"ARABIC-OOL" by Perdaus

I came across the advertisement on “ARABIC-OOL” in BH today. Just a bit of introduction to those who don’t know what is this program about.

NATURE OF PROGRAMME

The backbone of this Arabic Foundation 4 month program is a curriculum written for Phrasebase learning. The Phrasebase study method is comprised of 3 essential areas of concentration and focus:

a. Memorize Phrases - Rather than focusing on vocabulary, direct word to word translations, it's much more effective to focus on phrase to phrase translations. Why? first, an individual word, like "cape", can have drastically different meanings. On the other hand, a phrase such as "hand me my cape" conveys one solid message. Phrases have single meanings and can tangibly and easily be translated between languages.

And don't forget heirarchy, when you focus memorizing phrases, you will naturally over time learn the meaning of individual words. You will also learn sentence structure and grammar. You will pick up on these aspects as a bi-product of memorizing phrases.

b. Pronunciation - It is critical to listen-to and repeat phrases as often as possible. You need to immerse yourself in the sound of the language. Like listening to a song over and over until you can sing it in the same key, tone and pitch... essentially mimicking the singer.

Prounciation works both ways, not only do you need to emulate the sounds like mimicking a singer. But you also need to listen to it often enough so that you can hear a phrase, a set of closely grouped words spoken at normal conversation speed, and instantly grasp it's meaning. You don't have time to pick out each word and translate it's meaning word by word, you need to focus on picking out phrases, and understanding the meaning of an entire phrase instantaneously.

c. Conversation - Practice, Practice, Practice... Nothing beats actually talking to a native speaker in their language as often as possible. You need to keep using the phrases you've learned and memorized, even though at he beginning, you'll have a limited set of phrases, use them as often as possible until they become second nature.

The key is to immerse in the language and use it as often as possible in the class in order to build up your skills of speaking it and listening to it, understanding and comprehending it... which after all, should be the reason students want to learn the language and the focus of their studies.

More info at http://www.perdaus.org.sg/mgosh/web/sub_edu.asp?id=ART00083-2006&pgno=2&keyword=&srch=

It is actually a 4 months program under Perdaus. It will commence on 1^st July 2007, 10am-1pm at Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah. I wanted to enroll myself in Arabic Foundation the last time but missed the application period. So now that I saw this advertisement I can’t afford to miss it again. I really need to brush up on my spoken Arabic yg dah btl2 tunggang langgang mcm tak tahu ape ntah. Even my Terjemahtul Quran class on Every Saturday is a bit of a killer to me since the ustaz naik syok bobal arab and kita anak murid dia terngah2 kat situ. Lol! The fact that I have this strong urge to enroll myself in “Diploma in Islamic Studies (Syariah)” next yr has further pushed me to take up this programme. Dah semangat ni. Dengan keizinan Allah, Insya'Allah akan terlaksana jua niatku ini utk sambung belajar ukhrawi.

So anyone wanna join me? hehe! Lg ramai lg bgs. Mari kita sama2 menegakkan syiar agama ISLAM! ALLAHUAKBAR!! :)