Sharing Good Practice
Use the Spanish-Arabic Language
connection to teach English
By Lisa Fátimah
*Ojalá* (ʾin šāʾ allāh)
*God willing letters), can't be given to you, bartered
for or gifted. They must be earned.
Learning a new language is a
wonderful achievement that may
be met with frustration, anxiety,
preconceived notions, fear, reflection
and exhilaration. Learning English
or any new language is emotional.
Pride and happiness overtake you the
moment you hold a conversation with
a visitor or passerby. The second that
you share your story in a new language,
there is a peak reached, a mountain
of morphemes climbed, obstacles
overcome, and very often, friendships
formed. Building multilingual muscles
requires vision, time, focus, resilience
and the clear understanding that the
rewards (conversations or well written You may have heard the quote from
the honorable South African leader
Rolihlahla Dalibunga Madiba, also
known as the Great Nelson Mandela
who said, "If you talk to a man in a
language he understands, that goes
to his head. If you talk to him in HIS
language, that goes to his heart."
28 | May - Jun 2017 |
|
In 1976, the students of Soweto,
South Africa fought to be taught
in English and not in Afrikaans,
the latter language they viewed
as one of apartheid. As recently
as 2015, students at South Africa's
Stellenbosch University fought to be
taught in English? Why? English is the
Class Time
language of international connections.
Your reach is greater. And for native
speakers of Arabic, the road leading
to English has already been paved.
*Al principio *In the beginning
Before we speak, we hear. Before
we write, we read, and sharing
our thoughts verbally or in prose
in a second or third language is
a magnificent feeling. Watching
bilinguals, trilinguals or multilinguals
engage individuals of various cultures
and languages with the fluidity
of running water and apparent
unstressed dexterity can be awe-
inspiring. Of course, there is always a
back-story. How did they do it? How
do they do it? How can I learn to speak,