Kalima wa Nagham: A Textbook for Teaching Arabic, Volume 2

Presenting a new Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL) curriculum that can be used in secondary and postsecondary educational settings, Kalima wa Nagham, Volume 2, is a textbook that uniquely and simultaneously introduces Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and salient aspects of Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA) to level two language students. Students who fully utilize this book should be able to develop important language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and expressing deep cultural knowledge.

Written by Arabic language teaching practitioners and experienced educators who are certified language testers, Kalima wa Nagham employs a threaded story that introduces language concepts along with music to enhance vocabulary retention and recall. At the core of the textbook are dialogues that present students and teachers with examples of Arabic grammatical concepts and important cultural aspects, as well as related vocabulary. These are supplemented by drills and activities that can be used in a classroom setting or pursued individually. Volume 2 incorporates media language to help students understand news reports and other media texts as well as original cartoons that demonstrate the meaning and significance of idiomatic expressions in a refreshing way. Dialogues and pronunciation and listening drills to accompany the lessons are available on the University of Texas Press website. This volume is student-centered in content and methodology, which will enable learners to meet and exceed linguistic and cultural proficiency expectations.

Nasser M. Isleem is a senior lecturer at New York University at Abu Dhabi. He has also served as a senior lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a lecturer at Duke University and Meredith College. He became a certified ACTFL OPI tester in 2010.

Ghazi M. Abuhakema is an associate professor of Arabic language and Arab culture, director of Asian Studies, and coordinator of the Arabic program at the College of Charleston. He has also taught at Middlebury College, Montclair State University, the National University, and the University of Texas at Austin. He is an ACTFL certified OPI, ILR OPI, WPT, AAPPL tester and a DLPT5 certified reviewer.