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New York, USA – Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim comments tell a story about modern America. But students eagerly learning Arabic’s right-to-left script in classrooms across the country tell a different story.
Although fewer Americans speak Arabic than English, Spanish, Chinese, or even Tagalog, Arabic is perhaps the fastest growing language in this country, and is spoken in kindergartens from rural areas to large cities. It is increasingly being studied in schools and universities.
“Some people study Arabic for professional reasons or to get a government job, but most are true Americans who are open to other cultures,” said Mahmoud Al Battar, an Arabic professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Lebanese-American and told Al Battal. Jazeera.
“They’re not convinced by what Donald Trump says or what they see on the news for two minutes of car bomb explosions. They want to understand the culture and the language for themselves.”
The number of students enrolled in university Arabic courses tripled to more than 32,000 from 2002 to 2013, according to the Modern Language Association. Analysts note that the spotlight has been on the Middle East after the 9/11 attacks.
University enrollment declined slightly after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in 2011, al-Batar said. Post-Arab Spring turmoil in Arabic learning hotspots like Syria and Egypt also made it more risky for Americans to plan study trips.
language immersion
He added that the “new frontier” for Arabic language instruction is for school-age learners, with a number of programs launched over the past five years. Since 9/11, government-funded and trained Arabic teachers have trickled into classrooms.
Al Jazeera visited one such center, the Mary White Ovington School in Bay Ridge. Bay Ridge is an Arab-American neighborhood on New York’s waterfront where Middle Eastern immigrants mix with Asian, Latino, and white families.
There were no signs of anxiety in the classrooms, where children of Arab and other backgrounds read aloud from Arabic picture books, scrawled in cursive, and chatted about kebabs, humus and other Middle Eastern snacks. Was.
Each class of 25 students is divided evenly between children who speak Arabic at home and children who speak English, Spanish, or another language. The aim is to develop bilingual students, with half of the curriculum taught in English and the other half in Arabic.
Melira Deeb, a Lebanese-American teacher, said the school’s rigorous, academic style that avoids sensitive topics has avoided the protests that have continued Arabic classes elsewhere. .
“We distance ourselves from politics and from religion,” Deeb told Al Jazeera.
“We teach math, science, and social studies lessons in Arabic to immerse children in Arabic. Our lessons are activity-filled and fun, so students can go outside and speak Arabic with their friends. I talk.”
tough learning
Arabic teachers are more demanding elsewhere.
When the Khalil Gibran International Academy opened a few miles away in 2007, protesters denounced the “Brooklyn madrasa” at its gates. Since then, it has struggled to attract enough teachers and Arab-American students.
In March, a school in upstate New York received complaints after students recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States in Arabic. In August, local residents rallied around the new building. The Arabic Immersion Magnet School in Houston, Texas, denounces the Arabic language, Islam, and the 9/11 attacks.
One protest sign reads “Qatar Get Out of School,” which spends between $2 million and $5 million each year on Arabic language classes at 19 U.S. schools, including Bay School. Named after the state-sponsored charity Qatar Foundation International (QFI). Ridge and Houston.
QFI spokesperson Salah al-Hemaidi told Al Jazeera: “I have seen some criticism of our program, but they are personal blogs of right-wing conservatives who object to the mere mention of the word Arabic.” “There is a tendency for it to be published in.”
“One of our goals is to normalize and mainstream the education of Arabic language and culture, and to tackle stereotypes and misrepresentations.”
The school’s Arabic language program focuses on Arab American and cosmopolitan urban areas. It has reached only 1% of the US’s 33 million elementary school students, leaving room for growth.
Karine Araf, who runs QFI’s school program, told Al Jazeera: “Arabic is listed as an important language by the US State Department and is useful for jobs in business, engineering, development, academics and diplomacy.”
“Although most of our students are non-Arab American children, there is a growing number of Arab American and traditional families who want their children to hold on to their roots. It is located in.”
Diversity
Students come from all walks of life.
Kumba Guay, 17, started learning Arabic four years ago at Washington Latin Public Charter School. He recalls that his first two years were a struggle with the 28-letter alphabet, difficult grammar, and the subtleties of pronunciation.
It worked. She won a scholarship to George Washington University, and after her graduation she plans to work for a charity or the U.S. State Department. She put her speaking skills to the test last year when the debate team visited Qatar.
“Learning Arabic demystified the Middle East for me. Contrary to popular belief, this country is inclusive, welcoming, and more like America than people realize.” ” Gueye told Al Jazeera. “Teenage girls in Doha have pretty much the same likes, interests and desires as girls here.”
Other learners are less traditional. William Scannell, 10, started speaking Arabic after his family traveled to the Holy Land four years ago. There are no Arabic classes in Anchorage, Alaska, where he lives, so he studies online and at summer camps.
“He’s really on his own,” his father Bill told Al Jazeera.
Scannell is currently an intermediate level speaker who reads Arabic translations of the Harry Potter books as a hobby. He started a postcard-writing charity to uplift Syrian refugees and regularly chats in Arabic with Lebanese refugees on Skype.
“Curious children always find something to do, and the medium was Arabic.” I reached inside,” the father added.
Mouna Mana, an Algerian-American who is an expert on teaching Arabic, said that having more students like Gueye and Scannell with decent skills and experience in the Middle East would help them get used to teaching Arabic to beginners. This is a challenge for U.S. universities.
They often want to study regional dialects rather than modern standard Arabic. Mana told Al Jazeera: “It makes me look like a highly educated person who has gotten off his high horse and doesn’t speak the language of the world.”
The fastest growing language?
It’s not just an increase in U.S. schools. According to census data, Arabic is the fastest growing language in the United States overall, with the number of speakers increasing by 29% from 2010 to 2014 to 252,000. There are 1.1 million Arabic speakers in this country of 319 million people.
Mana has doubts about this number. According to U.S. Census data, there are very few Hispanics living in the country illegally, so Spanish may be the faster-growing language. Nevertheless, despite widely reported hostility towards Islam, the Middle East, and its people, the Arabic language has been profitable.
The current popularity of Arabic may be temporary. Students crammed into Russian language courses during the Cold War and began learning Japanese during the economic boom of the 1980s. Learning Arabic may similarly slow as its geostrategic value declines. They are already far ahead of the Chinese.
For Kristen Brustad, an Arabic professor at the University of Texas at Austin, President Trump’s bashing of Muslims after a Muslim couple killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, this month had an immediate negative impact on learning Arabic. There is a possibility that
“What we are seeing now is worse than since 9/11. There will be more protests against Arabic language education and a reaction by Americans to burn books and remove them from schools.” Brustad told Al Jazeera.
“Arabic language education has gone mainstream. We can only hope that this latest wave of madness doesn’t change that.”
Follow James Reinle on Twitter: @jamesreinl
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