1. Demonstrate comprehension of clear standard discourse related to self, family, community, academic work and basic religious knowledge.
2. Demonstrate comprehension of authentic texts, such as clear hadiths (Islamic traditions), newspaper articles, letters, and brief narratives…….. 
3. Demonstrate basic reasoning, draw logical conclusions and infer moral lessons from authentic literary and factual texts which put forward arguments and different points of view.
4. Formulate and express opinions on familiar matters as well as on Arabic topics related to Islam, Arabic culture, history, current events and daily life
5. Communicate using a series of connected sentences to describe self, family, and academic, work, and social experiences
6. Create connected text on topics which are familiar and of personal interest as well as describe experiences and impressions in short articles and letters.
7. Describe and analyse, with sensitivity and appreciation, the clear relationship between language, culture and world view as well as the similarities and differences between specific cultural practices and perspectives.

CHALLENGES
Arabic language may be considered the most comprehensive and ancient language in the world, which is still alive, being broadly used and considered the source language of Qur'an, Islamic knowledge, very huge literature and cultural corpus.

However, There are no sufficient and efficient courses of teaching Arabic as a foreign language available for the increasing need to learn Arabic in the world. Most of the available courses do not consider the hierarchical system of the language and levels of difficulty. In addition, the available courses are not designed for Arabic for specific purposes and for the learners' specific needs. Recent research in modern Applied linguistics and theories of foreign language learning and teaching are not clearly taken into consideration in the most of the available courses. Thus we have found that most learners of Arabic were failure, mainly because of the defective courses and methods applied to teach the language rather than because of the learner himself. In addition, the lack of teachable environment, educational facilities and various technical teaching illustrations in our country of residence were among the hindrances that stand against the efficient teaching and promising learning.

OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES
In a trial to handle this problem scientifically, we've adopted a communicative teaching approach using interactional method to achieve the teaching objectives through authentic situational and linguistic sources, focusing mainly on language in use and meaningful situations.
During the years of my teaching experiences with foreign learners, I felt an urgent need to put down and apply this new method and syllabus items to teach Arabic as a foreign language and for specific purposes trying to meet the needs and requirements of the religious learners as well as their linguistic, cultural and theological (ideological) background(s). The four following factors are crucial on the behalf of the students: these are readiness to learn Fus'ha Arabic, real interest, seriousness and patience (which is the key of success). Without ensuring these factors the module content or the teacher's methods is only one hand which is to clap with the student's hand.

ARABIC MODULE DESCRIPTION
The Arabic 3-level course for non-Arab Moslem students adopts an innovative and eclectic method in teaching Arabic as a foreign language to absolute beginners from a broad age range, by using a gradual, assimilative and communicative approach. It emphasizes the functional usage of Arabic in the language four skills: listening-comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. Authentic audio, video, and reading materials are presented from the beginning, and students are encouraged to be creative with the language in and out of class.

This course will contain most things an individual needs to learn the Arabic Language from complete beginner to advanced level Insha'Allah. It is provided with a comprehensive set of various lessons including extensive oral drills and written exercises, language games, and dialogue activities that will serve to reinforce the vocabulary, grammar and language skills which give students ample opportunity to put them into practice during and after they have exposed to and learned. This will enable them to build up confidence in comprehending, speaking, reading and writing Arabic.

The Arabic course for non-Arab speakers is being designed and revised many times, especially for WF Muballigheen Training Program, to meet the needs of non-Arab shia Moslem students who are to study Islamic knowledge and then to be Ulamaa (religious scholars) or muballigheen. It aims at teaching Arabic to Muslims with a goal of enabling an understanding of  Quran, Hadith and Islam, and being able to use the language in everyday life and daily cultural and educational situations.

The Arabic course consists of the following  modules which are taught in the three semesters:
Main General Arabic module (three levels: Basic, Intermediate & Advanced)
Listening & reading comprehension (two levels)
Dictation & composition (three levels)
Teaching Arabic by Hadith (Three levels of the major Sayings of the Prophet and his 12 Caliphs, three levels)
Arabic through Aqaid (Islamic theological terminology, basic expressions and principles)

COURSE MATERIALS
The major part of the course materials is the general Arabic textbook for non-Arabic Moslem speakers (4 volumes) designed for three levels (basic, intermediate & advanced). It was successfully applied three times for three years in real classroom situations. Crucial modifications, additions and revisions have been made recently for the MTP. In addition, Other specially designed textbooks have recently been available for the course such as Arabic listening & reading comprehension, Arabic Composition, Dictation and Arabic writing system, Hadith for Arabic, etc.
 
All materials used in this course will be periodically reviewed to ensure that they are appropriate for IIPS level instruction.

MODULE CONTENT
Lectures, class practice, tutorials and laboratories are dedicated to the development of receptive skills (listening and reading) and communicative skills (speaking and writing) at the three levels level.  Both receptive and communicative skills are to be enhanced by an increased emphasis on the reading of authentic materials in Arabic.  The topics are presented in an appropriate order and are reintroduced frequently throughout the practical hours as well as at homework assignments.  Given the fact that in the foreign language acquisition process, comprehension precedes production, more emphasis is placed on the development of receptive skills than of communicative skills and a higher level of competence will be expected in this area.  The basic structural and grammatical patterns necessary for effective communication are integrated throughout the content.
 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION
Methods of instruction used to achieve student learning outcomes may include, but are not limited to:

Presenting interactive classes in Arabic (this may include teacher-talk supplemented with various illustrative actions, pictures, gestures and sound effects) in order to increase students’ ability to comprehend the spoken language; reinforce targeted cultural, semantic, syntactical and morphological items; and guide students in the application of listening, reading, speaking and writing strategies

Showing/playing videos, interactive DVD’s, flash animation, power point presentations and selections taped from TV or the Internet in order to help students improve their ability to comprehend Arabic spoken at native speed; provide them with virtual access to Arabic communities, cultures and their products; stimulate discussion about Arabic life, culture and history; and encourage the expression of opinions. 

Presenting reading activities, which may include cultural selections and anecdotes, clear Hadith Sayings, narratives, authentic poems and stories, children's literature, Web articles and grammar explanations in order to  guide students in the application of reading strategies, help them draw logical conclusions from their reading materials and lead them in a sensitive comparison and contrast between the culture, history, current events and daily life of Arabic communities and their own.

Creating and assigning communicative activities such as post-reading activities, dialogues, descriptions, oral composition, conclusions and opinion statements, skits,  problem-solving puzzles, and other oral/aural communicative activities in order to help students practice receptive and productive strategies and skills in the context of the target language, vocabulary and grammar by using cultural, Islamic topics and familiar situations.

Developing and assigning writing activities, which may include creative in-class sentences, short descriptions, paragraphs, compositions, written exercises from workbook and textbook and cloze activities in order to aid students in mastering syntax, semantics and morphology, and to help them in writing well-structured compositions.

Providing and aiding students with computer-based language programs if they will.   Looking forward to developing and assigning online tasks such as written and oral discussion board postings; viewing of PowerPoint presentations; listening, viewing, reading and writing tasks; interactive vocabulary, grammar and culture games; participating in an interactive Arabic website forum in order to practice writing topics in Arabic, discussing matters related to their fields of study and sharing opinions with others especially their teachers, as this will reinforce targeted cultural, semantic, syntactical and morphological items; provide an opportunity for the practice of listening, reading and writing strategies and skills; and stimulate and guide oral and written interactive communication

METHODS OF EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT
Students will be evaluated for progress in the mastery of learning outcomes by methods of evaluation and assessment which may include, but are not limited to:

Oral reports/presentations/performances designed to evaluate students’ ability to express personal opinions on targeted cultural and personal topics

Participation in class discussions and activities designed to evaluate competency in and understanding of assigned material

Written assignments designed to assess progress in the ability to construct a composition that expresses a personal point of view.

Listening, reading and essay-type quizzes/examinations designed to evaluate student ability to understand and draw logical conclusions from conversations and authentic cultural materials on targeted topics

Student workbook and textbook assignments designed to evaluate student mastery of specific vocabulary, grammatical and cultural topics

Final examination designed to evaluate student learning outcomes and readiness for next level.

Arabic Module Coordinator