Teaching Arabic is hard enough. Now try to keep pace with surging post-9/11 demand. In a podcast, CORALIE CARLSON explains why educational resources are stretched thin.
The Arabic textbook "Al-Kitaab Part One." (AP Photo/Georgetown University Press/Martha Madrid Designs)
"Learn Arabic!" (AP Photo/Courtesy of ABC Language Exchange)
The number of Americans learning the Arabic language has grown exponentially since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the start of the war in Iraq. Thousands of people are now learning how to read the right-to-left script and make previously unfamiliar sounds that originate in the back of the throat.
And the surge in students has outpaced the teachers and teaching tools. Experts say academia is still about five years away from having enough qualified teachers. And unlike, say, Spanish, which has scores of textbooks to choose from, only one textbook is widely used in Arabic.
The situation has forced educators from private language schools to the military to create their own curriculum for their swelling classrooms.
How serious is the problem? Listen to this asap podcast to learn more.
___
asap contributor Coralie Carlson is an editor on the AP's national desk.
___
Want to comment? Sound off at soundoffasap@ap.org .
©2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
