Overview
An-Najah's Arabic for Non-Native Speakers Institute provides students with the best language learning resources for their mastery of the Arabic language, immersing them in Palestinian life and culture and integrating them into campus life. Students not only take classes at An-Najah, but also they become part of the community in both of the city and the campus. Students' learning process goes beyond the classroom time, as they enjoy monthly field trips that expose them to the diverse cities and landscapes of Palestine and have weekly outside classroom activities. Students have the best resources available to them through An-Najah from accommodation to visa assistance.
Our placement exam ensures that each student receives the level of instruction that s/he needs. Through our programmes, students will be equipped with the appropriate vocabulary and terminology to competently explore subject matters like economics, politics, daily life and culture in Arabic. The Institute's director, Dr. Raed Mustafa Abdelrahim, has designed Arabic textbooks which are in use at top Arabic programs across the world. The primary method of Dr. Raed's teachings is to limit the learner's use of their native language as much as possible. Through this method of immersion, the Institute strives to enable students not only to learn Arabic, but also to think and live within it. With the completion of the programmes, students are equipped with the Arabic skills they need to communicate effectively with native speakers, read, write, and develop their professional capacities.
The Institute's Vision
The Arabic Language Institute for Non-Native Speakers seeks to spread the Arabic language in the world, activate cooperation with various institutions in the field of teaching and learning for non-native speakers, develop its teaching mechanisms, prepare its curricula, qualify teachers, and open new programs that benefit the local and global community. It also seeks to expand its scientific research circle, to include the theoretical and applied sides of teaching Arabic to non native speakers, and to keep pace with the latest educational technology related to it, in line with the vision of An-Najah National University, by employing 21st century skills in teaching and learning. It also seeks to spread Arabs’ and Palestinians’ culture.
The Institute's Goals
The Arabic Language Institute for Non-Native Speakers goals are:
1- Increasing the Arabic language presence in the field of teaching and learning second languages.
2- Investing in modern strategies in teaching Arabic language.
3- Cooperating with international institutions in the field of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers.
4- Introducing different educational technologies and twenty-first century skills in teaching Arabic to non-native speakers, face-to-face and online.
5- Developing curricula for teaching Arabic to non-native speakers which is in line with applied linguistics and language function.
6- Cooperating with various institutions and the local community to qualify teachers in the field of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers.
7- Launching new bachleor's, diploma, and postgraduate (masters and doctoral degrees) programs in the field of second language acquisition.
8- Developing the international language proficiency exam for non-native speakers, which is recognized by Greece, and computerizing it, in order to facilitate its use in the world.
9- Developing scientific research in the field of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers in both theoretical and applied aspects
General Information about the Institute
The Arabic for non-Native Speakers Institute was established in 2010 AD, and it employs qualified and specialized teachers, who have extensive experience in the field of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers.
The institute's programmes vary. There are general purpose programmes, special purpose programmes, academic programmes, and the immersion programme that integrates the institute's students with the Palestinian community through activities, trips, voluntary work, and language partnership.
The institute has a face-to-face and online programme to teach those who want to learn Arabic from a distance.
The Institute teaches different aspects of Arabic: Classical Heritage, Modern Standard Arabic, and Palestinian Colloquial, and it adopts different skills: listening, speaking, writing, and reading as a basis in its teaching.
The Institute uses various methods of teaching, employes the use of technology in class, and relies heavily on the applied aspect of language teaching, and excludes as much as possible the intermediate language.
The institute has its own curricula, which include the aforementioned goals.
Also, the Institute holds the international exam for the Arabic language in Greece twice a year, and it is an exam that is established in accordance with the European Standard for Languages, and got approved in Greece.
There are four semesters in the institute, namely: the first semester and the second semester, each of which lasts three months, and the spring and summer semesters, each of which lasts two months.