Program | FIKRA : IDEA - Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility in Teaching Arabic Language and Cultures

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SATURDAY, October 22, 2022

TIME	SESSION
8:45 – 9:00 a.m.	Arrival and Registration
9:00 – 9:20 a.m.	Breakfast & Networking
9:20 – 9:30 a.m.	Welcoming Remarks Caroline Sibley, NCATC & Noor Ghazi, UNCG
9:30-9:50 a.m.	Kick-off Bentley Brown Aboudigin Films
9:55 – 10:55 a.m.	Keynote Session Emma Trentman “Translingual Approaches in the Arabic Language Classroom” University of New Mexico
BREAK
11:10 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.	K-12 Focus “Critical Intercultural Communicative Arabic: A Call for a Paradigm Shift in 21st Century TAFL” Awad Awad, Alif Institute	Higher Education Focus “Exploring Inclusive Teaching Methodologies: Lessons from Yallah al-Quds” Elizabeth Saylor & Tara Di Cassio, NCSU
LUNCH BREAK (12:15-1:25 p.m.)
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.	K-12 Focus “Jusuur, a groundbreaking program for beginning Arabic” Jusuur Authors: Sarah Standish, OneWorld Now, Richard Cozzens, Harvard & Rana Abdul-Aziz, Tufts	Higher Education Focus “Representing Western Arabic Language and Culture in the Classroom.” Mike Turner, UNCW
BREAK (2:30-2:45 p.m.)
2:45 – 3:45 p.m.	Facilitated Discussion Groups
3:45 – 4:00 p.m.	Closing Reflections
5:30 – 6:30 p.m.	Dinner at NAMU 5430 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd, Durham NC 27707

SUNDAY, October 23, 2022

TIME	SESSION
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.	Breakfast & Networking
9:30 – 10:00 a.m.	Programs for Involvement: Qatar Debates: Fadi Abughoush – HS Jasper Schutt & Majed Al Munefi – Higher Ed Arabic on the UNC Online Course Exchange: Mike Turner
10:00 – 10:30 a.m.	Reflections & Revisions
10:30 – 11:00 a.m.	Departures
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.	Meeting with NCATC Board Members

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Emma Trentman is an Associate Professor of Arabic at the University of New Mexico and Director of the Language Learning Center. She is an Applied Linguist whose research examines language learning during study abroad, virtual exchange, and in the language classroom, with a focus on language ideologies and multilingual approaches. She is co-editor of Language Learning in Study Abroad: The Multilingual Turn (Multilingual Matters, 2021), and her research has appeared in various journals and edited collections including The Modern Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, The L2 Journal, Study Abroad Research, and System. She directs the Arabic program at the University of New Mexico and is co-editor of the Critical Multilingualism Studies Journal.
Elizabeth Saylor is Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University and holds degrees from Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley. An award-winning teacher of Arabic language, Elizabeth’s research focuses on Arab women’s literature, mahjar literature, the early Arabic novel, and early Syrian immigration to North and South America. Most recently, she launched a virtual language and cultural exchange program called Yallah al-Quds, a virtual collaborative platform for bilingual exchange for Advanced Arabic students and young Palestinians which grew out of the need for language practice and cultural exchange after study abroad programs were canceled amidst the pandemic. (www.yallahalquds.com)
Tara Di Cassio is a Lecturer of Arabic Language and Culture in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at North Carolina State University. Tara also serves as Co-Director and On-Site director for the NC State Jordan Study Abroad program at the Qasid Arabic Institute in Amman. In addition, she serves as a Program Instructor and Cultural Advisor for the Project GO Program at NC State and has taught introductory courses concerning the contemporary processes of Globalization in the Program of International Studies at NC State. Tara comes to the Arabic teaching field after earning her MA in Global Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill and extensive in-country experience and language training supported by several prestigious fellowships including The David L. Boren Fellowship 2014-2015, Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA I) Fellowship 2016-2017, and The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship 2017-2018. In 2021, Tara became the Program Strategist for Yallah AlQuds.
Bentley Brown (PhD ’22, Critical Media Practices, University of Colorado-Boulder) moved as a child with his family from the United States to Chad, where he learned Arabic and began making films. His filmography revolves around third culture identity, belonging, and disidentification, and includes Faisal Goes West (2013), Oustaz (2016), First Feature (2018) and Revolution From Afar (2022). Brown has also served as an international election observer, working in Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan, and, prior to starting his doctoral studies, taught in a filmmaking program in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Mike Turner is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he teaches courses in Arabic and International Studies. His research focuses on the history of the Arabic language and grammatical descriptions of modern Arabic dialects. Originally from Elizabeth City in northeastern North Carolina, he has spent over five years in Morocco, where he served in the Peace Corps and later taught study abroad Arabic courses at the Arab American Language Institute in Meknes and the University of New England’s satellite campus in Tangier. He has published on the grammar of Moroccan Arabic and pedagogical approaches to teaching the dialect in university-level courses.
Since 9/11, Awad Awad has dedicated his career, in US urban and rural settings, to educating and consulting on Arabic, Islam, the Middle East, and Israel/Palestine. He has built or redesigned K-16 Arabic programs across the US and has established study abroad partnerships throughout the Arabic-speaking world. His research interests include Arabic language instruction, study abroad, critical intercultural communication, community-based experiential learning, literary translation, and Abbasid Baghdad. He is currently the Arabic instructor at North Atlanta High School, community liaison for the Arabic Teachers Council of the South, public education director at Alif Institute (Atlanta), president of the Georgia Arabic Teachers Association, executive board member of the North Carolina Arabic Teachers Council, and doctoral student at Georgia State University.
Sarah Standish was the founding teacher of the first high school Arabic program in the state of Oregon and also served as Deputy Director at OneWorld Now! in Seattle, WA. She is the author of Culture Smart! Syria.
Richard Cozzens is a Preceptor in Arabic at Harvard University and has served as the director of the STARTALK Arabic Summer Academy in Boston, MA. He has taught Arabic to high school and university students since 2008.
Rana Abdul-Aziz is a Senior Lecturer and the Arabic Language Coordinator at Tufts University. She has been teaching Arabic at various institutions and training new Arabic teachers for more than 15 years.