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Teaching Language and Content through the 25th January Egyptian Revolution and Subsequent Political Events
Abstract by Dr. Shahira Yacout On Session 178  (Teaching Arabic at Home)

On Tuesday, November 20 at 11:00 am

2012 Annual Meeting

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to introduce to AFL instructors the effectiveness of teaching 25th January Egyptian Revolution as a frame work for content based instruction course. It was crucial after the 25th January Egyptian revolution to develop a new course focusing on political and cultural aspects, using language as a medium for learning the content. According to Stoller (2002), content based instruction is intended to foster the integration of language and content viewing, “language as a medium for learning content and content as a resource for learning and improving language”. Brinton et al (2004), emphasized the importance of concurrently teaching content and language, that is, the integration of language and content is considered a desirable and an effective method of language learning rather than the traditional methods of learning. Developers of the new course focused on the period starting from the first 18 days of the 25th Egyptian Revolution, which were presented in a clear, sequential chronological order in addition to the main events, until present time. The teaching materials were selected from various talk shows, reports, articles, documentary films, audio program, short stories, songs, poetry, jokes, Graffiti, cartoons, banners and Caricatures, in addition to field trips and interviews with native speakers. The most important consideration for developing this new course were the interest level for the student and their need for understanding such an important socio-political and cultural event and to enrich their knowledge about the Egyptian revolution through language. Accordingly, the goal of this paper is to investigate: ( 1 ) logistics of developing content based course to help students master and integrate both language and content ,(2) useful real world instructional activities and interactions to promote students’ mastering content and language, (3) skills and strategies to be considered when teaching such courses. In an attempt to improve and enhance the course an anonymous survey was designed and distributed by the help of CLT at the end of the semester in order to explore ( 1) student’s attitudes towards new course, ( 2) the extent the new course improved their language abilities and enriched their knowledge regarding 25th Egyptian Revolution, (3) students’ perspectives and suggestions for improving the course specifically about activities, assignments, etc. Analysis of the students’ feedback revealed important points that were incorporated in the course.
Discipline
Language
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sub Area
Arabic