Arabic B at Deira International School
Our curriculum/framework is based on The Ministry of Education’s framework for learning Arabic as an additional language and it focuses on enabling non-Arabic speakers who are learning Arabic to communicate in real life situations. It is based on international principles and expectations applied in the teaching of foreign languages to non-native speakers. The framework is also adapted to meet the UAE’s aspirations in the teaching and learning of Arabic in a manner that suits the learners’ capabilities and their learning environment. This framework illustrates the levels expected to be achieved by the learner in each of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing).
Curriculum Intention
Students will learn about the daily routine, shopping and careers.
1. Students are taught how to use the vocabulary learnt to talk about their daily routine, shopping and careers with accurate pronunciation.
2. Students are taught how to read short texts related to time, daily routine, shopping and careers and identify main ideas and some details.
3. Students are taught how to write sentences and short paragraphs describing their daily routine, a shopping experience and what they want to be in the future with some details.
Students will be able to discuss their daily routine, talk about their favourite shop and their future profession and be able to use the vocabulary in real life settings. Year 7 students will be able to use this beyond their classroom and have dialogues with native speakers and are able to give basic information about themselves, their interests and what they would like to be in the future.
Year 7 students will focus on the below IB learners’ profiles through their Arabic B lessons:
1. Reflective: through various self-assessments, end of topic and summative assessment reflection forms.
2. Communicator: through the various speaking tasks and dialogues.
3. Open minded: having a positive attitude towards the language and the cultural differences.
Curriculum Implementation
The Arabic B curriculum is designed to enable students to be open minded citizens that appreciate the language and its culture, it also allows students to communicate effectively through the various discussions, tasks and activities. Students do take risks and work collaboratively to explore new strategies and various ideas.
The curriculum is implemented through:
1. Well planned lessons that cater for all abilities, years of study and learning styles.
2. Interactive and engaging lessons encourage students to use the target language in a non-threatening
3. A thematic/ topic-based approach.
4. Each topic is linked to real-life scenarios that give learning Arabic a purpose and a
5. Lessons with a variety of teaching strategies such as game-based learning, students centered approach, collaborative strategies as well as many opportunities for flipped learning.
Assessment
Summative Assessments
At the end of term 1 and term 3, Y7 students will be assessed on all 4 skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing. In term 2 they will be assessed on the reading and writing skills only.
Listening: The assessment will include a range of listening comprehension questions that students will answer while or after listening to the audio. It will be multiple choice, true or false or long answers.
Speaking: The assessment includes visuals students have to describe or talk about as well as answer questions posed by their teachers and/or take part in dialogue and record it.
Reading: The assessment will include a range of reading comprehension questions that students will answer after reading a text related to their topic.
Writing: This assessment evaluates students writing skills and it ranges from describing a picture, using vocabulary words in sentences to writing longer texts using a set criterion.
Formative Assessments
1. Diagnostic Assessment
2. Peer Assessment
3. Self-Assessment
4. Kahoot& Word Wall
5. Ipsative Assessment (Progress Monitoring)
6. Closure Assessment
Wider Curriculum
After School Clubs: Every term, a wide of Arabic B related clubs will be offered such as cooking club, social Arabic football club, reading club.
Curriculum related Competitions & events: Students will take part in department based/ house competitions and events such as National Day, Readathon and Spelling Bee. Student successes will be celebrated via social media and Star of the month display board.
Curriculum Impact
1. Students will be able to use the vocabulary learnt to talk about their daily
2. Students will be able to shop using Arabic words with accurate pronunciation.
3. Students will be able to determine
4. Students will be able to describe their daily routine.
5. Students will be able to read short texts about careers and identify main ideas and some details.
6. Students will be able to write sentences and short paragraphs describing their daily routine, a shopping experience and what they want to be in the future with some details.
7. Students will be able to discuss their daily routine, talk about their favourite shop and their future profession and be able to use the vocabulary in real life settings.
Curriculum Intention
Students will learn about food, holidays, famous people and technology.
1. Students are taught how to use the vocabulary learnt to talk about their favourite food and holiday, a famous person they would like to meet and technology with accuracy in pronunciation.
2. Students are taught how to read and understand longer texts related to food, holidays and tourism and technology, they will analyze the text to identify the general ideas and details.
3. Students are taught how to write sentences and a short paragraph describing what they eat during their day, a country they have visited and advantages and disadvantages of technology.
Students will be able to have a dialogue with an Arabic speaker discussing their favourite food, a trip they have made to their destination of choice and discuss and give their opinion on the use of technology in real life scenarios. Year 8 students will be able to use this beyond DIS when they discuss their food preferences and the difference between cultures and cuisines as well as when they become acquainted with famous influential people in the Arab world.
Year 8 students will focus on the below IB learners’ profiles through their Arabic B lessons:
1. Reflective: through various self-assessments, end of topic and summative assessment reflection forms.
2. Communicator: through the various speaking tasks and dialogues.
3. Open minded: having a positive attitude towards the language and the cultural differences.
Curriculum Implementation
The Arabic B curriculum is designed to enable students to be open minded citizens that appreciate the language and its culture, it also allows students to communicate effectively through the various discussions, tasks and activities. Students do take risks and work collaboratively to explore new strategies and various ideas.
The curriculum is implemented through:
1. Well planned lessons that cater for all abilities, years of study and learning styles.
2. Interactive and engaging lessons that encourage students to use the target language in a non- threatening environment.
3. A thematic/ topic-based approach.
4. Each topic is linked to real-life scenarios that give learning Arabic a purpose and a motive.
5. Lessons with a variety of teaching strategies such as game-based learning, students centered approach, collaborative strategies as well as many opportunities for flipped learning.
Assessment
Summative Assessments
At the end of term 1 and term 3, Y8 students will be assessed on all 4 skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing. In term 2 they will be assessed on the reading and writing skills only.
Listening: The assessment will include a range of listening comprehension questions that students will answer while or after listening to the audio. It will be multiple choice, true or false or long answers.
Speaking: The assessment includes visuals students have to describe or talk about as well as answer questions posed by their teachers and/or take part in dialogue and record it.
Reading: The assessment will include a range of reading comprehension questions that students will answer after reading a text related to their topic.
Writing: This assessment evaluates students writing skills and it ranges from describing a picture, using vocabulary words in sentences to writing longer texts using a set criterion.
Formative Assessments
1. Diagnostic Assessment
2. Peer Assessment
3. Self-Assessment
4. Kahoot & Word Wall
5. Ipsative Assessment (Progress Monitoring)
6. Closure Assessment
Wider Curriculum
After School Clubs: Every term, a wide of Arabic B related clubs will be offered such as cooking club, social Arabic football club, reading club.
Curriculum related Competitions & events: Students will take part in department based/ house competitions and events such as National Day, Readathon and Spelling Bee. Student successes will be celebrated via social media and Star of the month display board.
Curriculum Impact
By the end of Year 8:
1. Students will be able to talk about their favourite food and holiday, a famous person they would like to meet with accuracy in pronunciation.
2. Students will be able to talk about technology and discuss advantages and disadvantages.
3. Students will be able to read and understand paragraphs related to food, holidays and tourism as well as technology.
4. Students will be able to analyze familiar texts to identify the general ideas and details.
5. Students will be able to utilize the vocabulary learnt in writing a paragraph about what they eat during their day, a country they have visited and advantages and disadvantages of technology.
6. Students will be able to discuss their favorite food, a trip they have made to their destination of choice and discuss and give their opinion on the use of technology in real life scenarios.
7. Students will be able to achieve the language skills criteria.
Curriculum Intention
Students will learn about travel, healthy lifestyle and hobbies.
1. Students are taught how to listen, understand and use the vocabulary learnt in different contexts to talk about their travel plans, a healthy lifestyle and their favourite hobby.
2. Students are taught how to read and understand texts related to travel and Transportation, they will analyse the text to identify the main ideas and answer comprehension questions related to the text.
3. Students are taught how to write a comparison about the weather in different countries and write a post card describing the weather in these countries.
Students will be able to listen to a weather forecast and to determine the state of the weather through that, as well as give advice on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and discuss benefits of having different hobbies. Year 9 students will be able to use their knowledge and understanding beyond DIS when they book for a trip and have conversations with hotel staff and discuss their lifestyle and hobbies with an Arabic speaker.
Year 9 students will focus on the below IB learners’ profiles through their Arabic B lessons:
1. Reflective: through various self-assessments, end of topic and summative assessment reflection forms.
2. Communicator: through the various speaking tasks and dialogues.
3. Open minded: having a positive attitude towards the language and the cultural differences.
Curriculum Implementation
Teaching Methods
The Arabic B curriculum is designed to enable students to be open minded citizens that appreciate the language and its culture, it also allows students to communicate effectively through the various discussions, tasks, and activities. Students do take risks and work collaboratively to explore new strategies and various ideas.
The curriculum is implemented through:
1. Well planned lessons that cater for all abilities, years of study and learning styles.
2. Interactive and engaging lessons that encourage students to use the target language in a non- threatening environment.
3. A thematic/ topic-based approach.
4. Each topic is linked to real-life scenarios that give learning Arabic a purpose and a motive.
5. Lessons with a variety of teaching strategies such as game-based learning, students centered approach, collaborative strategies as well as many opportunities for flipped learning.
Assessment
Summative Assessments
At the end of term 1 and term 3, Y9 students will be assessed on all 4 skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing. In term 2 they will be assessed on the reading and writing skills only.
Listening: The assessment will include a range of listening comprehension questions that students will answer while or after listening to the audio. It will be multiple choice, true or false or long answers.
Speaking: The assessment includes visuals students have to describe or talk about as well as answer questions posed by their teachers and/or take part in dialogue and record it.
Reading: The assessment will include a range of reading comprehension questions that students will answer after reading a text related to their topic.
Writing: This assessment evaluates students writing skills and it ranges from describing a picture, using vocabulary words in sentences to writing longer texts using a set criterion.
Formative Assessments
1. Diagnostic Assessment
2. Peer Assessment
3. Self-Assessment
4. Kahoot & Word Wall
5. Ipsative Assessment (Progress Monitoring)
6. Closure Assessment
Wider Curriculum
After School Clubs: Every term, a wide of Arabic B related clubs will be offered such as cooking club, social Arabic football club, reading club.
Curriculum related Competitions & events: Students will take part in department based/ house competitions and events such as National Day, Readathon and Spelling Bee. Student successes will be celebrated via social media and Star of the month display board.
Curriculum Impact
By the end of Year 9:
1. Students will be able to understand and use the vocabulary learnt in different contexts to talk about their travel plans, a healthy lifestyle and their favourite
2. Students will be able to read and understand texts related to travel and Transportation,
3. Students will be able to analyze the text to identify the main ideas and answer comprehension questions related to the text.
4. Students will be able to write a comparison about the weather in different countries and write a post card describing the weather in these countries.
5. Students will be able to determine the state of the weather through listening to a weather forecast, as well as give advice on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and discuss benefits of having different hobbies.
| THE LEARNING JOURNEY FOR ARABIC B | ||||
| Unit / Block of work | Key Episodes / Questions | Additional Detail | Length of time. | Learner Attribute(s) |
| Daily Routine | Actions in daily life | present tense | Term 1 | communicator |
| Regular activities done daily and in the weekend | time phrases | |||
| school timetable | connectives | |||
| Normal school day activities | ||||
| In your opinion, what is ‘an ideal day’? | opinion phrases | |||
| how are the daily routines in the Arab world different from the ones in your home country? | ||||
| Shopping | Main shopping centres in Dubai and their locations | present and past tense | Term 2 | Reflective |
| Description of the shopping centres | Compare and Contrast Vocabulary | |||
| Desrciption of the shopping experience | Convincing skills and language | |||
| Activities in the shopping centres | Debate skills and language | |||
| Online and traditional shopping | connectives | |||
| Dubai shopping festival | Dialogue | |||
| Special Activities during Dubail shopping festival | ||||
| the importance of such festivals | ||||
| Do you think that shopping festivals such as Dubai Shopping Festival are important? why? | ||||
| Holidays | Types of holidays | present tense | Term 3 | risk taker |
| Activities on different kinds of holidays | Time phrases | |||
| Activities in the weekends | past tense | |||
| Best activities to be done in Dubai during holidays | ||||
| things that I usually do with family or/and friends on holidays | Justification of opinion | |||
| How can I occupy my leisure time where it can provide entertainment and creativity? | short letters | |||
| A trip done during last holiday | ||||
| Do you watch movies/ TV in your holidays? | ||||
| What is your favourite movie? TV program? | ||||
| do you use a lot of social media during holidays? Why? | ||||
| In your opinion, are we better communicators today because of social media? Justify. | ||||
| THE LEARNING JOURNEY FOR ARABIC B | ||||
| Unit / Block of work | Key Episodes / Questions | Additional Detail | Length of time. | Learner Attribute(s) |
| Lifestyle-Food and Culture | What does healthy food mean? | facts | Term 1 | caring+ inquirer |
| What does unhealthy style mean? | present tense | |||
| the impact of healthy lifestyle on people | debate | |||
| The consequences of following unhealthy lifestyle ( fast food etc? | Justification of opinion | |||
| What does a healthy meal consist of? | dialogue | |||
| comparison between the healthy and unheathy food through an experience in a restaurant | question words | |||
| Does culture have influence on our choice of food? | ||||
| Celebrations and Events | religious celebrations ( Ramadan, Christmas, Eid Alfitr and AlAdha, etc | present tense | ||
| national celebrations (UAE national Day) | past tense | |||
| Personal celebrations ( birthdays and graduation,…) | future tense | |||
| what to include in an invitation card in different celebrations | Justification of opinion | |||
| what to include in a congratulation card in different celebrations | time phrases | |||
| traditions and activities done in each celebration | Articles | Term 2 | open-minded | |
| comparison between these celebrations and what you have in your countries in terms | ||||
| of clothes, food, etc | ||||
| Do you think that celebrations such as National Day, Mother’s Day, Eids are important? why? | ||||
| Travelling | Different kinds of transportation | |||
| currencies and flags | present, past and future tenses | Term 3 | Knowledgeable | |
| weather | connectives | |||
| the most popular places in the Arab world | question words | |||
| different attractions in the world | debate | |||
| plan for a trip | convincing words | |||
| in the airport | justification of opinion | |||
| in the hotel | time phrases | |||
| your experience in the hotel (good or bad) and how you reacted | how to write a postcard/ short messages | |||
| activities done in the trip | presentation skills | |||
| create a postcard and send a message to a friend or a family member | emails | |||
| Describe an experience that you have had when you have made a friendship during your travel. | ||||
| Describe that friend. | ||||
| Can we make new friends when travelling? How so? | ||||
| How travel can enrich my understanding of cultural diversity in the world? | ||||
| Is it important to travel to a certain country to know their people or are reading and watching documentary about them enough? | ||||
| THE LEARNING JOURNEY FOR ARABIC B | ||||
| Unit / Block of work | Key Episodes / Questions | Additional Detail | Length of time. | Learner Attribute(s) |
| Hobbies | Different types of hobbies | present tense | Term 1 | balanced |
| is sport considered as a hobby? | connectives | |||
| different kinds of sport | time phrases | |||
| your favourite hobby/ hobbies.. Why? | debate skills | |||
| your family members’ favourite hobbies | presentation skills | |||
| where/ when do you practise them? | ||||
| How do you develop your hobby? | ||||
| your role model’s hobby and how they develop it | ||||
| Sheikh Mohamed’s / Hamdan’s hobbies | ||||
| How could my hobby help me in the future? (profession, personal growth, etc…) | ||||
| Are some hobbies more important than others? Justify. | ||||
| (e.g. Is playing Handball more important than playing chess | ||||
| in terms of physical, psychological and social well-being?) | ||||
| Do parents intervene in choosing their children’s hobbies? Why? | ||||
| Jobs and Labour Market | different jobs | Term 2 | thinker | |
| your family members’ jobs | ||||
| Description of different jobs | ||||
| the most famous jobs in the world | ||||
| How to write your CV | ||||
| Job interviews | CVs | |||
| what are you going to be in future? Why? | interview skills | |||
| Is there an “ideal job”? Explain. | convincing essays | |||
| If you have a company, what are the characteristics you look for in an employee? | ||||
| Environment | Definition of ‘environment’ | Term 3 | knowledgable | |
| some environmental issues/ problems | Factual articles | |||
| some solutions to solve these issues | presnt tense | |||
| people’s responsibilities to protect environment | past tense | |||
| the best environmental campaign you have heard about | future tense | |||
| Enironmental Initiatives in your school | ||||
| How can you help protect environment starting from school initiatives? | ||||
| suggest some creative ideas to protect Dubai’s environment | ||||