e-Arabic Learners Portal (eALP)

The e-Arabic Learning Portal and Support Programme (CASAW)

Read what our previous students and visitors say about the eArabic Learning Portal and and Support Programme

Feedback from anonymous visitors

• Mourad I really like what you’re doing for Arabic language, you can’t imagine what your site gave us as teachers who used to srugge finding the right materials for their classes. From A Job Like Mine | Interview with the “eLearning Age” Magazine,
• Ya ustaad Diouri shukran I hope this website will inspire my son to study more on his own! Thank you for your diligent efforts!
• Alhumdulilah! this website is amazing! shukran katheer Mourad!
• Salaam. Very impressive site, which must have taken a huge effort. Initial view is that 1. flashcards are very useful concept and implemented well (although would have like to be able to print out the vocab list, unless I missed how…) 2. Loads of info on site. Perhaps too much, or maybe needs more guidance. Maybe I prefer to be more sheeplike with learning on websites and require a shepherd?(!) . Altogether a very positive effort and I hope you manage to get high level support to further this on. شكرًا
• I just wanted to say, thank you so much for your website. It is so useful and has a lot of potential. As an independent learner of Arabic, I have found this website to be an asset to my learning especailly all the resouces you have given on one topic e.g. flashcards, podcasts, handouts etc really help in cementing the vocabulary in my head. I wish you all the success and I hope your resources are more widely marketed. They really give so much more than other websites. p.s. looking forward to more of what you have to offer! Thank you again for all your hardwork. I’ve told all my friends and family about your site.

Feedback from Zainab Kabba, Teachers College, Columbia University, NY, Oct 2008

• Assalaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Akh, Ustadh Mourad,
• Alhamdulillah, I’m very happy that I came across the eALP while searching for information regarding Arabic language learning and technology. When I saw the portal page, I was stunned and very excited. I just stared at the site for few seconds with a smile on my face. I’m sure my reaction sounds a bit ridiculous to you, but a lot of the parts of the portal (wiki section for students who want to study overseas, written by students, flashcards, podcasting, chat) are things that I had in mind to do for an Arabic site that I wanted to develop. (By the way I love the new elingua tandem portlet!) So needless to say I was very impressed. Interestingly enough, I always thought of everything separate in their own ‘place’ so to speak, but not really in cohesion like you have on the portal.

CASAW Student, University of Durham, 2007-2008

• I’d like to recommend an exciting new electronic resource for learning Arabic, e-arabic.com. This website combines various Arabic realia with comments and questions from students of Arabic, and most importantly has a growing directory of electronic flashcards, which are one of the best ways to absorb new vocabulary!
• e-Arabic.com is designed and run by Mourad Diouri, who is currently an e-learning Arabic lecturer at Edinburgh University. The site is geared towards MSA, and with the flashcards you get a variety of ways to test yourself, and also Mourad, a native speaker, saying the words so you can hear the correct pronunciation. The words are grouped by theme - from the simple stuff like basic pronunciation and colours, to the most commonly used words in media, politics, human rights etc. - all of us on my course found them very useful.

Feedback from Prof. Mona Baker, University of Manchester, Mar 2009

• This looks superb Mourad. I am definitely going to recommend the site to all my students and put a link on our student intranet and also on my own personal intranet (on my personal website). Excellent work!

Feedback from College of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Jul 2008

• “The e-Learning aspects of the program exhibit a high degree of ingenuity and innovation. The course (Blendid Arabic Language Programme) will inevitably evolve as new ideas are tested and objectives are honed, but I have already been very impressed with the quality and commitment of the teaching staff and I am sure they will make the course ever more successful”

Dr. E. Kendall, CASAW, University of Edinburgh, 05/09/08

• Your initiatives are a very welcome leap in our Arabic teaching programme. I know that this is in the early stages, but already it is very clear how useful this resource will prove to students and teachers alike.

Feedback from CASAW Students 2008-09

• “I am very excited about the e-learning course this year: Thanks for making it look so interesting and relevant over the last couple of days”

J. Spiller, 5/05/08, eLearning team at the University of Edinburgh

• “I think that what you are doing with e-learning in Arabic is very exciting and really shows the diverse range of online/electronic materials available to language learners and teachers. It places the ‘e’ content as pivotal to the learning process rather than as supplementary to it.”

Feedback from CASAW Students 2007-08

• “Lots of useful resources for the future”
• “Varied resources available any time and place”
• “I think it is useful for private study and as a consolidation of vocabulary”
• “Personally gained an awareness of Arabic outside the classroom”
• “The wide range of multimedia resources suits me”
• “It was good to have pronunciation online”
• “Gaining an introduction to Arabic resources online – some great ”
• Feedback from anonymous visitors
• موقعك لتعلم اللغة العربية رائع جداً
• “Hello Prof Mourad. I am student at Columbia University in NY. I’m doing an MA in Computing in Ed. I’m very impressed with the e-Arabic portal that I recently came across, and excited, as it is along the lines of the field in which I would like to work.”
• “I stumbled upon your site as I was searching for an online arabic-english dictionary and some other learning resources. I am very impressed with your site and the large amount of infomation it provides.”

The Arabic eFlashCards Directory

Read what our previous students and visitors say about our Arabic eFlashCars Directory

Feedback from anonymous visitors, Jul 2009

• Just wanted to let you know, your work on byki.com is great! Very clear pronounciation. I am now crawling through that listing of colloquial arabic words&expressions. Shukran, wa layla sa3da!

Feedback from Doha Kudsi, Language Consultant, Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, May 2009

• Dear Mourad,Thank you so much for sharing your great resources with us. I am, for sure, will be using them in my teaching as they are accessible, clear and covering a huge range of topics and vocabulary I have hardly seen anywhere else.
• You have done a great job!!!!
• I am certain your students have benefited and progressed a great deal from this valuable support and developed their Arabic rapidly. I am really grateful for your update, and thankful for your role in giving the teaching of Arabic a new modern dimension.
• Wishing you all the best.

Feedback from anonymous visitor, Mar 2009

• Thank you. I’ve been visiting Byki site for quite a while now, and I’ve found that your lists are way above all others. I find your lists extremely useful, and I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate them and to thank you.

CASAW Students, Universities of Edinburgh, Manchester and Durham, 2007-2008

• “These work for me – the audio aspect (Mourad speaking) is very useful”
• “Very accessible, useful with pronunciation”
• “Extremely useful, quality stuff, well done!”
• “Excellent way to practise pronunciation and recall of vocabulary”
• “I think it is great to have a combination of reading and listening”
• “Very useful program, it decides what the next card is so you don’t fall into the trap of remembering which card comes next as with traditional flash cards”
• “Visually they help us to remember the core vocabulary with the ‘Knowledge Steps’. Aurally, they are invaluable, as we can hear a native speaker’s pronunciation of the words. The ’slow’ option is useful. It’s already excellent.”
• “Flashcards (+podcasts) were the most useful e-learning resources provided – very clear, easy to use and ideal for vocabulary retention”
• “Digital Flashcards were very useful and effective”
• “The extra vocabulary were useful to enable us to expand our vocabulary”
• “We love it – plenty of useful vocab, especially the m-learning pod-casts.”
• “Very happy with flash cards – having the audio and interaction is excellent”

Abdel, June 2008

• “Mr.Diouri, I found your digital flashcards very useful.I will definitely use them with my students.Thank you for your efforts. you are invited to have a look at my blog: http://speechfreecorner .blogspot.com/ Sincerely,”

Arabic Theme-based Podcasts

Read what our previous students and visitors say about our Arabic Theme-based Podcasts

Dr. E. Kendall, CASAW, University of Edinburgh, 20/02/08

• “I absolutely loved the podcasts. The vocabulary is extremely useful and your diction is very clear. This is just the kind of thing that Arabists have been looking for but failed to find. For me, the speed was perfect, with good dense use of time, no hanging about, and really useful revision of terms in common usage. I suspect that it may be rather too fast for beginners for whom the syllable combinations of Arabic are still very strange?
• Thanks so much for this excellent work”

J. Spiller, eLearning Team, University of Edinburgh, 5/05/08

• “Firstly, I like the way that you have structured the ‘e’ content into v-Arabic, e-Arabic and m-Arabic and so clearly accessing the 3 strands of available online/electronic resources.
• Using podcasts so that students can listen to a native speaker Arabic as and when they want, blogs to get interactive feedback and to give students access to new material daily and also the availability of electronic flash cards to build up vocab content etc give students a great and varied range of stimuli.”

CASAW Students, Universities of Edinburgh, Manchester and Durham, 2007-2008

• The podcast was a great by the way. I’ve been listening to it every day since you sent it to us.
• “A helpful resource, clear and well produced”
• “A useful resource”
• “Clear and a useful way of occupying your spare time”
• Useful for pronunciation, obviously!”
• “The podcasts and audio materials were the highlight of this course.”
• “The mobile learning resources recorded by Mourad has helped improve my pronunciation”

CASAW Student, University of Edinburgh, 22/02/08

• “I really like your vocabulary pod-casts. It really suits my way of studying, and will be excellent for those few moments wasted without studying Arabic like walking to class!
• Pronunciation is as clear as very, very nice, the only thing i would suggest is slightly increasing the length of the pause, especially after words with plurals or verb conjugations as i didn’t have time to repeat a couple of them. Otherwise a really excellent resource - up there with the flashcards for cheer practicality! All the best,

CASAW Student, CASAW, University of Edinburgh, 21/02/08

• “I’ve got the podcast on my shiny new mp3 player (i’m a bit behind the times with gadget-y things!) and it’s really useful - definitely a great idea!

The Arabic Virtual Realia Directory

Read what our previous students and visitors say about our Arabic Virtual Realia Directory

CASAW Students, Universities of Edinburgh, Manchester and Durham, 2008-2009

“This realia slideshow provides a stimulating and refreshing environment for reading practice. I was able to figure out some of the signs and look forward to trying this again as I learn more letters of the alphabet. It is also really good to test reading in different fonts from the textbook. I’ll look out for more images when we study in the ME during 2009.” From Virtual Realia eGalleries | Arabic Language Reading Practice | Beginners’ Level

“I definitely recommend this type of realia, especially for those who are learning to read or struggling with their reading. In Bahrain, when I first began to learn to read, I’d spend entire car journey just glancing at signs attempting to see what they said. I’d also recommend the technique of scrolling through the images quickly in order that you only see them briefly. Then try to figure out what it says. It’s good for word recognition!

“I think this program also highlights problems in reading handwriting, where everything can get very close together and stylised – the names for example were extremely confusing: so some more practice reading handwriting would be good!

“Super resource. Really good for contextualizing the work, and reminding us that it’s all rooted in the real wold”

“A good combination of numbers, countries and other basic vocabulary - it is exciting to see our Arabic starting to make sense in context!”

CASAW Students, Universities of Edinburgh, Manchester and Durham, 2007-200

“I have been raving about this (Arabic-speaking parrots!) to anyone who will listen! Is this really the parrot speaking? This is my favourite Realia clip. I like the way the first parrot inflects the Allahu Akbar, just like the call to prayer”

“Good job mourad - Its a very nicely designed and organised site, easy to use. I translated the welcome as Eid Mabrouk?”, Hilary

“The podcast was very useful to guage reaidng speeds and intonation. It was at times a little bit fast but I guess that’s something to work on myself to get my comprehension a bit faster.”

“Both a good thing and a bad thing is the mix of levels of Arabic in the Realia posted here. Some are extremely simple and suited to a low level of learning and some, especially BBC Extra Podcasts and some videos, are very long, quite fast and rather complicated - much more suited to a higher level of learning. Overall the selection is useful but selective use should be recommended, as well as follow-up in the students’ spare time.”, Ben

J. Spiller, eLearning Team, Uni. of Edinburgh, 05/05/08

Firstly, I like the way that you have structured the ‘e’ content into v-Arabic, e-Arabic and m-Arabic and so clearly accessing the 3 strands of available online/electronic resources. The provision of access to virtual realia, and directing learning activities around them, gives students a real sense of the arabic language in real contexts, helping to prepare them for their extended stay in an Arabic-speaking country.

And all integrated around a weekly topic/theme, brings a cohesion to the content as a whole. As someone who spent a year and a half in Cairo and not only learnt a bit of Arabic but was also teaching English, I think this sort of topic-based structure with a clear integration of language learning elements is using ‘e’ content at its best. Thanks

Dr. E. Kendall, Uni. of Edinburgh, 07/03/08

I just wanted to say that I thought this activity (Bilingual BBC Radio Programme : Life without TV or Telephone) was really useful. It was great to have the English base to the interview, then to hear it translated into slow and clear Arabic. It was also useful to find a topic relating to our own doorstep! You e-activities certainly make learning a lot more interesting. Thanks also for thinking of the get well soon card. (Animated e-Greeting Cards Realia)These kinds of everyday expressions stick in one’s mind much better for seeing them attached to pictures and learning them in context.

Dr. E. Kendall, Uni. of Edinburgh, 10/03/08

The virtual realia materials you are compiling are excellent. I particularly like this week’s realia, which offer a wide choice (posters, book covers, signs) of real-life situations in which the human rights vocabulary taught might be encountered. This kind of contextualization of classroom work is invaluable. It is extremely encouraging for students to see the words they are learning on paper appear in real life situations.

Dr. A. Newman, University of Durham, 21/02/08

“The students are indeed very fortunate to have these tools! - I think v-Arabic looks absolutely splendid — you can’t buy that kind of publicity! - with warmest wishes”

Feedback from anonymous visitors, Feb/2008

“Man i love reading your site, interesting posts !”

“I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read.”

“I love this website! Such an innovative way to help others learn and practice Arabic. I like the use of real posters, articles, adverts, signs from the countries I enjoy travelling to. The mixed use of audio, visual, video makes the learning interesting - I will definatelyrecommend this site to friends and colleagues. Thank you Mourad, for all the time and effort you spent creating this!”

“Great site! Really enjoyed some of the comments, just dropped by to say hello, look forward to joining in the discussion later.”

“Wow!!! this is amazing - its like a real virtual newspaper! And the magnifying glass works!! -Interactive Virtual Online Arabic Newspaper”

“Agree, one of the most useful aural learning items so far. More of the same would be great”

eLingua Tandem Language Exchange

“Lovely people, a fantastic opportunity to practice Arabic and a really worthwhile experience - I am looking forward to the next meeting!”

“Yesterday I attended another e-Tandem learning session. There was a good turn-out and we had a larger, location to accomodate everyone comfortably. Again, it was an enjoyable experience and provided a friendly forum to share language learning experiences”

“Thanks Mourad, the gathering was a great success. Lots of email addresses were passed around, but will there be some kind of online forum? A chat room or something might allow people to ask language questions or just practice chit chat any time, and informally with whoever happens to be online. Probably best not just live chat, but something like a message-board area.”

“Today I attended the first eTandem Learning event organised by CASAW. There was a high turnout and people were friendly and enthusiastic. It gave me the opportunity to practice my Arabic and learn some new words. I met three potential eTandem partners and look forward to supporting each others language learning. Thank you to CASAW for facilitating this initiative and to everyone who participated.”

Brief report on CASAW’s eArabic Learning Portal, p.16

CILT CASAW eArabic