Teaching culture in the Arabic classroom gives rise to the question of how cultural learning can be effectively facilitated through the Arabic language. Arabic, having two different varieties that are used in different social contexts, presents a set of additional language requirements in understanding Arab culture. It is important to explore how this issue affects the way culture is communicated and learned in the Arabic classroom. When we consider Arabic as a diglossic language in the academic setting, we observe that Modern Standard Arabic, as a variety used exclusively in formal domains, is what is taught in almost all the Arabic programs in the United States. Colloquial Arabic, by contrast, is used for everyday communication and is rarely taught in the classroom. If offered, Colloquial Arabic is introduced only in a separate course for students who already have an advanced level proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic. Diglossia presents difficulties in teaching Arab culture when only one Arabic variety is used in the classroom. Since the materials used in teaching culture include plenty of Colloquial Arabic content to show how Arab culture works, it is within reason to argue that students need proficiencies in both Arabic varieties in order to learn the culture and its manifestations. Based on this, I will study the role of Colloquial Arabic in teaching and studying culture, and I will argue that it is required to facilitate the learning of culture effectively and authentically. This paper will present research on Arabic instruction at the Arabic program and Arabic Summer Institute at The University of Texas at Austin with a primary focus on how Colloquial Arabic is used in teaching culture starting the novice level. Data will be drawn from classroom observations and interviews with Arabic students that have no previous experience in Colloquial Arabic before joining the UT Arabic Summer Institute in order to study their perspective about the role of Colloquial Arabic in learning culture in the classroom.