503 final

Dear 503 students,

Please check your emails for important news about your final.

Study guides for Final Exams

Ahlun 401 students,

To study for you final, you need to know:

-Your Alphabet chart ( letters and how their names are spelled )
-Number chart ( numbers and how their names are spelled )
-Al horoof al shamsyeh/ Al horoof al qamaryeh and be able to place words that begin with them in the right category.
-Most importantly, know your vocabulary from your sheets. 2-3 word phrases and your dictation are mostly from that list.

Hadh sa'eed

Ahlun 504 students,

To study for your final, you need to know:

-Your mufradat, so that you can translate and fill in the blanks.
-Your numbers ( all the way to 100, p. 138 ) and how to conjugate the words that follow them.
-Your al-a'daad al-terteebyeh ( ordinal numbers, p.155 ).
-Practice writing sentences, using pictures from your book such as ones on p. 142, 161....etc.
-How to tell time.
-How to convert sentences with al-musder to al-mudaari' al-munsoob without changing the meaning.

Hadh sa'eed

Interesting Article

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/world/middleeast/14syria.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=world&pagewanted=print

No class today,Wed Dec 5

Dear 401 students,

I'm feeling a bit under the weather , and so I won't make it to class today.

Those of you that are ready to present their skits tomorrow, please do.
The ones that are having great difficulties, and were counting on my help, can wait to present theirs on Tuesday . But let's have as many do theirs tomorrow, as scheduled, since Tuesday is also a day to present the papers.
I hope that you're also reviewing the last few chapters.
Don't forget that you need to memorize your Alphabet and numbers.

Shukrun

Skits and extra credit paper

Ahlan,

A reminder that your extra credit paper is due for class presentation on December 11. So those of you that have not yet talked to me about it but are interested, please do that soon.

401 students,

I hope that you've already picked your partners for the skits. There will be some time dedicated to questions and help with that in class on Tuesday. So come with ideas.

I look forward to both the presentations and skits. Our last couple of weeks are going to be fun, inshaa'Allaah.

Also, to those of you that have Al-Kitaab, please bring it to class, as we may at some point transition to it.

Extra credit paper and Quiz

Marhaba 503 and 401 student

Just a reminder to those of you that are interested in taking advantage of the extra credit paper offer. You need to submit a proposal to me as to your choice of topic soon. This paper is due, as you know, on Tuesday December 11.

To my 401 students

Those of you that missed our quiz last Tuesday because of illness, and feel it necessary to be given a second chance to take the quiz, come to my office at 3:45 on Tuesday Nov.27 with a note from your doctor, to take the quiz.

Hope you had a Utla Sa'eeda

401 & 503 Quizes

Marhaba 401 students,

-Know your vocabulary (nouns & adjectives)
-Know how to make a noun definite (add Alif + Laam)
-Know how to combine nouns and adjectives to form simple phrases (noun comes before adjective)
-Know how to say the word (This) in Arabic referring to masculine vs. feminine nouns
-Remember that feminine nouns are those that end with Taa Marboota
-Remember that the adjective has to match the noun (feminine vs. masculine)

Marhaba 503 students,

Study your Mufradat from Ch. 9
Practice with Tamrine 2, p 150
You will be asked to fill in the blanks, then translate the sentences.

Final Exams

Marhaba 401 & 503 students,

To avoid any further confusion, I've decided to keep the time and date that the school's registrars office had picked for the final exams. Please go to that site to confirm that date.

Ilalliqa fi al-usboo' al-qadim

Hints to study for 503 quiz

Ahlan 503 students,

Here is what you need to know for your quiz:

_ Your Ch. 8 mufradat.
_ How to count things (one thing, two things, three things and more than ten things) paying attention to what kind of suffix or change the objects that are counted end up with in each case.
_Know your numbers (numerically and spelled out) and know how to say what comes before (qabl) and what comes after (baad) certain numbers.
_Know how to figure out a root (jathr) to a word.
_Know how to figure out a pattern (wazn) for a word.

You all have my e-mail address should you have any questions.

Hadh sa'eed

This week

Marhaba 401 and 503 students,

This is to give you an idea as to what to expect from your Arabic class this week.

503 students:

Please come to class having studied "root" and "pattern" so that you have a bit of a background knowledge of the subject. It's a dry kind of material, and though we should learn it, I don't intend to dwell on it.

Also, please bring your dictionaries to class.

Depending on how much material we're able to cover this week, I'm thinking of a possible quiz next Tuesday.


401 students:

I will be teaching two new sounds tomorrow, Faa and Qaaf. So please take a glance at those before class.

On Wednesday, I intend to introduce Kaaf, and time permitting, review all new sounds so as to prepare for a quiz on Thursday, Inshaa'llah (God Willing). These are my intentions at least, and we'll see what happens.

Your second quiz 503 students

Marhaba 503 students,

I would like to borrow back your second quiz for a moment. Could you please bring it to class tomorrow?
Also, please study your vocab (Mufradat) from chapters 5 6 7 8 for the test.

Hadh Sa'eed

Final Exams

Marhaba 401 & 503 students,

Some of you requested a date for your Arabic Final. I would like it to be on Tuesday, December 18.
If , for some reason, this conflicts with other exams or commitments, then we can bring the issue to a vote.

Ilalliqa' Fi Youm Al-Thalatha'

More on 503 midterm

One more thought 503 students,

On the test, there will be a segment called "Tell me about yourself". It's like what we've done on occasion in class. Your name, address, a little about your family, your likes and dislikes, your hobbies......It doesn't have to be long, but the more you tell me the better. So practice it (even memorize it) at home before the test.

Hadh Sa'eed

Midterm

Marhaba 401 students,

The following are things you need to know to insure doing well on your midterm:

Know your vowels, and know how to distinguish between long and short vowels.

Know when to use "shdda" and "sukoon".

Know how to distinguish between emphatic and their counter part sounds.

Know when to use a "fatha" vs "taa' marboota".

Come prepared to ask questions on Wed.

The test will include the new sound"ayn".

Hadh sa'eed


Marhaba 503 students,

The midterm will cover material from chapters 5 6 7 and whatever we study from chapter 8.
One helpful way to study, is to go over all the exercises in the chapters, as the test will mimic them closely.
If you have any questions, bring them to class on Thursday.

Ilalliqa'

503 Quiz

Marhaba 503 students,

Just a few hints to help you study for your quiz on Tuesday.
1. Know your days of the week.
2. Know how to use Al Masdar in sentences.
3. Know how to ask questions that start with " why ", and know how to answer them by giving different ways of stating the reason.
5. Know the subtle difference between the different words used to express possession.
6. Know how to switch back a sentence with a Fronted Predicate to a regular sentence without changing the meaning.
7. Know how to situate states, actions in the past.

Hadh Sa'eed

The Quiz

Marhaba 401 students,

Today, it was decided to use yesterday's quiz as a review material for unit 4 due to the fact the many of you did not do well on it. We also decided to re-take the quiz tomorrow, Th, 10/4( same exact words as yesterday's quiz .) To those of you that didn't attend class today and missed out on getting that review, try to get in touch with someone who attended.

Ilalliqa'

Video about Egypt

Marhaba,

Here is a cool video

The singer is Greek. Listen and have fun taking a tour of Egypt, knowing that you can sound like this Greek singer ( accent, not voice necessarily ) when you go to Egypt someday and attempt your Arabic ( Egyptian style ).

Enjoy Tamatta'

About Tuesday

Marhaba,

To my 401 students:

Please study ALL of Unit 4 for the quiz. The spelling words on the quiz ALL come from the drills and exercises that we did.
The students that missed one or more classes would be wise to try to get together with others that didn't, and study in groups.
I will be in my office on Tuesday a bit after 3:30 if you need help. You can also contact me by writing me an email. I will also dedicate the first few minutes in class to questions.
Good luck ( Hadh Sa'eed )


To my 503 students:

The subject material will be getting increasingly more complex as we push on with the next chapters. It would be a very good idea to start reading ahead of me so as to come to class with a bit of background rather than be overwhelmed with brand new material every time. See you all on Tuesday.

Let's review

Marhaba

Today, I thought it would be a good idea to go over some things that you might be feeling some uncertainties about. So, think hard and come prepared to ask away. It would be nice for all to be feeling as though you're on solid grounds before we move on to the next unit.
I look forward to a lively session today.

Ilalliqaa'

Ruwa

Cool Article

Marhaba,

To my 401 students:

There will be a spelling quiz on Tuesday. You are responsible for everything we've covered thus far in class.

To my 503 students:

There will be a quiz on Thursday. You are responsible for everything we've reviewed in class thus far.

On a different subject, I found a very cool article about how Arabic played a huge role in the spread of science. The full article can be found in the May June 2007 edition of Saudi Aramco World.

But here is a taste of it:

"A thousand years before English emerged as the international language of science in the latter half of the 20th century, the Arabic language unified scholars across the Muslim world, generating a lively market of ideas from Samarkand to Córdoba. “A book published in Central Asia could be read in southern Spain less than a year later,” explains Roshdi Rashed, an eminent Egyptian-born historian of science, in his office near Paris. “Islamic learning was not like Greek science, which was limited principally to the eastern Mediterranean, but was spread across most of the known world.”

"One celebrated example is the Kitab al-Istikmal, a treatise on geometry by Yusuf al-Mu’taman, the 11th-century king of Sarakusta (today’s Zaragosa in northern Spain). The Jewish philosopher Maimonides brought it from Córdoba to Cairo and copies were soon circulating in Baghdad. The work was eventually republished in the 13th century in Central Asia.

"Among the babel of scientists and scholars who crisscrossed the polyglot Muslim empire, the common language was Arabic. “Besides Maimonides, you have the great mathematician and physicist Alhazen (Ibn al-Haitham) moving from Basra to Cairo,” says Rashed, “and the astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi journeying every year from Khorasan in northern Iran through Iraq and on to Aleppo to teach.” Even if scholars spoke Persian or another language at home, they wrote their papers in Arabic so that their colleagues in Baghdad, Toledo and elsewhere could understand them, he adds. Omar Khayyam may have penned his quatrains in Persian, but he explicated his mathematical concepts in Arabic. Correspondence among scientists—typically carried by cara- van messenger or carrier pigeon—was nearly as far-reaching in the 11th and 12th centuries as it was in the 17th, Rashed maintains.

"But despite its ultimate ascendancy, scholarly Arabic had a slow start. “Before the advent of science, Arabic was the language of poetry; it soon became the language of the new religion of Islam, but paradoxically, it did not become the language of power right away,” explains French science historian Ahmed Djebbar. Although the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik decreed at the beginning of the eighth century that government institutions, schools, courts and communications conduct their business in Arabic, it took another 50 to 100 years before the translation of scientific texts from Greek, Syriac, Persian and Indian languages into Arabic got under way in earnest, with some 100 translators at work over the course of the ninth and 10th centuries, according to the 10th-century bibliographer Ibn al-Nadim of Baghdad.

"Baghdad’s Bayt al-Hikmah (“House of Wisdom”) became a vibrant center of translation. Works like Ptolemy’s Almagest and Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica were translated numerous times as scholars perfected Arabic terminology. The Greek word parabola was initially Arabicized phonetically as barabula, then subsequently refined to qat za’id, which literally means “thick section.” Diabetes was first rendered as diyabita then transformed to da as-sukkar (“sugar sickness”). Over time, Arabic scientific terms and star names were adopted into other languages, a list that includes alkali, alcohol, algebra, algorithm, alembic, alchemy, azimuth, elixir, nadir, zenith, Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, Rigel and Mizar.

"After some seven centuries in which Arabic dominated scientific discourse, it began to be eclipsed in the 15th century by Turkish as Ottoman rule expanded. Ghiyath al-Kashi’s 1427 mathematical treatise Risala al-Muhitiya (Treatise on the Circumference), in which he calculated the value of pi to 17 decimal places, was one of the last significant scientific texts in Arabic. By the time Taqi al-Din, the director of the Istanbul observatory, wrote his books in Arabic on light and marvelous machines in the second half of the 16th century, Latin had largely supplanted Arabic as the universal language of science. Unlike Arabic, however, which was understood by all classes and gave ordinary Muslims access to scholarly knowledge, Latin was used principally by academics and clergy, fencing science in as the preserve of an educated elite."

Great first week

Marhaba everyone,

Just a quick note to say how much fun I'm having with you guys. I hope that you're having at least half as much fun as I am.

To my 401 students,
Don't forget about that mock spelling test. Practice your letters.

To my 503 students,
Please keep reviewing. It's not sufficient to do that in class only.

I look forward to going through our second week together.

Ilalliqaa',

Ruwa

Welcome to Ruwa's Arabic classes at UNH

This blog is a website for students in my Arabic language classes at the University of New Hampshire for 2007-2008. I will be periodically posting relevant information about homework assignments, messages to the class, and scheduling issues, such as for snow day cancellations.

For these reasons, especially if the weather is bad, you should check this blog before coming to class each day if possible.

However, I will not promise to post homework assignments here always; it will be the student's responsibility to get assignments from class.