This is a collection of one page stories brought together in one document available for free download. Each page/story corresponds with a day of the week, although the stories themselves have no connection with one another. The stories include moral lessons. Each story is fully voweled.
Al-Bab is a portal website designed to introduce non-Arabs to Arab culture by providing links to news sources, country profiles, articles, and a blog on Middle East current events. There are also specific links related to learning Arabic: dictionaries, language classes, textbooks, and other information pertaining to the study of Arabic. A free e-book, The Birth of Modern Yemen, is available for download.
Al Wzzan is a website aimed at analyzing Arabic poetry. Users can type any verse into the search field, and the website will identify it's meter, or "bahar." Arabic poetry traditionally falls within one of fifteen different meters. The site also provides sample stanzas of poetry to demonstrate how the programs works.
This book is intended for those who have already learned to read Arabic but are still struggling with the basics of Arabic grammar. The book moves from the very simple to the very complex, and includes examples and exercises in each chapter to reinforce learning. The key to the exercises is found in the back of the book. The book is difficult to find, as it was published at the Defense Language Institute. A free non-searchable PDF version is available through this site, and a searchable PDF is also available for purchase.
Arab Culture through Literature and Film is a five unit high school curriculum that provides students with knowledge and tools toanalyze and understand the Arab world. The materials utilize a student-centered pedagogical approach that promotes critical thinking and respect and encourages engaged global citizenship. Through this curriculum, students will recognize shared themes across the region and gain a sense of the rich diversity inherent to the multidimensional cultures of the Arab world. Students will study life and culture in the Arab world and engage with primary sources including films, short stories, and poems. Exposing students to Arab voices and putting human faces on the Arab world will increase understanding and tolerance in the American classroom.
This blog is an initiative to celebrate and recognize Arab women writers, promote awareness of the breadth of their contributions to Arab and world culture, and create a focal point for information related to Arab women writers and their work. Information on books, generations of authors, a suggested reading list, references, upcoming events, and more is all available via the website. Books discussed have all been translated into English.
Arabalicious is a website full of resources for teachers of Arabic, run by Taoufiq Cherkaoui. The website includes PowerPoints available for download on concepts such as telling time, fruits and vegetables, culture, and basic greetings, to name a few. Worksheets to go along with the PowerPoints are also available for free download. The website further includes pictures that are available with the author's permission and some postings on available jobs for Arabic instructors as per 2012.
What started out as a gallery to display the calligraphy of two artists is today a website devoted to the art of Arabic calligraphy. It includes a wall where other artists can post their own Arabic calligraphy, basic information on the Arabic language, a blog about calligraphy, and more. Users can post comments on the website.
This webpage provides elementary information on aspects of Arab culture and history, including religion, politics, naming conventions, and Persian influence on Arab culture and language. The information seems to have been authored by the site's administrator, and contains no references or citations.
This is a textbook for beginning Arabic language learning. The textbook is divided into twelve lessons. Each lesson focuses on an activity and common theme to introduce the basics of Arabic. Each lesson starts with a short video, which you'll be asked to watch. To help you understand the video, each lesson also includes a transcript (in English), a list of vocabulary (with audio clips), and language and grammar notes.
This blog is from an American woman living and working in Saudi Arabia. It includes information about living and working in Saudi Arabia as well as her travels elsewhere in the Middle East. This particular section of the blog includes lessons on Arabic, which are all transliterated. Conversations that are transliterated and translated, vocabulary lists, and cultural information are all included. The lessons include one on bread, one on time and the concept of time, and one on New Year's Resolutions.
This blog offers translations of Arabic songs into English. Arabic transcriptions of the song lyrics are also provided, as are the transliterated lyrics. Where possible, the song has been added to the website as well so that users can listen to the song as well as read along. Users can request new songs to be translated, submit their own translations, and leave comments. Users can also search the site or click on a singer's name to be given a list of their songs that have been translated on the site.
The Bedouins of ancient Arabia and Persia made poetry a conversational art form. Several poetic forms developed from the participatory nature of tribal poetry. Today in most Arabic cultures, you may still experience public storytelling and spontaneous poetry challenges in the streets. The art of turning a rhyme into sly verbal sparring is considered a mark of intelligence and a badge of honor. Students will learn about the origins and structure of Arabic Poetry.
This page offers 186 different children's stories written in Arabic. Topics range from scientific matters such as how to build a telescope to literature and folktales, including Indian folktales. Stories must be viewed using Java and users must click on the link to view the resource and its title. Many contain images and other illustrations. The intended age level of the reader varies from story to story.
This is a blog that links to videos, music, and other information about studying and learning Arabic. The blog provides comments on information provided. For instance, there is a link to an episode of The Simpsons in Arabic while providing sentences and translations of some of the more complicated phrasing.
This group of free videos uploaded to YouTube by Dar Al Syraj offers myriad opportunities for young children to learn the Arabic language. There are multiple videos on the alphabet and the letters, including writing, singing, and pronouncing the various letters, as well as videos on basic vocabulary such as animals and days of the week. Most of the 40 uploaded videos are no more than a couple of minutes in length. Some of the videos include transliterated words and lyrics along with the songs.
The Art of Arabic Calligraphy is a collection of four articles by Mamoun Sakkal, a professional calligrapher. The site explains the history of the Arabic alphabet, the history of Arabic calligraphy, and presents articles on the two largest schools of Arabic calligraphy, Kufic and cursive. Articles are informative and succinct and are accompanied by helpful charts and illustrations. The first section demonstrates all the connected and unconnected forms of the Arabic letters in the most basic script.
This site from the BBC hosts a brief primer on the Arabic language. It discusses such topics as where the language is spoke, where it came from, and tips on etiquette. The guide also includes interesting examples of the Arabic language, such as tongue twisters, jokes, and famous quotations.
Calligraphy Qallam offers visitors information about the Arabic alphabet, various styles of scripts, and the process and history of calligraphy. It offers tutorial videos which demonstrate the various shapes of the Arabic characters both within one script and between different scripts. There is also a "script quiz" which allows visitors to test their ability to recognize different calligraphic scripts. The site also includes a blog and a forum where topics surrounding calligraphy are discussed.
Critical Language Service offers playlists with video lessons that explain the material in Alif Baa, Al-Kitaab 1 (through lesson 11), and a series on Egyptian vocabulary. Videos designed for the Alif Baa series focus on stories to illustrate new vocabulary while the series designed for Al-Kitaab explains grammatical concepts introduced in the books, and demonstrate proper pronunciation. They also offer a playlist of 60 cartoon episodes in Arabic.
CultureTalk - Arab World features a very extensive selection of filmed interviews with people from different countries in the Arabic speaking world. While some interviews are in English, the vast majority are in Arabic. Translations and usually transcripts are provided for all non-English video clips. Topics include family, food, education, religious and cultural customs, work, art, sport, travel, etc. The regions covered are the Levant, North Africa, Egypt, and Mauritania, with an Iraqi section on the way.
CultureTalk - Arab World features native speakers from across the Arabic-speaking world giving filmed interviews, in Arabic and sometimes English, on selected topics. Text-based translations and transcriptions are often provided as downloadable documents for most Arabic videos. The videos engage a number of region/country-specific topics, including cultural traditions, religion, politics, and sports.
CultureTalk - Arab World features native speakers from across the Arabic-speaking world giving filmed interviews, in Arabic and sometimes English, on selected topics. Text-based translations and transcriptions are often provided as downloadable documents for most Arabic videos. The videos engage a number of region/country-specific topics, including cultural traditions, religion, politics, and sports.
CultureTalk - Arab World features native speakers from across the Arabic-speaking world giving filmed interviews, in Arabic and sometimes English, on selected topics. Text-based translations and transcriptions are often provided as downloadable documents for most Arabic videos. The videos engage a number of region/country-specific topics, including cultural traditions, religion, politics, and sports.
Film and Discussion Questions for Wadjda
"An enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school's Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest."
The song "Friday" by Rebecca Black in Arabic for use teaching Arabic.
Saaid Al Fawaed or 'Grasp the Benefits' is an Islamic library that contains many books related to the explanation of the Holy Qur'an, the Prophet Muhammad, and more. A special section has been created on this website for the Arabic language. Here, the user can find grammar books, how-to-read books, dictionaries, and more. The site and its contents are entirely in Arabic.
This art history video discussion examines the "Mihrab" (prayer niche), 1354--55 (A.H. 755), just after the Ilkhanid period, Isfahan, Iran, polychrome glazed tiles, 135-1/16 x 113-11/16 inches / 343.1 x 288.7 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).
The Iraq Hurr website is a news broadcast website that includes radio and video components as well as news articles. The majority of the content concerns Iraq, but world news is also reported on the site. Components of the website include current events, politics, economics, security, society, and various programs such as sports and human rights in Iraq. Podcasts are also available, as is a free app for both iPhones and Android.
In this packet we look at works that span nearly a thousand yearsäóîfrom shortly after the foundation of Islam in the seventh century to the seventeenth century when the last two great Islamic empiresäóîthe Ottoman and the Safavidäóîhad reached their peak. Although the definition of Islamic art usually includes work made in Mughal India, it is beyond the scope of this packet. The works we will look at here come from as far west as Spain and as far east as Afghanistan.
A fusion of linguistic, religious, and ethnic groups with rich diverse roots and intersecting histories make up South Africa. However, the literature on most of the smaller groups tends to be thin and uneven, and often tends to relegate them to the margins of the country's major narratives. This innovative study introduces readers to a fascinating world of linguistic, religious, and cultural politics in the South African port city of Durban, from around 1950, the world of the Arabic Study Circle. This Association was led by a group of largely middle class Indian Muslim Gujurati-speaking men who were passionate about breaking out of the narrow confines of their origins and connecting to a larger changing world of learning rooted in Arabic and an Islamic modernity. They were gentlemen who believed in the transformative powers of reading and conversation. They exemplify the broader process common among educated, but disadvantaged, people in apartheid South Africa, and across the decolonised world in search for meaning community and authenticity.
This Coptic website contains a section for learning languages. In the Arabic learning section, there are nineteen different categories including the alphabet, grammar, numbers, and groups of vocabulary words used in daily life, such as women's clothing and insects. The vocabulary in these categories include labeled illustrations.
This blog aims to teach people the Lebanese dialect. It uses both video components and themed vocabulary lists such as weather and words for schools and universities. Vocabulary lists are written in both Arabic and transliterated English. Cultural components about Lebanon and occasional news items are included.
Lesson twelve contains a short dialogue between a group of friends about movies. Students can follow along by reading the Arabic text and/or listening to the Arabic dialogue. The dialogue uses a variety of verbs, adjectives, nominal and verbal sentences, so students will have opportunities to see how proper sentences can be constructed to facilitate general, casual conversations.
This resource provides a variety of information and activities that teachers may like to use with their students to explore the Islamic Middle East collections at the V&A. It can be used to support learning in Maths and Art. Included in this resource are sections on:
Principles of Islamic art and design
Pre-visit activities
Activities to do in the museum
Activities to do back at school
Islamic art explores the geometric systems that depend upon the regular division of the circle and the study of Islamic art increases appreciation and understanding of geometry. The use of these geometric systems creates a harmony among Islamic decorative arts and architecture, which is consistent with the Islamic belief that all creation is harmoniously interrelated.
Approaching an abstract subject in a concrete way provides a means of extending maths into other curriculum areas. The context of the Museum expands and enriches students' appreciation of the application of geometry in a cultural context and develops the sense of different cultural identities. Students have the opportunity to become familiar with the relationship between geometry and design and this can give confidence to students who have never seen themselves as 'good at art'.
This Arabic-only website is an effort to record and preserve information on the culture and history of modern Egypt from the reign of Muhammad 'Ali starting in 1805 to the end of Sadat's presidency in 1981. Materials on this site include pictures of coins from this era, maps, stamps, medals, books, documents, photos, recordings, information on movies, speeches, newspaper articles, magazine covers, and more.
This website is a collection of resources concerning learning Arabic as a second language as well as information about Arab culture, Islam, and various Arab countries. There are links to videos from YouTube on the site relating to Arabic study, including songs and lessons, as well as a host of other more unrelated things, such as tornadoes. Links to opportunities to study Arabic, teacher resources, and Arabic newspapers are available.
Nizar Qabbani is a famous Syrian contemporary poet. This website is dedicated to Nizar's literature. In the poetry and poems section, there are 510 poems about love, feminism, religion, and Arab nationalism. Many singers sang the poems of Nizar; this site includes twenty of these songs. Four works of prose by Nizar are included on the website, in addition to some pictures of Nizar and what people said about him. The website is entirely in Arabic.
Perseus is an evolving digital library, engineering interactions through time, space, and language. Our primary goal is to bring a wide range of source materials to as large an audience as possible. We anticipate that greater accessibility to the sources for the study of the humanities will strengthen the quality of questions, lead to new avenues of research, and connect more people through the connection of ideas.
Perseus is an evolving digital library, engineering interactions through time, space, and language. Our primary goal is to bring a wide range of source materials to as large an audience as possible. We anticipate that greater accessibility to the sources for the study of the humanities will strengthen the quality of questions, lead to new avenues of research, and connect more people through the connection of ideas.