Arabic Teaching

Today I enjoyed tutoring 8 Arabic students. Four of them are taking a beginning Arabic class that meets weekly on Monday afternoons at the Sally J. Griffin Center in Pacific Grove. The others meet in two pairs that meet weekly to learn in-depth Arabic grammar concepts. I try to present my lessons in an easy-to-follow, no-nonsense style that, hopefully, makes learning the language easier and more fun for my students.

Today was a great day in my teaching experience. The beginning language students (those who have never had any training in the language before meeting with me) were speaking in complete sentences for the first time. They were able to ask where their peers were from, to give answers in Arabic and finally to summarize what they had learned about their fellow students. The more experienced students, who are looking for a more complete grasp of and facility with grammatical concepts, were all "getting it" today. I love it when I can see that what I'm trying to do is working, especially in this field where I spent so much of my time feeling frustrated, confused, and hopeless.

Now I'm at a friend's house saying hello to the cat every once in a while when she peeks around the corner of the steps to greet me with a timid "Mrrrow!"