THE
SITUATION of the Arab Student IN LIGHT OF THE THEORETICAL
BASIS:
The Arab student joins school after mastering the
colloquial language. He(S)
mastered this in his peak when he could have easily acquired other nguages as
well.
This
means that he has already acquired the language by which he should learn various
kinds of knowledge. Unfortunately, he gets embarrassed finding the language used
to gain knowledge is not the same as the one he mastered. In fact, a totally
different one that he has to learn and master so as to understand the other
subjects . The student finds himself in a critical situation as he , by the age
of six, has already lost most of his intellectual capability to learn languages.
The only choice he has is to learn school subjects via a language medium that he
has not already mastered.
If
we compare the student in the Arab world with an English speaking student, for
example, we find that the Arab student has to learn the school subjects and its
language at the same time! Things get even worse for this poor student. Why?
Because the language used in his/ her school lessons is the colloquial Arabic
language. The student never deals with classical Arabic except when he reads or
writes.
This
situation is far from ideal for the teacher as well, since he explains subjects
in the colloquial Arabic language because he does not know the classical
language! This is also done to make sure that the students have actually
understood the subject.
Meanwhile,
the student has no choice but to study these books which are written in
classical Arabic.
This
student in the Arab world is also asked to pass the exams in classical Arabic!
This mess results in the teacher permanently complaining about students' poor
performance.
In
the meantime, students continue to suffer from the difficulty of the Arabic
language and the subjects written in it.
SOME OTHER CONSEQUENT SERIOUS REFLECTIONS MAY BE DETAILED
AS FOLLOWS:
1-
The student has the subjects explained to him in colloquial Arabic. When he
refers to the book he hardly understands what is written, so he seeks the help
of a private teacher to re-explain the subject to him.
2-
After the student properly understands the subjects, he faces another problem in
the exams. What is this? When he is asked to answer in classical Arabic what he
has understood, he can only do this by
memorizing the subject and repeating what he has learnt. Did he(s)
understand anything? No. Did he actually learn anything? No. It is virtually
impossible to memorize the whole book. Hence, he chooses to learn some selected
sections.
3-A
state of educational retardation occurs due to the big difference between the
classical language he finds in the school books and the colloquial one which he
speaks.
4-
This student, as a result of all that, begins to develop negative attitudes
towards his studies and his books. He ignores it and throws it away after the
exam with no desire for any future benefit.
5-
The Arab student hardly develops an interest in reading written Arabic books.
May book publishers consequently complain that they print a small number of
books, no more than three thousand copies (for example), with a minor exception:
namely school and university books.
6-
This student may also lose interest in reading books written in foreign
languages.
7-
People will begin to think that the Arab world is not a very literate
nation.
8-
Arab teachers and students' may begin to think that the Arabic language is a
difficult one.
9-
Due to memorizing subjects without understanding, the student's logic and
cognitive advancement may become very limited. This will seriously affect his
ability to estimate matters, an expected failure to solve problems in a way that
benefits the individual or his nation.
10-
One of the worst end results will be the hatred of the Arabic language and this
is a disaster waiting to destroy the Arab world.
THE
PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE SOLUTION:
According
to the problem analysis stated above, we conclude that the solution is to
exploit the childs
instinctive capability to provide them with the classical Arabic during the
school day.
As
mentioned before, these ideas have been put into practice with great
success.
The
following kindergartens are a list of some of the success stories:
1-KUWAIT
ARABIC KINDERGARTEN:
Established
on 17/9/1988 in Kuwait.
Aiming
to instinctively provide children with classical Arabic. Dr. Abdullah Ad
Dannan, the pioneer of this approach, trained the teachers to be fluent when
using the classical Arabic language during the school day. The idea achieved
great success. Within six months, children began to speak classical Arabic. More
than forty press and news reports have been written about this
kindergarten.