Archive by Author
Listening, 1 minute News Posted by aziza on Nov 26, 2017
In this post, I present a very brief and interesting listening comprehension exercise. The news report below summarizes the day news in just one minute. Listen to the news headlines and answer the questions that follow. Use the vocabulary list at the end to help with your comprehension. Answer the following questions in…
Plural or singular? Posted by aziza on Nov 24, 2017
Some English words are always plural, e.g. trousers, jeans, socks, scissors, tweezers, glasses, spectacles, among others. When translating these words into Arabic, we have singular nouns, e.g. trousers = سروال / بنطال هذا السروال قصير جداً. These trousers are very short. jeans = جينز هل هذا الجينز جديد؟ Are these jeans new? socks = جورب…
To my mother Posted by aziza on Oct 13, 2017
In my previous post, I wrote the story of the poem “To my Mother”, originally “A Poem of Apology” by Mahmoud Darwish, and in this post, I present the translation of the poem and the song with English subtitles. أحن إلى خبز أمي وقهوة أمي ولمسة أمي وتكبر في الطفولة يوماً على صدر يومِ وأعشق…
The story of a poem Posted by aziza on Oct 8, 2017
This post tells the story of a very famous poem by the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, called ‘To My Mother’ (إلى أمي). It was originally called an apology to my mother. Mahmoud Darwish tells that he had 3 brothers and 3 sisters, and he was the middle son. When older siblings are given duties, he was…
Kirkuk and Kurdish Independence1 Posted by aziza on Sep 25, 2017
This post presents the transcription of the news story and the answers of the comprehension questions presented earlier. Transcription: انتشار أعلام كردستان في مدينة كركوك قد يفهم على أنه تحدٍ كردي لبغداد التي تتهم الأكراد بمحاولة الاستحواذ على هذه المدينة الغنية بالنفط من خلال ضمها للمدن الكردية التي ستشارك في استفتاء الاستقلال. الخلافات بين الحكومة…
Kirkuk and Kurdish Independence Posted by aziza on Sep 24, 2017
This post deals with a very important event in the Middle East nowadays which is Iraqi Kurdistan independence vote. This story relates to the attitude in the city of Kirkuk towards this vote. Please listen to the first minute and answer the questions that follow. The word list at the end can help. كيف يفهم…
Chicken Shawarma Posted by aziza on Sep 22, 2017
Hello everyone! In this post, I present my best recipe for chicken shawarma. It is from Chef Ahmed’s YouTube channel. I have tried it numerous times and I absolutely love it. It is very easy and works all the time. If you don’t have all the spices, don’t worry! Use the ones you have! If you…