MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAN LANGUAGES PROGRAM

Spring 2024 Class Schedule

Course Descriptions

 ARABIC 111-3: First-Year Arabic
First-Year Arabic, Arabic 111, is a three-quarter sequence providing a thorough grounding for listening, speaking, reading, and writing Arabic. The course follows the integrated approach which blends the standard Arabic, Fuṣḥā, and the dialect or colloquial language, āmmiyya, in a way that reflects the authentic practice of native Arabic speakers. To develop reading and writing skills we will be using Modern Standard Written Arabic called Fuṣḥā; to develop speaking and listening skills we will be using an educated spoken version of the āmmiyya of the Levantine dialect. First-Year Arabic uses a communicative, proficiency-oriented approach with fully integrated audiovisual media to teach modern Arabic as a living language. Instructors will use an interactive approach in the classroom, including conversational practice in class, reading practice, interactive small group exercises and cultural presentations.

Class Materials (Required): Arabiyyat al-Naas Part One, Second Edition: An Introductory Course in Arabic. Younes, Weatherspoon, Foster. (2023) Publisher: Routledge. Arabic 111-3 will cover Units 8-14 (tentative).

ARABIC 121-3: Second-Year Arabic
Second-year Arabic will focus on the integrated approach which blends the standard Arabic, Fuṣḥā, and the dialect or colloquial language, āmmiyya, in a way that reflects the authentic practice of native Arabic speakers. We will develop reading and writing skills using Modern Standard Arabic and speaking and listening skills using an educated spoken version of the āmmiyya of the Levantine dialect. The integrated approach successfully teaches the reality of the Arabic sociolinguistic and diglossic situation and prepares students fully for the various settings and contexts of the Arab world. We will start with Arabiyyat al-Naas (Part Two) focusing on culture, history, and useful vocabulary and phrases to communicate in real life context. Different media tools will be used such as games, crosswords, songs, movies, interviews, and documentaries about the Arab world culture and history. Second year Arabic uses a communicative, proficiency-oriented approach.

Class Materials (required): Arabiyyat al-Naas Part Two, Second Edition: An Intermediate Course in Arabic. Younes; Al-Masri. (2022) Publisher: Routledge. Units 1,2,3,4

ARABIC 211-2: Third-Year Arabic
This is an intermediate level course in which students will continue to advance their proficiency in Arabic language and learn more about the culture and people of the Middle East. The course continues to follow the integrated approach, which successfully teaches the complexities of the Arabic sociolinguistic and diglossic situation and prepares students fully for the realities of the Arabic world. The course will enhance learners' ability to read, write, understand, and discuss challenging authentic Arabic texts from different sources. This is a highly interactive class, focusing on developing reading, writing and speaking skills in MSA. Special emphasis will be placed on listening skills as well as developing conversational skills through small interactive group work designed to increase accuracy and fluency. Advanced challenging grammar discussions in class will lead to a more nuanced understanding of the Arabic language.

Class Materials (required): Arabiyyat al-Naas Part Two, Second Edition: An Intermediate Course in Arabic. Younes; Al-Masri. (2022) Publisher: Routledge. Units 9,10,11,12

Hebrew 111-3: First-Year Hebrew
The three-quarter first-year course in Hebrew is designed to develop all four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading comprehension) as well as provide a cultural foundation. The course is based on Hebrew From Scratch, a comprehensive textbook with grammar and interactive exercises for the beginning adult learner. The instructions for the exercises as well as the translations of the vocabulary lists are in English. Otherwise, the course is taught in Hebrew, creating an important immersive environment for the students throughout the year. Hebrew 111-3, taught in the Spring Quarter, builds on material learned in the first two quarters.  New words and structures will be integrated into short texts and lively conversations which are part of the wider context of Israeli culture.  As always, students will have ample opportunities to practice and expand all skills. 

Class Materials: Hebrew From Scratch Part 1 (in Hebrew: Ivrit Min Ha-Hatchala Ha-Chadash Alef) Written by: Shlomit Chayat, Sarah Israeli, Hila Kobliner Printed by Akademon Press through Magnes Press, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 2012. Please note that the required text has a blue and yellow cover, and students should NOT use the older version which has a green and yellow cover.

Hebrew 121-3: Second-Year Hebrew
Second-year Hebrew is a three-quarter sequence covering comprehensive grammar explanations and examples as well as cultural themes. The purpose of this course is to enlarge the students' vocabulary, and to reinforce and expand their knowledge of Hebrew grammar, as well as to deepen their knowledge of Israeli culture. Class will consist of interactive exercises for the intermediate learner, readings of a level-appropriate difficulty with more information on Israeli daily life and reality and listening to songs and viewing clips in Hebrew. We will expand our knowledge to develop our self-expression to include writing and conversations about family and childhood (prepare your pictures!), everyday situations like visit at the doctor, volunteering in organizations, about the Jerusalemite Zoo. As always, grammar and new vocabulary will be woven into the content. 

Class Materials: Hebrew From Scratch Part 1 (in Hebrew: Ivrit Min Ha-Hatchala Ha-Chadash Alef) Written by: Shlomit Chayat, Sarah Israeli, Hila Kobliner Printed by Akademon Press through Magnes Press, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 2012. Please note that the required text has a blue and yellow cover, and students should NOT use the older version which has a green and yellow cover.

Hebrew 216-3: Topics in Hebrew Literature: The Four-Dimensional Jerusalem
In this course, students will gain a deeper understanding of some of the complexities of Israeli culture through the specific example of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world and she saw many victories and downfalls before her eyes. She is the subject of writing for poets and storytellers, Jews and non-Jews alike, and she is often the setting for many films and TV series that were produced in Israel. Jerusalem is immensely diverse, encompassing ultra-orthodox Jews next to secular Jews, Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardi ones, and Jews and Arabs. In this class we will get a glimpse of these sectors as they are portrayed in literary and visual art. We will read poems by Yehuda Amichai (the poet who lived and died in Jerusalem and wrote about and to Jerusalem throughout his entire life) and a short story that takes place in the Mahane Yehuda’s Market and portrays the fragile relationship between the various groups in Jerusalem. We will watch clips from a dance project that brings to life love stories that took place in Jerusalem and we will speak with Miriam Engel, the artist who created this project. We will learn about the complex relationship between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem, the volatile situations and the unique projects of social organizations that strive to promote understanding and co-existence. We will also learn about the history of Jerusalem and how this history affects the current intricacies of this unique city. 

Turkish 111-2: First-Year Turkish through TV Shows
This course provides a unique introduction to the modern Turkish language and culture through highly interactive TV shows.  TV shows reach 750 million people across 152 countries, and Turkey is second only to the US in worldwide TV distribution, with huge audiences in Russia, China, Korea, the Middle East, and Latin America. Turkish is becoming the language of global entertainment. In this first quarter, students will immerse themselves in the TV characters' personal stories and everyday realities of life in Istanbul. The highly interactive TV storylines offer ample opportunities to listen to and practice pronunciation,  internalize basic vocabulary and polite phrases, as well as learn about verb tenses and moods for more complicated language tasks. The class uses a communicative approach, meaning that group work and language production are emphasized in class.  

Class Materials (Required): Elementary Turkish: A Complete Course for Beginners. Revised Third Edition (2015). Kurtuluş Öztopçu. Kebikeç-Yayınları Sanat Kitabevi. Please purchase the print book, not the e-book. Additional materials will be provided by the instructor.

The third quarter (Turkish 111-3) will be offered in Fall 2024.  By the end of the third quarter, students will be able to use all common grammatical structures and engage comfortably with other Turkish speakers on a variety of everyday topics. Turkish is used in class whenever possible, and by the third quarter, it becomes the primary language of instruction.

Jewish Studies 279-0-1: Yiddish, Our Setting Sun: Yiddish Literature and Culture in the 20^th Century
Yiddish, which was developed in the Middle Ages as a Judeo-German language, became the language which most Jews had spoken in Eastern and Western Europe until the Second World War. We will begin the class with learning about the origins of Yiddish and its development into becoming the most widespread Jewish language in Europe. We will then fast forward to the 18th and 19th centuries and the era of secularization among Jewish communities, where Western European Jews saw Yiddish as a degraded language while among Eastern European Jews Yiddish became a language of bursting literary expression and flourishing literature. Persecution, poverty, the dissolution of becoming part of intellectual Europe, and Zionist ideology were all reasons for many young Jewish people to immigrate to the US and Palestine in the first decades of 20th century. While Jewish immigrants in the United States sought connections to Yiddish and clinged to it as a remnant of their old world, Yiddish was rejected in Palestine (and later in Israel) as representing the "old and weak Jew" and threatening the status of Hebrew. We will examine the texts of major Yiddish writers from the beginning of the 20th century in the literary centers of Yiddish at the time; Eastern Europe, United States, and Palestine. An important part in our class will be the geographical move of Yiddish from its "natural" habitat of Eastern Europe to the US and Palestine, and the element of loss and grief which was strongly present in the writing of Yiddish poets and authors, during the upheavals in Europe in the two World Wars, and especially after the Holocaust. Class materials will be comprised of articles and book chapters to provide the historical, cultural, and political context of the eras we will discuss, and of essays, short stories, and poems translated from Yiddish to English. No previous knowledge of Yiddish or of Yiddish culture or history is required. All course materials will be in English, as well as the lectures and class discussions.

MENA 290-6-1: Women in Turkish Popular Culture
When we think of popular culture, we think of film, music, television, sports and fashion, among other things. But popular culture is never solely an amusement or diversion. Although entertainment is ostensibly the main purpose of popular culture, through the consumption of this ‘entertainment,' popular culture also shapes individual and societal values and beliefs. In this course, we will examine representations of women in Turkish popular culture and how popular culture generates and articulates understandings of gender and sexuality in contemporary Turkey and beyond. We will also focus on how these representations affect gender roles and expectations. We will consider how differences in identity, class, race, and sexuality may shift the way women are represented and even valued within popular culture. Through critical readings and discussions, we will also explore how women interact with these representations and create their own representations and counter narratives in response. We will study a variety of media, including film, television, music, sports, and social media from the last two decades of Turkish history, to examine popular portrayals of women and what they tell us about women's roles and related tensions and anxieties played out in popular culture. In addition to case materials, we will also read general theoretical works on women, gender, and popular culture from anthropology, gender studies, and media and cultural studies.