Of course, it was an advantage having studied Arabic at my university before I came and refreshing my knowledge with Rosetta Stone, but since it had been over a year since I had actually been in the classroom, and I was struggling at first.
It was nice that I could read and write (although it took forever, ha). But all my previous teachings were in Fus'ha (الفصحى) or Classical Arabic. Generally, all Arabic speaking people can understand the language, but they would usually not be able to speak back to me in the same tongue, since each country has it's own spoken language, which tends to vary drastically in vocabulary, pronunciation, and accent.
So meeting Michael was a blessing from Allah. As part of his fellowship, he was given money which could only be used towards language studies. Thus, he had been searching all over Irbid for a suitable place to study and an equally suitable class-mate. Alhumduleh, I fit the bill.
So we started at the beginning of November studying at the Leader's Cultural Center in Irbid. Our main objective for the first months were to learn the local spoken language, known as 3meya (A'ameya) or Colloquial Jordanian Arabic.
(Pictured above: Me beside my teacher Rawan, along with some of the women that worked at the language center).
We were in class every day of the work week for 1 hour, which really helped me improve quickly. We mainly focused on verbal communication, building vocabulary, verb conjugation, and building sentences. We focused on topics that were fitting for our situation. Such as; grocery shopping, colors, clothing, numbers, eating out, traveling, how to talk about ourselves and our families, and our work.
Our teacher however, was a young woman named Rawan and although a native Arabic speaker and fluent English speaker she was experienced in teaching Arabic speakers English, not vice versas. It quickly became evident that teaching Arabic was not her strong suit. Not to mention she was on the verge of getting married, which made her lessons and our learning enviornment quite disorganized.
(Pictured above: Rawan and her husband Mohammed, members of the British Council in Amman, and Michael and I. This was at an English teacher training day run by Michael and the British Council at the Irbid Chamber of Commerce, where Michael works).
All in all it was a fun and entertaining course. I learned a lot of colloquial Arabic in a short amount of time. We were able to share traditions and culture from America, while she shared Jordanian customs, an exchange which I truly value.
(Pictured above; Michael, Lyida, and I with our Arabic teacher Hanan and her youngest daughter Dana.)
After taking a study break over the winter holidays and then some, ha Michael, Lydia (my co-worker) and I began to study Fus'ha (Classical Arabic). It was a nice change of pace. First of all, our lesson we not in a classroom per say, but in our teacher's dining room. And instead of studying daily, we were doing two times a week for 2 1/2 hours each class period.
Our two months of classes focused on the same topics as we studied in colloquial Jordanian Arabic, but this time in the written and spoken Classical Arabic. It was great to review my reading and writing skills. My handwriting is much better now and I can read a lot quicker, although still not always fast enough to read road signs before they pass me by.
Studying at her house came with some other lovely perks. We were served snacks and tea every lesson. And she kindly has us over for meals with her family as well. Hanan was also much more experience and focused in her way of teaching.
(Above is a picture showing the fruits of our labor).
We even got to do a cooking lesson, where we learned (in Arabic) how to make some down-home
Jordanian dishes! We cooked mjedra (a rice and lentil dish), 3layet bendora (a tomato based dip), mtebal (similar to baba ganoush), and salata (salad).
The food was so delicious! And now I know how to cook it all, which I will be doing on a regular basis back in the USA.
The food and lessons were wonderful, but the best part was being around a family again. I really do miss my family a lot, so it was so nice to interact with one. And be in a cozy environment, even it was just two times a week. I loved being around her children, especially the little girls. Reminded me of babysitting all my neighbors kids in Oak Park.
We finished our Arabic studies for good in the mid-May, so we could have more free time to travel and see people before we leave. As Michael will be returning in about two weeks and myself in the 1st week of July.
Overall, I so please with how much Arabic I have learned. Most of my skills still lie in spoken Jordanian Arabic, but I am confident that if and when I return to the region, I will be able to pick up other dialects easily. My biggest success is my vocabulary and my listening comprehension. I have my students to thank mostly for that. Because I frequently hangout with them and our conversations tend to be nus-nus or half Arabic and half English (outside of the classroom of course).
(Pictured above; Michael, myself, Dana, Hanan and Lyida, beside their family pool in their backyard which looks over the beautiful countryside).
Language has been such a huge challenge, learning experience, and one of my favorite overall experiences about living abroad. I am going to miss it immensely. Not ready for reverse culture shock yet.
