Language and Cross-cultural exchange: QFI bringing Arabic back to American classrooms

By Hyacinth Mascarenhas

Learning a new language often seems like a daunting task for anyone at any age. Students at a handful of schools in the United States, however, are facing the challenge head on by learning a language that earned the highest level ranking on the U.S. State Department’s scale of difficulty: Arabic.

In the fall of 2009, Qatar Foundation International, a non-profit organization and Washington D.C.-based member of Qatar Foundation launched the QFI Arabic Language and Culture Program with the aim to “promote education as a force that facilitates collaboration across geographical, social and cultural boundaries.”

Working with public and public charter schools looking to start an Arabic language program or keep existing Arabic programs going, QFI works to fund or support these programs to create a dynamic educational experience for students to learn Arabic in multiple formats both within and beyond the classroom. The Qatar Foundation’s initiative marks a growing trend where Arab governments and NGOs are looking to promote cultural awareness and intercultural initiatives in the U.S. to bridge the divide and help create global citizens and leaders.

QFI students, for example, are considered ambassadors that can talk to their parents, families, friends and communities about what they have learned and share their cross-cultural experiences.

“It’s changed the views of my parents,” said 17-year-old Codi Kelii, a student at Campbell High in Hawaii. “They always thought that the Arab world was bad, and thought about terrorism and stuff. I talk about the class and it’s changing their perception.”

Depending on the individual school and its own unique environment and needs, QFI works to support them in different ways that range from professional development for the teacher including his or her salary, working on curriculum, mentoring, offering field trips, staging programs and supplying classroom material.

“Language is no longer about reading text, it’s about engaging the other, navigating through cultures and really emphasizing the cultural aspect,” said Stephanie Thomas, Program Manager of QFI’s Arabic Language and Culture program. “Our mission is to reach under served, K-12 students who would not necessarily have the opportunity to learn a language that is hard, is not as well supported in the United States as some other languages are and that gives them a unique key to which they can attain something significant. We see Arabic as really opening doors and every school has a different kind of story if you will.”

QFI is currently working with schools from Arizona and Oregon to Washington D.C. and New York, as well as schools in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In addition to supporting students, Thomas says developing and supporting Arabic teachers is also high on their list of priorities within the program. “Because Arabic teachers are still developing and are not yet professionalized or mainstream, that teacher needs more support than a Spanish teacher would to develop the necessary skills, lessons, units, etc,” said Thomas. “We don’t want to go into a school, create an Arabic program and just walk away. We want it to be mainstream, professionalized, sustainable, with our ultimate goal having them not rely exclusively on our funds, but to develop community support and sustainability within their schools so that Arabic is set to go.”

Arabic is the fastest-growing foreign language taught at U.S. colleges and universities, with enrollment in classes growing 127 percent nationally from 2002 to 2006, according to the Modern Language Association. However, few K-12 students have a chance to study it.

Less than half of all American middle and high school students are enrolled in foreign language courses while less than one-third of elementary schools even offer these classes. Only 18% of Americans speak a language other than English. Meanwhile, nearly 53% of Europeans can converse in a second language.

Given its different script, numerous dialects and pronunciation, Arabic isn’t the easiest language to learn. However, Thomas says students have been eager to take on the challenge.

“I think we forget the kids, students of that age like a challenge. I think it takes an older person to say “Oh, it’s so difficult and scary.” But we don’t get that,” said Thomas. “At the high school level, I think they’re almost drawn to the difficulty because we all know that if your college application is sitting in a pile where they’re all pretty much the same and if one kid has studied Arabic, you’re going to stand out. Students are motivated and ambitious and they know what a language can do for them.”

Students were also given the opportunity to spend their spring breaks in Doha, Qatar, participating in a unique cross-cultural exchange, conversing in Arabic with students of similar ages and immersing themselves in a culture they spent months learning about. Some of them had never been on a plane before. After one school trip, some students even started a virtual book club with their Qatari counterparts that will alternate between English and Arabic.

Four students from Chicago’s Lindblom Math and Science Academy in West Englewood traveled earlier this year for Doha to compete as the only school representing the U.S. in the QatarDebate. “We’re not there to win. It’s about the experience and becoming proficient in writing and speaking the language, and learning about the culture,” said senior LaCharro Hawkins.

The QatarDebate Center is a member of the Qatar Foundation for Education and Community Development that “aims to shape the global citizens of today and the intellectual leaders of tomorrow in Qatar and the world, through the delivery of diverse debate learning programs featuring Arabic and English.”

“Debate instills in debaters a great sense of appreciation of self and respect of others who happen to be different. It also teaches them tolerance and understanding,” said Dr. Abdellatif Salami, Educational Program Manager at QatarDebate. “These are all fundamental skills and abilities required in a world characterized by tensions and conflicts due to cultural and political differences. Through debate young minds learn that stereotypes and prejudices are baseless.”

Having studied Arabic at the Center for Arabic Study Abroad at the American University in Cairo and received her PhD in Arabic Language and Literature from Harvard University in 2000, Thomas says every single job and career experience she has had so far could be attributed to her knowledge and skills in Arabic. “I look back at it as a key to doors that wouldn’t have been opened without Arabic. It has grounded my perspective and transformed my life. And that was just at the college level,” said Thomas. “If you bump that back to the K-12 level, you’re giving the students an option. You’re giving them the option to learn a new language, expand his or her cultural experiences and achieve things that they otherwise may not have had the opportunity to achieve.”

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