Arabic Level 1

Year at a Glance

Theme 1: Personal and Family Life

Greetings and Introductions

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Use appropriate forms of address to peers and adults when making introductions.
  • Use appropriate gestures and expressions of greeting and leave-taking.
  • Ask and respond to simple questions about someone else’s identity and well-being.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Differentiate between informal and formal exchanges.
  • Comprehend phrases related to a person’s state of well-being.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Demonstrate attention to accuracy of register in introducing self and expressing greetings.
  • Present rehearsed and spontaneous greetings and introductions.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Recognize and distinguish between various culturally-authentic gestures and levels of formality of greeting and leave-taking.
  • Demonstrate understanding of hand-shaking, body language, and greetings, including those used in telephone, computer, and letter-writing situations.

 Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Discuss the use of morning and evening greetings.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Examine customs of greeting and leave-taking between the United States and Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Contrast the use of formal address in Arabic and English.

Communication Across Communities

  • Recognize the importance of greetings in Arabic-speaking countries.

 Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • Formal and informal expressions

 Physical Descriptions and Personality Characteristics, Feelings, and Emotions

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Use a variety of adjectives to ask and answer questions about the physical appearance of people and objects.
  • Ask and answer questions about a description, mood or emotional state.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Comprehend spoken and written descriptions of physical appearance, personality traits and emotions.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Describe physical and personality attributes using a variety of appropriate adjectives.
  • Present descriptions, both rehearsed and spontaneous, of people and/or objects.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Discuss cultural generalizations and stereotyping based on physical appearance.
  • Discuss characteristics of well-known people from Arabic-speaking countries.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Identify well-known people from Arabic-speaking countries who are studied in other disciplines.
  • Identify well-known Arabic Americans.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Identify adjectives that are cognates and those that are false cognates.
  • Compare adjective placement and agreement in English and Arabic.
  • Compare one verb "to be" in English versus the lack of the verb "to be" in Arabic.

Communication Across Communities

  • Describe well-known people in Arabic-speaking countries

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • descriptive adjectives
  • agreement and placement of adjectives
  • subject pronouns
  • question and answer formation
  • use of prepositions and possessive pronouns to express belonging
  • kana expressions to situate actions and states in the past

 Family Members

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions pertaining to family members and relationships, including pets.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Identify family members and relationships based on spoken and written descriptions.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Describe family relationships.
  • Describe family members and pets.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Identify characteristics of the family unit in various Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Explain the importance of the family in Arabic-speaking countries.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Compare the role of the extended family in Arabic-speaking countries and in the U.S.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Compare and contrast families in the U.S. and in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Contrast ways to express possession.

Communication Across Communities

  • Use print and Internet resources to access information about families in Arabic-speaking countries.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • pet vocabulary
  • possessive adjectives
  • use of possessive pronouns as suffixes to express possession or belonging
  • descriptive adjectives

 Clothing and Colors

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions pertaining to clothing and colors.
  • Ask and answer questions to elicit a description of clothing and colors.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Identify clothing and colors based on spoken and written description.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Use descriptive adjectives and cases to describe clothing.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Discuss standards and styles of dress in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Discuss the influence of climate and geography on dress in Arabic-speaking countries.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Discuss the use of color (e.g., in clothing, art, architecture).

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Compare standards and styles of dress in Arabic-speaking and American cultures.
  • Identify cognates and false cognates related to clothing and colors.
  • Discuss adjective placement and agreement.
  • Compare ways of expressing possession ('s in English vs. Idafa in Arabic).

Communication Across Communities

  • Identify differences in sizes and appropriateness of clothing.
  • Describe clothing available on the Internet and through catalogues and/or advertisements from Arabic-speaking countries.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • colors and other descriptive adjectives
  • adjective agreement and placement
  • use of possessive pronouns as suffixes to express possession or belonging
  • use of Form IX verbs which are based on adjectives to denote colors or physical or mental defects, and have the meaning "to become" for what the adjective denotes

Theme 2: School Life

Numbers and Time

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions about age.
  • Ask and answer questions about street addresses and telephone numbers.
  • Ask and answer questions about time and scheduled activities.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Interpret a time schedule (bus, train, class, movie listing, or TV guide).

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Explain a schedule of activities.
  • Present information about ages, phone numbers, addresses, and class schedules.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Discuss the way numerals are written in Arabic.
  • Discuss a typical day’s schedule in Arabic-speaking countries (meal times, etc.).
  • Discuss the metric system.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Explain the use of the metric system.
  • Do simple mathematical computations in Arabic.
  • Discuss temperatures.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Discuss the concept of time in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Compare the 24-hour clock used in Arabic-speaking countries to the American system of a.m. and p.m.
  • Discuss the use in Arabic of the period to indicate thousands and of the comma for decimals when writing and reading numbers.
  • Discuss the use of the metric system.
  • Compare Arabic time expressions to English expressions such as quarter-past, half-past, noon, and midnight.

Communication Across Communities

  • Interpret a time schedule in Arabic.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • vocabulary for telling time
  • use of ordinal numbers to tell time
  • interrogative particles
  • numbers "one" and "two" used as adjectives to emphasize their nouns and to agree in gender
  • number endings to express dual
  • numbers for three to ten taking the plural

 

Days, Months, and Calendar

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions about days of week, dates, and months.
  • Ask and answer questions about birthdays and celebrations.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Identify dates of events and celebrations.
  • Comprehend simple announcements that include dates.
  • Understand written numerical information as used in newspapers, announcements, letters, brochures, etc.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Prepare and present a weekly activities calendar.
  • Present important dates and celebrations.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Identify holidays and/or celebrations in the Arabic-speaking world.
  • Relate different products to celebrations such as Ramadan, Eid elfetr, and Eid elAdha (Islamic), and Eid El-Milad and Eid El-Fiseh (Christian).

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Make connections with historical events from Arabic-speaking cultures that involve or related to the United States, such as Eid El-Fiseh.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Compare Sweet 16 celebration to Al-Khitmeh (Islam) and Ta'meed and Awwal Qurbana (Christianity).
  • Compare and contrast English and Arabic calendars.
  • Recognize that the days of the week and months of the year are not capitalized in Arabic.
  • Recognize that the order in saying and writing dates is different in Arabic (day, month, and then year).

Communication Across Communities

  • Use community resources to identify cultural celebrations within the student’s own community.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • phrases for asking and telling the date
  • how to read years and dates (i.e. the year in a date is normally preceded by the phrase, "in the year of")
  • different calendars used side by side in newspapers and magazines

 

Classes, Schedules and Supplies

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions related to class schedules and school subjects.
  • Ask and answer questions about school supplies, furnishings, and rooms.
  • Ask and answer questions related to a typical school day and routine.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Understand simple instructions related to classroom commands or procedures, and basic computer technology.
  • Comprehend a class schedule, opinions of classes, and locations in the school.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Prepare and present a class schedule.
  • Describe a class schedule and necessary materials for various classes.
  • Identify in which rooms classes are held.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Discuss the courses taken at various grade levels in Arabic-speaking countries, including the quantity of courses and frequency of class sessions.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Compare names of courses in English with the names in Arabic.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Compare education systems in the U.S. and in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Compare a typical school day in the U.S. with those in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Compare grading scales in the U.S. and in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Identify cognates and false cognates related to classes and school supplies.

Communication Across Communities

  • Interpret a school schedule of a student from a Arabic-speaking country.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • vocabulary related to school schedules, rooms of the school and classroom objects
  • vocabulary related to telling time
  • question formation and interrogative expressions
  • adverbs of frequency
  • use of definite articles with class subjects

Theme 3: Social Life

Interests and Leisure Activities

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions about interests and leisure activities, including likes and dislikes.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Comprehend simple, culturally-authentic announcements and advertisements related to leisure activities.
  • Identify activities being described.
  • Determine whether a person likes or dislikes a particular activity.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Tell the degree to which a person likes or dislikes various activities.
  • Tell when and how frequently a person participates in various activities.
  • Tell what leisure activities a person does or does not do.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Identify popular sports and leisure activities in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Discuss the role of leisure activities in a young person’s daily life.
  • Discuss where young people meet during leisure time.
  • Identify and discuss prominent individuals involved in sports and the arts in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Discuss the impact of geographic location on popular leisure activities.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Compare the sports studied and played in physical education (P. E.) class in the U.S. with sports played in Arabic-speaking countries.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Compare extra-curricular activities in the U.S. and in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Compare typical customs of socializing for young people.
  • Identify cognates and false cognates for interests or activities.

Communication Across Communities

  • Describe sports and leisure activities in the Arabic-speaking community.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • present tense verbs
  • verbs uredu an and uhebu an used with infinitives or with the verbal noun
  • umken + object pronoun + an followed by a present tense or verbal noun such as umkenuni an athhab or umkenuni athehab
  • question formation and interrogative expressions
  • adverbs of frequency
  • negation
  • vocabulary for likes and dislikes

 

Weather and Seasons

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions about weather and seasons.
  • Ask and respond to questions about activities and weather during different seasons.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Identify weather and seasons based on spoken and written descriptions.
  • Identify weather and seasons as represented by symbols (e.g., picture of sun, cloud, rain).

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Describe a variety of weather conditions and seasons.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Discuss the influence of weather on lifestyles and activities in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Identify varying climates in different geographic locations in Arabic-speaking countries.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Describe the use of metric system in giving temperatures.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Identify the differences in seasons in the U.S. and in the Middle East.
  • Identify cognates and false cognates related to weather and seasons.
  • Discuss the influence of the Arabic language on English weather expressions such as SaHari, Brari, and Badow.

Communication Across Communities

  • Interpret a Arabic language weather report.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • Seasonal activity vocabulary
  • Weather expressions
  • the preposition fi with seasons
  • use of Kana and asbah'a expressions related to weather
  • use of the adjectives and nouns to express the weather

Theme 4: Community Life

Cities, Places, Activities, and Transportation

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions about a city.
  • Ask about and give directions to a site within a town or city.
  • Ask and answer questions regarding modes of transportation modes in a city.
  • Ask and answer questions about when and where activities and/or celebrations take place.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Identify locations on a map.
  • Identify locations where activities take place.
  • Find a location based on verbal directions.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Give directions to a city location or activity.
  • Describe a day’s activities, including locations.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Discuss the layout and characteristics of cities and towns in Arabic-speaking countries (sharea', harah, souk, etc.)
  • Discuss cities and regions in various Arabic-speaking countries.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Identify geographic locations and/or features of Arabic-speaking countries.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Compare the use of mass transit in Arabic-speaking countries and the United States.
  • Analyze social issues relating to city life in the U.S. and in Arabic-speaking countries (night life, etc.).
  • Identify cognates and false cognates related to locations in a city, transportation, and directions.
  • Compare one verb for "to be" in English vs. the lack of the verb "to be" in Arabic.

Communication Across Communities

  • Identify activities, celebrations and locations in Arabic-speaking cities.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • vocabulary for giving directions
  • geography vocabulary
  • prepositions and adverbs of location
  • question formation and interrogative expressions
  • commands
  • present tense of qaf and sir

 

Shopping

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions about stores and types of merchandise.
  • Discuss shopping experiences.
  • Ask for or give the description of an item being purchased.
  • Ask and answer questions regarding where items can be purchased and how much they cost.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Identify items for sale in an advertisement.
  • Identify locations where specific items can be purchased.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Describe an item for sale in a store.
  • Tell about the purchase or sale of an item.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Discuss products unique to Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Discuss the differences in shopping customs between the U.S. and Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Discuss the importance of the Alaswaq elqadeema in Arabic-speaking countries.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Convert foreign currency to U.S. dollars.
  • Compare merchandise prices in the U.S. to those in Arabic-speaking countries.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Compare the custom of bargaining in Arabic-speaking countries and in the U.S.
  • Demonstrate the use of Hadratuka/ki and anta/anti and the importance of using ustath when shopping in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Identify cognates and false cognates related to shopping.

Communication Across Communities

  • Identify merchandise available on the Internet, through catalogs, and/or in advertisements from Arabic-speaking countries.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • types of stores
  • adjective agreement and placement
  • present tense of yukallif
  • courtesy expressions Min Fadlak, min Fadlik, law samaHt, and law samaHti
  • interrogatives bikam, ma si'er, ma thaman, and kam Haq
  • direct and indirect object pronouns
  • numbers

 

Restaurants and Food

Communication

Person-to-Person Communication

  • Ask and answer questions about food.
  • Ask and answer questions about a meal or restaurant experience.
  • Order or take an order for a meal at a restaurant or café.
  • Ask and answer questions regarding items on a menu.

Listening and Reading for Understanding

  • Identify grocery and food items in an advertisement, menu, recipe, etc.
  • Identify locations where specific foods can be purchased.
  • Comprehend written and oral information about items in a market.

Oral and Written Presentation

  • Describe a restaurant meal.
  • Present descriptions and opinions about food.

Cultures

Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products

  • Discuss the cuisines and eating customs of Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Discuss shopping for food in Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Identify food served at celebrations in Arabic-speaking countries (Mansaf, musakhan, Mulabbas, etc.) .
  • Discuss typical mealtime schedules.

Connections, Comparisons and Communities

Making Connections Through Language

  • Discuss the influence of Arabic foods and cuisine in the United States.

Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

  • Discuss the differences between Arabic and American cuisine.
  • Compare the role of food in celebrations in the U.S. and Arabic-speaking countries.
  • Identify Arabic foods commonly used in the U.S. such as Hummus, Falafel, Shawerma, Couscous, etc.

Communication Across Communities

  • Demonstrate an understanding of recipes and/or menus from Arabic-speaking countries, either via the Internet or from local restaurants serving Arabic food.

Related Vocabulary and Linguistic Elements

  • shopping for food
  • expressions for ordering a meal
  • verbs akala, shariba, khadama, sa'ada, sharaka, talaba, dafa'a, qaddama, and Haasaba
  • courtesy expressions min fadlak, law samaht, shukran, afwan, tafaddal, ahlan wa sahlan, illa alliqaa', and ma' assalama
  • familiar and formal commands