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Tufts University: ARB001 - Elementary Modern Standard Arabic - Arabic - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Rana Abdul-Aziz | ARB001 - Elementary Modern Standard Arabic | Arabic2005-12-28

Review:
The truth is that this course is extremely challenging. A language with a new alphabet, unconventional grammar rules, few cognates, and a ton of new sounds, Arabic is much more difficult to pick-up than a Romance language (I took several years of French in high school). However, Rana made this class as easy as possible and even enjoyable. A caring teacher with tons of enthusiasm, she made difficult material seem like nothing--although it's true that the textbook and DVD do a pretty good job on their own. She was very approachable, not at all strict or imposing, and very down-to-earth. She could have made the tests extremely difficult, but they were usually very reasonable. One problem with Rana is that she moves at such an incredibly rapid pace that sometimes she will get angry when her students are slow at understanding a concept or did not finish all of the previous night's homework, not realizing that we are only human. Despite this, she's probably the best language teacher I've ever had.

But be warned: How well you pick up Arabic depends mostly on the individual student, not the professor (even Rana called herself a "facilitator," not a "teacher"). It's essential that the student attend every class and keep up with all the work. If you're not prepared to make a serious time commitment to Arabic, then you should probably take Spanish or French instead. It is very possible to do well in this class if enough effort is put into it; it is also very easy to land a "C".

Yella ila liqaa

Workload:
Arabic is not your average language. You can't bull**** your way through it. We were warned early on that there would be 2-3 hours of homework for every hour of class (contrast this with 45 minutes of homework in high school). This is true. Although the assignments were enormously helpful and straightforward, they were challenging and took a considerable amount of time to complete--not to mention listening again and again to listening comprehension drills, and endless memorizing of words. (Keep in mind, if you've had some previous experience with Arabic, or if your family speaks it, it'll probably be a little easier for you). In the end, this course ended up being my most time-consuming after my weed-out course. Still, Arabic is a fun, exciting, and just plain cool language, and I highly recommend taking it. In the beginning of the year I could not decide between Chinese, Arabic, and Russian... and let me tell you, I have no regrets.


professor rating: | course rating: | major: Undecided


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Tufts University: ARB001 - Elementary Modern Standard Arabic - Arabic - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Mohammed Alwan | ARB001 - Elementary Modern Standard Arabic | Arabic2004-04-09

Review:
Simply the best!!!

Workload:
He does give a lot of homework, but it is helpful. Tests are simple and midterm and final are what count.


professor rating: | course rating: | major: N/A


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Top Professors - Arabic

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