Intermediate Arabic I · Middle Eastern, South Asian, And African Studies
I spent about 13-14 hours a week. About 5 hours in class, 8-ish hours on homework and an hour or two of extra study. As a plus, she is a very quick grader. There is often a one day turn around on assignments. I would recommend this class if you don't mind spending a lot of time on Arabic, with almost daily classes and homework you will be spending a lot of time. If you view speaking ability as the primary benchmark of language learning you may feel dissatisfied with the class, if you feel this way and take the class I would recommend practicing speaking both inside and outside of class.
I had Suad for three semesters and would not recommend her as a professor. She is very moody, does not like when people disrupt the flow of the class, limits questions causing confusion, and doesn't teach the grammar well at all.
Switching into El-Hage's section is probably the best thing I did this semester. I've spent tons of time on the class, gotten a worse grade than I would have in any other section, and commensurately compromised my grades in my other classes. But I don't regret a thing; El-Hage is one of those teachers who makes a significant hit to the GPA entirely worth it. He embodies the educational philosophy that love is a better teacher than fear.
Homework every day, as in any Arabic class, though on occasion she would cancel homework and tell us to just review the material from that day so that we could work on it some more the next day. She definitely keeps it manageable. Everything is on a check/ check plus/ check minus scale. Department standardized quizzes and final. Comprehensize but fair.
About 10 hours of homework a week (essays, worksheets, reading, listening) in addition to just straight studying new concepts. 4 tests per semester, 1 final with writing/listening/reading/grammar.
Departmental 2nd year Arabic syllabus - nightly homework, 4 quizzes over the course of the semester, presentation, final exam.
If you have a system down for memorizing the vocabulary, this class is really easy.
Workload: – 5h of class per week – Around 10h of individual work – Additional prep for quizzes, presentations, and projects Hard to get an A
This is just a summarized version of my Vergil course review: This course covers chapter 1-4 of Al Kitaab 2 and additionally has a heavy focus on Grammar and writing outside of the textbook. It builds off some more introductory Arabic grammar (Like different sentence structures and different forms of verbs like the active and passive participle). There is also a focus on reading, where we will go over readings at home and then together in class, and this helped develop reading skills. Additionally, there was also grammar introduced and practiced every unit. Ouijdane is a very approachable teacher and is very receptive to individual students needs. She also gives clear explanation of grammar rules while encouraging you to do your own thinking. She holds students to a standard of completing their work on time and well, but you can always communicate with her for issues. She is also very energetic and playful! She speaks English for a lot of the course, and the course itself is heavy on grammar and lighter on speaking. How you feel about that is personal preference.
Ahmar is not an easy instructor by any means, but you'll come away from her class having learned a ton of useful Arabic. She prepares you very well for more advanced courses.