November 30, 2005

by Kassy Skoretz

Winter quarter the La Sierra University Modern Language Department will be offering beginning Arabic.  Since the Korean language teacher took a full time position elsewhere, the department wanted to be able to offer another non-European language to students.  They surveyed 230 students and the top non-European language of choice was Arabic.  

The Department has contracted Ayub Haroun to teach Arabic. He has an impressive repertoire and excellent references, says Lourdes Morales-Gudmundsson, La Sierra University Modern Languages chair and professor of Spanish.  Haroun’s last position was at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught Near East Studies.  He also taught the Arabic language, literature, and culture in Africa, Kuwait, and America and Hausa, an African language, at Stanford. 

“Words can give you a clearer picture than what you see with your eyes,” says Haroun.  “They let you see better than your own eyes.”

“Arabic is very relevant to us today,” said Morales-Gudmundsson of the choice. The class gives an opportunity for students to study more than the language.

“Modern Language teaching is not simply grammar and vocabulary,” says Morales-Gudmundsson. “It includes the culture where that language is spoken.  Students learn about the writers, religion, history and economy.  That is the most important reason for this class and others like it: to help students get insight into the thinking of the people through their language.” Haroun himself says that he hopes to bring a lot of fun to the class.  He plans on teaching culture as well as language. 

“Teaching language is like a cocktail, more than just one flavor,” asserts Haroun. It should include elements such as the literature, history, and other elements of culture.

Haroun was born in Ghana and lived there until he was 15. “We had to learn as much as 3 or 5 languages in Africa.  We survived by having the ability to speak or communicate in more languages,” says Haroun.

Being Muslim, he wished to learn Arabic.  So he moved to Kuwait and lived there for 24 years learning, teaching, and publishing both poems and news stories in Arabic.  He is currently studying for his doctorate in Arabic and Islamic Studies at UCLA.

Zulema Ibarra, sophomore, says, “I think it’s awesome; a great start to other languages.”  She believes we should teach more languages and varied, than the one’s we have now; languages like German, Italian, Portugese, Punjabi, or Russian.

“There are so many other languages students are interested in!” Ibarra declared.

Xousaen Helu, junior, is planning to take the class because as he says, “I want to know more about my Arabic heritage.”  He also thinks that the school should offer more languages.

Morales-Gudmundsson believes that Arabic is especially relevant for Americans with our heightened awareness of what’s happening in the Middle East.  Also important are Chinese and Korean.  An understanding of culture is crucial for us in this time. 

“We need a minimum of five students and I have a feeling that we’ll have a good group,” say Morales-Gudmundsson. “Eight to ten students to start.”  She feels that this class will attract second and/or third generation people from Arabic speaking families, like Helu. 

The zinger is that students will be able to take the class from beginner to the intermediate level and earn credit that will meet their language requirements.  It will be taught winter, spring, and fall quarters in 2006 and finish up in winter 2007. 

Although Morales-Gudmundsson acknowledges that at this time there is not enough funding for many more teachers in the Modern Language Departments, “in the future I want to see many languages taught here, and give students a lot of options.”