University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

SILMW 2016 - Arabic 405

Instructor: Hicham Zemmahi
Office: 4107 FLB
Office Hours: TW 11-12pm
& By appointment.
E-mail: zemmahi2@illinois.edu

Class Time: 9:00-10:50 MTWR

12:00-1:50 MTWR
Classroom: G24 MWTR
G52 W 12-2pm

Arab 405 aims at developing students proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic from
high intermediate to low-advanced level in accordance with ACTFL proficiency guidelines.
Refer to the website of the 2012 ACTFL proficiency guidelines for more information.
I.

Objectives:
At the end of the semester, students should be able to perform the following tasks:
Read non-technical texts and understand conventional narratives and
descriptive texts of any length as well as more complex factual material,
Initiate and sustain conversations with substantial flow
Successfully handle linguistic challenges presented by a complication or
unexpected turns of events
Understand lectures on non-technical familiar topics,
Writing to narrate and describe with detail in all time frames.
Provide information, spoken and written, about different figures and ideas in
the Arabic culture.
Recognize and provide the main grammatical structures of Modern Standard
Arabic.

II.

Textbooks:
The following textbooks will be used in this class:
Brustad et al. (2006). Al-Kitaab fii Taallum al-Arabiyya: A Textbook for
Arabic, Part II. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Second
Edition.
An Arabic-English, English-Arabic dictionary (e.g. Al-Mawrid, by Munir
Baalbaki).

III.

Course Requirements:

Classroom participation and attendance: Attendance and class participation

contribute towards 15% of the students final grade. Therefore, students are
HIGHLY urged to be in class on time and not to miss classes except in cases of
illness, family emergency, and things of that nature. Students coming 15 minutes
1

late either in the morning or afternoon session will be considered absent.

According to the attendance policy of this course, students are allowed three
undocumented absences per semester (three hours). However, after the third
absence, one percentage point will be deducted from your grade for every
undocumented absence. Each hour is of missed class instruction counts as
absence. Students must provide legitimate documentation (such as a note from
McKinley or a letter from the Deans office)

Homework: Students are required to do their homework at home before coming

to class, and if they miss class, it is their responsibility to contact their classmates
to know if any homework has been assigned. All assigned homework will be
collected on its due date and will be graded. I will give feedback but not give full
credit for late homework.

Quizzes: There will be at least a test and a quiz every week. Expect a test at the
end of every lesson as well as vocabulary quizzes. Any missed quizzes will not
be made up unless legitimate documentation has been provided to justify the
absence, and the instructor has approved that the missed quiz be made up.

Feedback: Students are expected to write a self-evaluation paper and submit it

at the end of the second week of the semester to reflect on their development with
the language. The paper will be in English and students will use a document that
lists the standards for advanced students

Portfolio: Students are expected to keep and maintain a webpage that will
contain all the homework assigned to be done and submitted electronically. Like
video skits, audio recordings, article summaries, writing assignments (blog
posts), article discussions and commentaries..etc. Instructions on how to set up
the webpage and add content to it will be explained in class. This webpage will
show your abilities and skills in speaking, listening, writing as well as reading.

Oral Presentation: Students are expected to give a 5-to-10-minute oral

presentation on a topic agreed upon with the instructor to the rest of the class,
followed by a section of questions and answers from your classmates. Each
student will be required to ask one question. Students have to submit a topic and
an outline of the presentation in the third week of class. Students will be evaluated
based on their fluency, accuracy, width of vocabulary, and organization. Valid
university excuse is required for a make-up presentation.

Midterm and Final Exams: Both the midterm and the final exams are
cumulative, that is, they cover all material in the textbook (and related material)
up to the time when the test is taken. Therefore, students are advised to study
from the beginning of the course and not to procrastinate. Valid university excuse

is required for make-up. We have one Midterm exam and one Final Exam for
Arabic 405. The dates for these exams are indicated below.

IV.

Co-Curricular activities: Unlike regular foreign/second language courses

taught at UIUC, SILMW offers its students a unique opportunity to immerse into
Arabic by organizing a variety of co-curricular community-building, languageoriented, and cultural activities offered daily. You are required to attend the
minimum of 5 (five) of these activities per SILMW course. Attending each one
activity will contribute 1% to your cumulative course grade. You may earn up to
5% extra-credit for any SILMW course by attending up to 5 (five) additional cocurricular activities. We strongly encourage our students to attend all cocurricular events listed in the SILMW calendar to receive additional target
language input & practice, and learn about the culture and history of the peoples
speaking that language.

V. Grade Breakdown:
The students final grade will be the culmination of their grades on all class
requirements (see above). The students final grade will be calculated as follows:

Attendance and class participation

Homework/Portfolio
Quizzes/Tests
Co-Curricular activities
Oral Presentation
Midterm Exam
Final Exam

15%
20%
15%
5%
10%
15%
20%
Total 100%

V.

Grading Scale:
This course will be graded based on the following scale:

A+= 97-100%

A= 93-96%

A-= 90-92%

B+= 87-89%

B= 83-86%

B-= 80-82%

C+= 77-79%

C= 73-76%

C-= 70-72%

D+= 67-69%

D= 63-66%

D-= 60-62%

F= below 60
VI.

Syllabus: Note that the exact readings and assignments in the syllabus are not
stated due to the inherent flexibility of the language classroom.

Week 1

Lesson 1-Lesson 2

Week 2

Lesson 2 continued- Lesson 3

Week3

Lesson 3 continued Lesson 4

Week 4

Lesson 5

Midterm (June 23rd)

Final (July 7th)

XI. Academic Conduct:

Students are required to abide by the Universitys rules for academic conduct outlined in the
Student Code.
It is expected and required of the students to:
respect fellow students and the instructor.
refrain from making fun of or degrading fellow students, or in any way being an
impediment to the learning process.
listen politely when others are speaking and respect their opinions. All interaction
in class should be conducted in a respectful manner.
refrain from disruptive behavior and activities (such as talking out of turn or using
cell phones).

X.

Disability Services:
Students needing accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact
the instructor to arrange an appointment as soon as possible to discuss course
format, special needs, and potential accommodations. The Office of Disability
Services will assist in versifying needs and advise on accommodation strategies.