Middle East Snapshots

Today our visitor spoke to the entire student body in an assembly and there was press. She also met students and faculty at Brigham Young University. Tonight we giggled through stories of Iraqis in the US. Apparently the lettuce we were eating like rabbits reminded her of a scary experience in New Hampshire. The scene?: [...]

Ok. So my favorite Iraqi phrase I’ve learned so far is: “Speeeech?” It means, “What’s up?” (to a girl). The best part of today, at least for me, and reportedly for our visitor as well, was Arabic class. She shared about Iraq and the students showed off their Arabic skills and learned some Iraqi dialect. [...]

Just a note: Middle Eastern women, as far as my experience goes, are very very strong willed. Before I ever went to the Middle East, my grandparents took me aside to help me understand that if I didn’t stand up for myself in the Middle East, I could easily get pushed aside. And after being [...]

I have some students who are stubborn. Recently I did something that changed the dynamic in my Arabic class is giving them suprises. For example: They sat down on quiz and performance day for the usual: 1.5-3 min spoken oral presentation and a 10-20 point quiz. “This time”, I said, “your quiz will be to [...]

I decided to post a few stories of teaching Arabic in the high school. I was really struggling with my Arabic students. Here’s my team: I have very intelligent students, most are the oldest in their families, most are boys; most refused to do any homework before they even walked into my door. They’re the [...]