Arabic

Ezzat Hassan (2015-2016) will be leading a field trip for students at his home school, Gesfa Secondary School for Girls, to Cairo to visit sites of cultural and historical interest. During this field trip, students will have the opportunity to practice English in a particular context. Prior to the field trip, students will have the opportunity to learn about American culture through webinars held by teachers at Ezzat's host school, Mentor High School. Following the field trip, Egyptian students will share their experiences on the trip with students in Arabic classes at Mentor.

Sean Fredericks (2016-2018), a mentor teacher from John W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School in Staten Island, New York, received a CLP grant to take, with Adel Ghattas (2017-2018), the 34 Arabic students at Lavelle on a field trip to the United Nations in Manhattan. The field trip will occur in 2018, the 70th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On this field trip, students will have the opportunity to learn about the history of the United Nations and Middle East Policy from a UN representative.

Passant Aly (2017-2018) organized an Arabic Club in which participants got the chance to learn communicative Arabic and experience Arabic culture. The club met at Anne Chesnutt Middle School once every week, for eight weeks. Each week there was a different theme. For example, the first week focused on language and traditions and the second week students explored food and festivals. For each theme participants learned through doing: they cooked, performed dances, learned Arabic letters, and much more. Arabic Club members also went on field trips and virtual tours of Egypt as well.

Adel Ghattas (2017-18) received a CLP grant to conduct a project designed to introduce his students to the history of the Middle East through a rich artistic context, engaging them with the language and culture in a fun way. Mr. Ghattas worked with the global history teacher at his school to prepare and present on the Arab-Israeli conflict. After students had learned about the historical and cultural background, they watched the movie The Band's Visit and participated in classroom activities that explored the movie's characters and themes.