Marhaba (مرحبا)! Starting tomorrow, the Arabic Team at Transparent Language launches the MWF Initiative, a new (جديد) and fun (مرح) method to learn (تعلّم) Arabic (العربية) through our various social media outlets (وسائل الاعلام الاجتماعية). The MWF Initiative (مبادرة) is part of our continued commitment (التزام) and determination to reaching out to the Arabic Community and all Arabic lovers at any stage of the learning process through various means of communication (وسائل الاتصال). As I promised you last year, and specifically my 2^nd resolution was to invite you all to interact more and more and practice (ممارسة) with others through our different social media outlets.

What exactly is the MWF Initiative and how can you make use of it to improve (تحسين) your learning of Arabic?

The MWF Initiative consists of three activities (أنشطة) that take place; yes you guessed it, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. We call the activity on Mondays as ‘Musical Mondays.’ On each and every Monday, we will share a YouTube video or a song by an artist from the Arab World (العالم العربي). We will try to make sure that these videos have English subtitles. The purpose of this first activity is to introduce you to different Arab music artists, but also to allow you to practice, listen and learn from these videos. Music is an essential medium of cultural (ثقافة) and visual (مرئي) expression for many in the Arab world and ‘Musical Mondays’ will introduce you to this cultural and artistic world.

We call the second activity ‘Wordy Wednesdays.’ On each and every Wednesday, we will pose a simple question (سؤال سهل) and ask everyone to answer it; yes you guessed it again, in Arabic. Given the fact that many of you feel that there are limited opportunities on the internet to engage with Arabic speakers, we feel that ‘Wordy Wednesday’ will allow you to answer simple questions and in a way allow you to learn and practice with people that share your concerns in the learning process. We will pose a question and allow you a couple of hours to answer it properly. We can also share an important news article (مقالة) and ask you to write a few words in Arabic about the shared piece. We can even choose to share a picture (صورة) of an important landmark in the Arab World and then ask you whether you know what it is or where it is located (تقع).

We call the third activity ‘the Friday Escape.’ On each and every Friday, we will share one photo from somewhere in the Arab World. It could be of ruins, beautiful scenery, places of worship (مكان للعبادة), humor (فكاهة)/fun facts, historical pictures that involve Western/Eastern personalities in the Arab World or anything that we find interesting and suitable for this activity. The purpose of this third activity is to expose you to different places, cities and landmarks in the Arab World to give you a better visual sense of these countries and their customs and cultural or religious traditions (التقاليد الدينية). ‘The Friday Escape’ will make you feel closer to these different places and will hopefully make you feel more motivated to learn Arabic and hopefully someday visit (زيارة) and see these beautiful places and cities with your own eyes!

The second fundamental question: how can you make use of this new MWF Initiative?

First, you need to make sure that you follow and like the Arabic Facebook Page to be able to see these activities and be able to engage with the administrators of the page and other Arabic lovers. Second, you need to make sure that you follow the Arabic Page on Twitter. We will post all three activities on these different social media outlets. Third, you need to follow the Arabic Language Blog on Transparent Language, where you are able to read our posts, make use of different reading/comprehension (القراءة والفهم) exercises, learn about new personalities in the Arab World and play exciting crossword puzzles (كلمات متقاطعة) and games.

In a nutshell, the MWF Initiative is a new and innovative (مبتكرة) fun way for you to learn Arabic and make use of the many resources Transparent Language offers to our Arabic Community. The MWF Initiative is part of the many important and interesting educational (تربوي) resources offered by Transparent Language to invite you to learn Arabic. Make sure you make the most of it! See you tomorrow with the launching of this new MWF Initiative.

Stay tuned for these activities and upcoming posts.

Have a nice day!

نهاركم سعيد