tell the students about the history of Arab Americans in Michigan.
Actually, the three teachers were active and hard working as they introduced new teaching styles to us. They helped their students understand the language more by creating some challenging activities.
On the third day of our visit, we went to Dearborn Arab American Museum. The Museum is a masterpiece. It shows the Arabic Culture in the best way. On the walls, you can see pictures and paintings from all over the Arab World. It also tells the story of Arab Americans and how they were an addition to the American Community at that time.
\"A Woman at Point Zero\"
"A Woman At Point Zero" is the title of an Egyptian novel that Juniors at Lincoln Park High School study as a part of the World Literature course they study this year. It was written by Nawal Alsaadawi, the Egyptian writer, who speaks about an extreme model of an Egyptian Woman.
The two teachers invited me to their classes and asked me to prepare a presentation about Women in Egypt and how they are treated in the Egyptian community. I was excited to speak about that topic especially when I read the summary of the novel, which shocked me .
I packed myself and visited the three classes on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I decided to start with the idea of not taking this extreme model as an eye opener to the culture. I helped them to see it as an individual case. I also spoke about the writer herself with her extreme ideas and how that kicked her out of all the jobs she had.
After that, I had to answer their questions which were really smart and reflected their interest.
The two World Literature teachers were so pleased and thankful at the same time. I also was happy to show them the real picture of Women in my country.
Monday, Feruary 8th, the culture day.
As I had so many presentations about the real Islam and the Arabic culture around Lincoln Park High School, I decided to have a cultural day with Arabic students. I designed a powerpoint presentation about Islam. I included quotes from the Holy Quran and the prophet Mohamed.
I started with speaking about the five pillars of Islam and how Muslims perform each one of them. Then I dealt with some important issues listed as follows. First, Islam and Hijab, actually Islam wants women to be modest in their clothes and Islam got this tradition from Christianity as the picture of Mary is the ideal and religious way of dressing. I also dealt with the topic of (Woman in Islam), Islam and other religions, Islam and Non-Muslims, Islam and co-existence.
The kids were so excited and they knew things about this culture they never heard about before. also the connection between the three main religions helped them build the whole picture.
Teaching Children stories.
I started teaching the IB students children stories a month ago. My goal was to broaden the students' use of the language and improve their language skills. Thank God, what I planned for came true. Now , we finished the first one and are working on the second story.
After that, they will start working in groups to write their own childrens story. I feel satisfied as their language improved so much especially reading and speaking.
I teach them vocab using the root of the word and drawing spidergrams to derivative new words from the same root. Making such connection helps them better guess the meaning of new words. It also helps them learn about the culture of the Arab World as we deal with the story incidents.
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