Dear Deb,

With recognition to all your highly appreciated efforts to teach your Arabic speaking students at the ELI the 'phonics-type work (both decoding and pronunciation) and corresponding "rules" and the use of reductions and linking in pronunciation' ,I think I have a suggestion to make in order to help solve their problem and yours.

In "our" educational system, as far as I remember as a child, we started learning English the hard way: students look at the written words and repeat after the teacher chorally and then individually. Then students are asked to write the words in their note books several times_ maybe 10 lines each word. The teacher checks the homework assignments next class and makes sure everyone has done theirs alright. Illustrations may go hand in hand with the written form of the words so that students connect them and draw their image in their minds. To the best of my recollection, my teachers had a funny way of pronunciation so that most of the students mocked them and even mimed the way they uttered sounds. No tape recorders or players were in "our" class rooms then.

Nowadays, most, if not all, of our class rooms are well equipped with videos, TVs and cassette/CD players. So there's a better chance for "our" students today to learn foreign languages_ English if you will, than ever before. However, what I can see in my classes as of today, is that my students know exactly how to read and write the spelling of so many words_ God knows how many, but they can't pronounce them properly nor can they use the 'reductions and linking in pronunciation' .

I can give you a very good example of this two classes I started giving right after I got back home from the States_ they're ACCESS Program students at the age of 16 = 11th graders. They actually started some 10 months ago with their American teacher from the AMIDEAST office in Damascus. They have been doing True Colors syllabus Levels: 3 and 4. They are chosen students and good at English, too. But guess what! Even though they have developped their listening skill remarkably, they can not "say" acceptably what they read and they can not repeat after the recording unless they follow in their books and read literally_ word by word. Mind you, they spell words perfectly! I couldn't pick any spelling mistakes in their written exams.
SYRIAN STUDENTS, huhh?! I'm just kidding!!!!

Have I ever made my point? Have I ever been helpful to you in this respect? I do hope so!!!

By the way, I haven't heard from you about the evaluation of my presentation in our last day conference at the UD. I blew it didn't I? I'm terribly sorry if I ever did.

Kind regards,

En'am

The song of the month
Ramadan

Age: 14 and up
Level: Elementary up
Time: 20 – 25 minutes
Focus: Listening, feeling the rhyme in a song and practice some religious vocabulary
Material: Photocopies of the song, cassette or CD player.


Preparation:
1- Make photocopies of the song.
2- Download the song from the following website:

www.nancymusic.com/Ramadan.htm

Procedure:
1- Ask students to look at the song and focus on the pictures. Let them guess what the song is about.
2- Ask them to work in pairs, read the first part of the song and try to figure out the missed words.
3- Listen and check.
4- They listen to the second part of the song and write down the dropped out words.
5- Listen and check again.
6- Complete listening to the song and checking.
7- Listen again to the whole song and motivate them to sing with you.

Tips:
1- Before starting step 2 in the procedure remind them to think about the meaning and the rhyme at the same time.
2- Notice that the previous tip rhymes, so say it loudly and exaggerate the rhyme.
3- They can easily figure out the words because they know the topic of the song. Even if they get the words in Arabic first, they will never forget the meaning in English later.


Here is the song. You can print and make as many photocopies as you need. May be it is better to print it on the web itself because I couldn't download all the pictures and maybe you would like to drop out different words.
I hope you will enjoy it with your students.

Ramadan

by Nancy Stewart copyright 2001

I have a ................., his name is Omar

His family celebrates Ramadan

The ninth ................. of the lunar year

His family ..................... Ramadan

Chorus:

Ramadan , Ramadan

His family celebrates Ramadan

Every morning they get up

And have a big meal before the ...................

Then they don’t eat, and they don’t ...................,

They fast until the dark of night

(chorus)

I have a friend, her name is Ameena

Her family celebrates Ramadan

We go to school together and ................,

Ameena ................ five times a day, during

(chorus)

On the first day of the month that follows Ramadan

Their families ................... us to the feast that they put on Celebrating

(chorus)

Ramadan Mubarak (have a blessed Ramadan) Ramadan

Dear Colleagues,
Thank God for giving us this chance to meet in so wonderful conditions.May God bless all those who helped and participated to make it a bright point in our hearts.
Ramadan Kareem to all of you . I miss you all so much,our friends in Syria,Jordan and Delaware.
I have been trying to email you on the group site but everytime I got a message from yahoo that they couln't convey my message.I don't know why, although I sent Haddel a respond to her email after that and it got through.Now Iam copying my last email again which I tried to send maybe on September 27 or so because I really want to share this with you.
I'd like to tell you about one of the activities we did in our center which was so interesting and a lot of fun for the students and the teachers.
We gad three classes of the same age with three different teachers.They were all tenth grade students.
For the first class ,the teacher went out with some of them and took different pictures of them in the stores,on the steert ,in the street market ,and around.Then every group took a picture in order to create a suitable conversation to go with it.They typed their work and prepared big copies of the pictures.Some of the students chose to write paragraphes telling stories about the pictures.
The second class surfed the net to collect information about their favorite sports or athletes.They typed the information with big pictures of the sports and athletes.
The third class made their own jewelry.They used beans,seeds,dried plants and things like that.Then each group wrote about the materials they used and how they made the jewelry .
Now,in the hall ,we have a wonderful exhibit of what these classes prepared.And we ask other classes to go around in the break and have a look at the exhibit.Then in class ,they discuss what they think about it.
It is so enjoyable for the students .I hope you will find it useful.
Best regards,
Balqees
PS Deb,I was so excited when I read your email .Thanks for sharing more of your experience with us.