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Learning Arabic Online: Have You Made the Right Choice?
It's a classic story that repeats itself...
When we choose to learn Arabic online, our first reflex is to go and inquire at the mosque or the neighborhood association.
We are determined and already see ourselves reading fluently the Arabic books bought two years ago and which are gathering dust on the living room bookshelf...
Who doesn't have them? You know, those books bought for "when I learn Arabic"... We've all done it...
Filled with determination, we move on to registration, take Arabic lessons and after 6 months, 1 year, or even 2 years, we feel like we're stagnating...
With the impression of going in circles and that the time required to see visible results is an indefinite sentence.
Why? Because most of the courses in mosques and neighborhood associations are in French; with a basic program.
Most of the time, the goal is literacy. Learning the Arabic alphabet and learning to read Arabic is a priority.
But reaching a native level to understand the religion, travel, or work in an Arab-speaking country is not.
Often due to lack of time and means. We don't blame them and their work is honorable.
But you want more. You want to Speak Arabic, you want to understand Arabic and you even dream of becoming Arabic-speaking.
So you have decided to broaden your search field, and switch to online Arabic courses.
Let's now discover their advantages, disadvantages, and how to choose them.
Learning Arabic online: What are the advantages ?
There are several advantages to learning Arabic online.
One of the most obvious and appreciable is the absence of transport.
So you can study comfortably at home and in slippers.
If you are mobile and travel frequently, your Arabic courses will follow you everywhere. All you need is an internet connection.
And that, in our opinion, is an incredible advantage. So you won't have to give up your favorite teacher, nor pause your learning path just when you were getting started (the hardest part is starting, not stopping…)
This brings us to a second advantage which is the flexibility to easily learn Arabic.
Our lives are hectic, the rhythms are no longer the same. These days, flexibility is an important point for choosing online Arabic courses.
If you are only free at 10 pm or at 7 am, you should be able to find Arabic courses at these times.
And finally, new technologies bring incredibly beneficial tools to learn Arabic easily and quickly.
Virtual classrooms have shrunk the size of the world. You can now Speak in Arabic instantly with your teacher who isn't even in the same time zone as you.
You can have classmates from all over the world.
By choosing to learn Arabic online, you are no longer limited by the borders of your neighborhood, city, and country.
Disadvantages of online Arabic courses
Let's be realistic, learning literary Arabic online does not have only advantages.
Not being physically present with your teacher, you may feel a sense of isolation.
You will have to choose online Arabic courses that are supervised by a team that will accompany you in your learning project. Otherwise, this feeling of loneliness will get the better of you and you will most likely give up.
You should also not fall into the trap of teachers who are not trained in distance teaching.
Giving online Arabic courses requires an adaptation of the teaching method. It's not enough to replicate face-to-face courses.
Especially when these are Arabic courses for children...
And finally, if you are allergic to technology and complexity, you wouldn't want to enroll in a center that doesn't provide any support.
To overcome the disadvantages of online Arabic courses, it is essential to be supervised by an experienced team in these various issues.
What pedagogical model for learning Arabic online?
It would be simplistic to think that to provide online Arabic courses, it is enough to be Arabic-speaking.
Presumably, if you are reading this article, you are French-speaking...
Can you provide French lessons to non-French speakers?
Using only French to make yourself understood (without using the learner's language)?
You might get by in teaching reading...
But without a pedagogical model and training, you will have difficulty going further than teaching the alphabet
We invite you to try the experience : )
Some teachers choose the easy way out and use French to teach literary Arabic to their students.
This keeps the student in a translation reasoning pattern.
The student forms in his mind the sentences he wishes to say first in his mother tongue and then tries to convert them into Arabic before speaking.
Do you visualize the process?
Do you think you can become bilingual or even speak Arabic fluently with this methodology?
It's not natural for the brain. This learning pedagogy is limited.
To Learn Arabic online effectively, you should instead immerse yourself in the Arabic language.
“Researchers at MIT have shown that learning through immersion in the English language allows for the creation of brain connections similar to those of native English speakers. However, the audio material must be authentic. In other words, you must be faced with people for whom the language is native.”Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience — M.I.T
Previously, immersion meant traveling to an Arab-speaking country and exposing oneself as much as possible to different daily life situations.
But, traveling to an Arab-speaking country is not enough.
Some people travel to a foreign country and limit themselves to interacting with the French-speaking community.
Therefore, you must consciously immerse yourself in the Arabic language.
With the internet, partial and voluntary immersion is facilitated.
You can visit websites in Arabic, watch videos in Arabic, listen to the news in Arabic, set your phone and computer to Arabic...
The more you are exposed, the faster you will learn.
To learn Arabic online effectively and quickly, your criterion for choosing the pedagogical model for online Arabic courses should be voluntary immersion.
What manuals for learning Arabic online?
A good manual for learning literary Arabic must cover all the basic linguistic skills.
“Linguistic skills cover all the skills needed to express oneself in one's mother tongue or in a foreign language; they are grouped according to the major functions "read", "write", "speak", "listen"” wikipedia
To learn Arabic effectively, you will need to acquire these 4 skills in a balanced way.
If you are starting from zero (learning the Arabic alphabet), you have no imbalance to correct.
But if, on the other hand, you have already taken Arabic courses, you certainly feel that you have a gap to fill in one of these 4 skills.
Most of the time, the two skills that are most lacking are:
- Speaking
- Listening
Due to Arabic courses being taught in French.
The student does not have the opportunity to train his ear to the speech of a native. And does not practice what he has learned by dialoguing with a native teacher.
Thus, to choose your manual, you will first need to choose your pedagogical model as we have said before and then the choice of the manual that supports this model.
At al Kunuz, we offer students the opportunity to Learn literary Arabic using the materials we have developed over our 14 years of experience. It covers all the skills of acquiring the Arabic language.
Learning Arabic online: How to make the right choice?
Are you familiar with the paradox of choice?
“Too much choice is a source of anxiety, sometimes paralyzing, sometimes a cause of depression, harmful to our well-being and our wallet."Excerpt from "The Paradox of Choice” — Barry Schwartz
Making the wrong choice for your online Arabic courses can be a source of anxiety.
Not only will it be a waste of money but especially a waste of time.
Several months may pass before you realize the inefficiency of the pedagogy used.
The loss of time is worse than the loss of money... Time cannot be replaced, it is limited and cannot be acquired.
“The loss of time is worse than death, for the loss of time cuts you off from Allah and the hereafter, while death only cuts you off from life and living beings."Excerpt from "Al Fawaid” — Ibn Al Qayyim Al Jawziyya رحمه الله
We have reviewed the main criteria for effective online Arabic courses, now it's time to make an informed choice.
First of all, you should not compare apples and oranges...
That is to say, we will not compare Arabic courses on video with online Arabic courses with a teacher (live via a virtual room).
At al Kunuz, we use video courses for the flipped classroom (preparing the lesson before the session with the teacher) and for revision (before moving on to the next level).
But, used alone, Arabic video courses are not sufficient to effectively learn literary Arabic (remember, you must cover the 4 linguistic skills: "read", "write", "speak", "listen")
Nor will we compare immersion Arabic courses and French Arabic courses.
As you know now, the immersion method is the most effective and natural way to learn a foreign language.
At al Kunuz, we have combined in our private Arabic courses and our Arabic group courses all these fundamental criteria.
Flexibility and freedom:
With our Private Arabic courses, you choose your schedule before you register.
You have the option to commit to only one month with our monthly subscription.
Once convinced, you can commit to the semester or year with a preferential rate.
You will have access to a member area where you can manage your subscription autonomously:
- Cancel a course
- Postpone a course
- End your subscription
- etc...
A team and a community
Some students need to feel part of a community of members motivated by the same goals.
Our group Arabic courses create a learning dynamic that will push you to achieve your goals through mutual aid and positive competition.
Email support is more than a "customer service"; the support members will support you, in French, in your learning objective throughout your course.
At the end of each course, your teacher will send you a course report, so you can track your progress.
The correction service will correct your homework within 24 hours. You can send the homework requested by the teacher or the homework you want to do voluntarily. Corrections are unlimited for the duration of your course.
Carefully selected teachers
Our recruitment process consists of multiple stages.
Each teacher must necessarily go through each of them. Then he is put in a real situation with test students.
If he manages to pass all these stages. He will then be able to teach students who have trusted us.
We don't stop there...
We provide mandatory ongoing training to each teacher for the duration of their time at our institution to ensure the quality of their teaching over time.
Immersion and complete manual
The al Kunuz manual was created by our team of graduates in Arabic language and pedagogy. It consists of 12 levels ranging from the complete beginner (to learn beginner Arabic) to the most advanced level.
That is from level A1 to level C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages - CEFR.
It covers all areas of the language for balanced progression.
We also offer other materials to meet specific needs and to fill the skills acquired in an unbalanced way.
