Marhaban!!

My name is Yasmine and I am 27 years old. I was born in New Jersey and moved to Amman, Jordan at the age of 11 to live with my grandma whom I had never met. I learned Arabic from scratch when I entered a mainstream Jordanian school where everything was in Arabic. I was totally immersed in the language and culture. It was a sink or swim situation and I had to learn Arabic quickly if I wanted to catch up with my peers in school and make friends. It was a challenging experience but I learned so much and I encourage anyone to immerse themselves in the culture and language of their choice if they get the opportunity. I continued to live in Jordan for 14 years only visiting the US in the summer. I then decided to obtain my Master’s degree in America while I taught Arabic. Since then I have continued on the career path of teaching Arabic as a foreign language and doing my own research on different learning methods and techniques and understanding the Arab culture. I can say that I understand the difficulties students learning Arabic face because I experienced them myself. I have been able to find ways to simplify certain aspects of the language from a learner's perspective. Yet, I consider myself a native speaker of Arabic due to learning it at a young age and living in an Arabic speaking country for more than a decade.

Aside from language teaching, I enjoy painting portraits in oils and watercolors and reading about art history. I also love mountain climbing and hiking, especially in the fall when everything is brightly colored, and the weather is not too cold. I also love visiting historical places and learning about different cultures and civilizations.

I have a Master's in Second Language Teaching from Utah State University. I have taught and tutored Modern Standard Arabic at the university level in the United States for 3 years. I taught the beginners, intermediate, and advanced levels. I speak Levantine Arabic (Jordanian dialect) which I would love to teach as well as standard Arabic if requested to do so.

I participated in the StarTalk program for specifically training teachers of Arabic at Penn State University. I have also done freelance translation work from English to Arabic and vice versa.

Furthermore, I have been presenting my own research on Arabic language learning in many well-known conferences across the United States. In addition to presenting about Arab culture and the differences between Arab and Western cultures at various venues.

I consider Arabic a challenging yet rich and unique language that I very much enjoy teaching.

First of all, kudos to you for choosing to learn Arabic as a foreign language! You will find that despite the effort it takes to learn Arabic, it is a rewarding experience. Learning to speak Arabic prepares you to take on a journey into the Arabic speaking world, not as a tourist, but as someone who is seeking a true understanding of the Arab peoples’ way of life. Through our online sessions, I will help you begin to learn the basics of the Arabic language in order to reach a decent level of proficiency and fulfill your career goals and interests that involve speaking Arabic.

I implement the Communicative Approach to language learning in which the student is the active learner and the instructor is a facilitator. I consider myself a language partner as much as a language tutor. I find it extremely important that students are comfortable speaking in Arabic and making mistakes. Practice makes perfect! We will remain in the Arabic language as much as possible, right from the beginning. If you do not immediately understand everything I say, do not worry, that is to be expected. I will use means such as actions, gestures, facial expressions, repetition, media material and paraphrasing to help you understand.

I have a variety of authentic ready prepared materials appropriate for all three levels such as work sheets, Power Points, short stories, poems, etc., which I can easily share with you. During our online conversations, I will always have a small whiteboard to write down important words that I can quickly and easily hold up and show you. I also prepare topics to discuss and learn about in case you do not have a topic in mind. We will also read and write together to improve your literacy skills.

In terms of grammar, I know it can be difficult which is why I focus on grammar for the sake of function not just to memorize grammar rules. We are here to use the language in real-world situations in real time and that means understanding grammar that can help us do that.

I want to help you perform the following tasks : (of course your ability to perform these tasks vary depending on your level)

-Speak about yourself, others, and environment, initiate, and sustain conversations on familiar topics.

-Read basic texts and understand the main ideas.

-Write, at the sentence and paragraph level about daily life activities, past events, people, and places.

-Provide basic information, spoken and written, about different aspects of Arab culture.

مُقدِمة عَن نَفسي:

مَرحَباً!!

إِسمي ياسمين وعُمري ٢٧ سَنة. أَسكُن الآن في وِلاية يوتاه في الولايات المُتحِدة الأمريكية. وُلِدتُ في وِلاية نيوجيرسي وانتقلتُ إلى الأردُن عندما أصبحتُ ١١ سنة وبدأتُ أتَعَلَم اللُغة العَرَبية مِن الصِّفر. درستُ في مَدرَسة أُردنية عَرَبية لِذالِك أصيريتُ على تَعلُم اللُغة العَرَبية بِأَسرَع وَقت مُمكِن لِكَي أفَهَم دُروسي وأُكَوِن صَداقات. عِشتُ في عَمان – الأُردُن لِمُدة ١٤ سنة. تخرجتُ مِن جامِعَة البترا في عَمان ثُم سافرتُ إلى يوتاه لِأَحصُل على شَهادة ماجستير. لِذالِك كانَ لي الفُرصَة بِأن أعيشُ في بَلَدين فيهِما ثَقافتين ولُغتين مُختلفتين، وأتَكَلَم اللُغة العَرَبية والإتجليزية بِطلاقة. أَعشِقُ تَدريس اللُغة العَرَبية لأنها لُغة جَميلة ومُمَيزة. أُحِبُ أيضاً أُكتُب أبحاث عَن أساليب تَدريس الُلغة العَرَبية.

في وَقْت الفَراغ أُحِبُ الرَّسِم والفُنون الجَّميلة والقِراءة عَن تاريخ الفَن عَبْر العُصور. أُحِبُ أيضاً تَسَلُق الجِّبال خاصةً في فَصِل الخَريف عَندما يَكون الطَّقس مُعتَدِل وألوان الأشجار أحمَر وأصفَر وبُرتُقالي. أستَمتِع في زيارة الأماكن التَّاريخية القديمة والتَّعلُم عَن الحَضارات والثَّقافات المُختَلِفة حَول العالَم.

خِبرَتي:

حَصلتُ على شَهادة ماجستير في أَساليب تَدريس لُغة ثانية في جامِعَة يوتاه سَتيت. قُمتُ بِتَدريس اللُغة العَرَبية لِمُدة ثَلاث سنوات في المُستوى الجَّامعي في المَرحَلة المُبتدئة والمتَوَسِطَة والمُتقدِمة. أيضاً أعطيتُ دُروس خُصوصية لِلُغة العَرَبية خِلال تِلكَ الفترة.

في صَّيف عام ٢٠١٤ شاركتُ في بَرنامِج إِسمهُ "ستارتوك" الذي كانَ مُخَصِص في تَدريب مُدَرسين اللُغة العَربية في الوِلايات المُتحدة.

قُمتُ بِترجُمة بَعَض الوثائِق المُختلِفة مِن اللُغة الإنجليزية إلى اللُغة العَرَبية والعَكس.

أيضاً أقوم بِتَقديم أبحاث حَول أساليب تَعليم الُلغة العَرَبية كَلغُة ثانية في مؤتمرات عَديدة تُقام في أماكِن مُختلفة أنحاء أمريكا.

أُسلوبي في التَّدريس:

أُسلوبي في تَدريس الُلغة العَرَبية يُرَكِز على أنْ يكَون الطَّالِب مِرتاح نفسياً في التَّكلُم باللُغة العَرَبية وتَشجيعهِ على المُحادثَة وإرتِكاب الأخطاء لِكي يَتَقدَم ويَتَحَسَن مُستواهُ في المُحادثَة. أُحِبُ أَستَعَمَل الكثير مِن الإشارات وتَعابير الوَجه المُختلفة لِلمُساعَدَة على الفَهِم والإستيعاب. أتكَلَم بِبُطئ أو بِسُرعة تُناسِب مُستوى الطَّالِب. دائماً أقوم على إعادة النِّقاط المُهِمة والمعاني الصَّعبة والكلمات التي نَطقُها ايضاً صَّعبة. أَعرِف أنَ قَواعِد الُلغة العَرَبية لَيسَت سَهلة لِذالك أُحاول دائماً أن أُبَسِط هذه القواعِد. أرى أنَ وظيفة القواعِد هيَ لِتسهيل عَمَلية فَهِم وإستعمال اللُغة ولَيست لِتَعقيدها. أخيراً مِن المُهِم أن يَكون دِراسة الُلغة العَرَبية دائماً شَيء مُمْتِع لِلطالِب.