Teach Middle East Magazine May-June 2018 Issue 5 Volume 5 | Page 42

A Moment with
A MOMENT WITH
MOSTAFA ELABBADY
T
here has been quite a
lot of talk recently about
the development of the
teaching and learning
of Arabic in the region’s schools.
Many are arguing that English is
becoming too dominant. It has
been noted that young people
are no longer taking the Arabic
language seriously, with many
choosing to communicate only
in English. According to the Arab
Youth Survey 2015, which polled
3,500 youths aged 18 to 24 years
old, Arabic is seen as the language
of their parents and the language
of their identity, but when it comes
to jobs and social mobility, English
is more important.
Many young people who move to
the Middle East region and attend
school, leave after many years
without being able to speak a word
of Arabic. Some complain that they
find Arabic to be quite a difficult
language to learn, while others
complain about the methods used
in the teaching of Arabic. They find
these methods to be outdated and
quite boring. But there are persons
who are fighting to revamp the
teaching and learning of Arabic.
One such person at the forefront
of this fight is Mostafa Elabbady. In
this “A Moment With” feature, we
learn about the work he is doing
to transform the teaching and
learning of Arabic among second
language learners.
Mostafa Elabbady, was born in
the city of Aswan, south of Egypt
and attended public schools. He
earned his degree from Assuit
University, in English language
and literature. He now works as a
training manager in an institute in
Dubai. Mostafa is the founder of
Think in Arabic©, an innovative
method of teaching Arabic to
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non-Arabic speakers. He has
made several TV appearances
and has also been featured in
newspapers, speaking on best
practices of teaching Arabic to
non-Arabic speakers. He has been
busy training Arabic teachers
on his methodology of teaching
Arabic “Creative Methodologies
for teaching Arabic to non-Arabic
speakers ". Mostafa has been
teaching and tutoring Arabic for
children and adults for many years.
He has published numerous books
and developed several mobile
apps for students who are learning
Arabic. In addition to teaching and
tutoring, Mostafa has extensive
journalism experience, working in
newsrooms, translating and editing
books, as well as writing television
programs. Mostafa is determined
to change the way people learn
Arabic.
How did you become involved in
the teaching of Arabic? Why did
you become a teacher?
I started my career in teaching,
back in 1990 as an English teacher
in Egypt.
I later became a Teacher of
Arabic, in 2007, while working
as a TV journalist, as a means of
supplementing my income.
What inspires you most?
Reading a new great book,
watching a new meaningful video,
meeting new awesome people,
visiting a nice place that I had not
visited before, and professionally
I am so excited and happy when
I see the method and resources
I developed, being used. I am
also inspired when the students
that I have taught use the Arabic
language in communicating with
others.
After The Bell
Share two major challenges that
you faced (this can be personal
or professional). How did you
overcome them?
One major challenge that I had,
was when I wanted to finance
the development of the Arabic
IOS applications and print the
resources. I had very little money
because I had left my job at that
time and had decided to change
my career from media to education.
The solution came through a
student of mine, Amanda Turner,
who lent me a great deal of the
amount needed, please allow me
here to express my gratitude to her
for the great support and help she
gave me.
The second major challenge I am
still having is, reaching the decision
makers in schools to show them
how great my methods are. I am
confident that I can help their
students to get great results in
Arabic, However, it is difficult to
get through the gatekeepers in
the region’s schools, but I will not
give up.
What are two projects you are
working on to help to improve
the teaching and learning of
Arabic regionally and further
afield?
Right now I am working on
updating and improving two major
apps which are “Easy Reading
Arabic” and “Arabic Alphabet
letters and sounds”, which are
both very important in developing
the reading, writing , listening and
eventually speaking skills. I am
currently involved with a few schools
in Dubai to improve the teaching
and learning of Arabic language
in their schools. Internationally,
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