Coming back from Taiwan

On January 13 and February 10, my capstone project had successfully held two orientations (which lasted for 3 hours in total) for students and chaperones leaving for Taiwan. We had covered topics such as greetings, food, online communication, transportation, currency, appearance, toilets, classroom culture…etc. The students had all benefited from the information I introduced to them, and they had unforgettable 3 weeks in Taiwan despite the change of flight before they departed. They were assigned a “passport”- like a journal, to document during their trip.

Library Corner and Curriculum

Thanks to the previous TCLP, Irving Elementary School has now an Arabic corner at the school library. I noticed that the addition of a curriculum with a record of the lessons and activities students are exposed to this year will be very beneficial, especially to future TCLPs. My capstone project is based on expanding the Arabic corner to include additional Arabic language learning books.

Digital Coursebook

As I work in an IB school, there is a tremendous focus on languages where Arabic is taught along with French, Spanish, and Mandarin. Yet, the school has no Arabic syllabus of its own; that is, no coursebook for teaching this language even though students – of all different levels – study it on a daily basis. This fact has arisen my interest to start this project that aims at starting to develop an Arabic syllabus that could be used by future teachers of Arabic at the school.

Arabic Club and Arab Culture

Host School

My capstone project is the Arabic club and Arab culture. I announced at my host school that there will be Arabic club in which students of different classes will join it and learn Arabic through different fun activities, moreover, they will learn about the Egyptian culture as there are too many items that are related to the Egyptian cultures such as Egyptian clothing, pharaohs masks and papyrus and there are also some language games.

Arabic Curriculum for Level 1

This is the first year of the program in Leicester Middle School. There were no materials, books, lesson plans or instructional aids that could help me create lesson plans for my students. My idea is to create an Arabic Curriculum for Level 1 that includes instructional calendar, classroom expectations, lesson plans, ppt presentations, flashcards, online resources and ideas for traditional and online games. In addition, there will be assessment methods such as quizzes and tests aligned with the goals of the curriculum. I will leave both a hard copy and an electronic copy.

Arabic Corner in the Library

When I arrived in Leicester Middle School, I went to the library looking for Arabic books or Arabic instructional Aids to help me in creating my lesson plans. I found none. The school has a large library but no Arabic books, bilingual dictionaries or books for teaching or learning Arabic as a foreign language. My idea is to establish an Arabic corner for students and staff members who want to know more about the Arabic language and culture.

Faust First Chinese Celebration

With a twist on multiple intelligences, my capstone project will allow students to contribute student-selected projects that will be showcased during Faust's First Annual Chinese Celebration. Students will be given a list of small projects they can choose from, individually or in a small group, that peaks their interests, builds on their specific intelligence and showcases Chinese Language and culture. The goal is to invite the entire school community to Chinese Celebration to participate in the event.