Kalima wa Nagham
Kalima wa Nagham
A Textbook for Teaching Arabic, Volume 3
Presenting a new Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL) curriculum that can be used in secondary and postsecondary educational settings, Kalima wa Nagham, volume 3, is a textbook that uniquely and simultaneously introduces Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and salient aspects of Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA) to students whose proficiency level is at least intermediate high according to ACTFL’s rating scale. Students who fully use this book should be able to develop important language skills—listening, speaking, reading, writing, and expressing deep cultural knowledge—and reach the advanced high proficiency level by the end of the book.
Written by Arabic language teaching practitioners and experienced educators who are certified language testers, Kalima wa Nagham employs a threaded story that introduces language concepts along with music to enhance vocabulary retention and recall. At the core of the textbook are written and oral texts that present students and teachers with examples of Arabic grammatical concepts and important cultural aspects, as well as related vocabulary. These are supplemented by drills and activities that can be used in a classroom setting or pursued individually. Dialogues and pronunciation and listening drills that accompany the lessons are available on the University of Texas Press website. This volume is student-centered in content and methodology, which will enable learners to meet and exceed linguistic and cultural proficiency expectations.
Kalima wa Nagham volume 3 is a masterpiece. The authenticity of the selected materials, the richness of the drills and exercises, the presentation of the vocabulary, expressions, grammar, and cultural targets provide learners with excellent opportunities to reach the advanced level of proficiency according to ACTFL guidelines. This is a breakthrough in the field of learning Arabic as foreign language.
Kalima wa Nagham volume 3 represents the state of the art in the growing body of textbooks for teaching Arabic as a foreign language. This volume develops linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in a balanced manner. Also, it puts into practice the new trends in second-language acquisition and assessment.
Ghazi Abuhakema and Nasser Isleem’s third volume of Kalima wa Nagham makes a valuable contribution to the teaching of Arabic as a foreign language. Following the communicative approach, the volume offers wide-ranging instructional practices and applicable authentic materials that can considerably enhance learners’ cultural and sociolinguistic competence and help them reach the advanced level.
Nasser M. Isleem is a senior lecturer at New York University at Abu Dhabi. Ghazi M. Abuhakema is an associate professor of Arabic and the director of the Arabic Program at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
