Having highly qualified native speakers is the key to the program’s quality, Payne agreed.
“Our Arabic instructors bring to the classroom a depth of linguistic and cultural knowledge that is unsurpassed, and the team-teaching concept and small class sizes really allow them to pass their knowledge on in a tremendously effective way,” he said.
“The fact that our teachers are very supportive is also a big help,” said PFC Desiree Vassallo. “The first day in class they told us they would help us in any way they could, and they have. Some of the instructors have been teaching Arabic for decades, and they’ve seen all the possible mistakes we can make. They treat us with concern and respect, which really helps make this a great experience.”
A Comprehensive Program
DLIFLC’s Arabic-language program is centered in Middle East I School, known as MAS, and Middle East 2 School, referred to as MBS. At the time this article was written there were some 800 students studying Arabic in MAS and MBS. The instruction is identical in each of the Arabic departments.
The school’s mission, according to MAS dean Dr. Christine M. Campbell, is to train students to a basic level of competence in the language, just as new infantrymen or tankers are taught the basic skills their MOSs require. Then, just as combat-arms Soldiers’ skills are broadened and improved upon reaching operational units, so are the linguists’ skills bettered by “real-world” use.
DLI teaches Modern Standard Arabic, a refined form of the language that is spoken throughout the Middle East, Campbell said. Learning MSA gives students the foundation upon which they can then build their skills in the various regional and national dialects of the language.
“When you get to the Middle East, if you speak MSA people will think you are highly educated, because MSA is the language of the Quran and used by broadcasters throughout the Arabic-speaking world,” said Army CPT Robert Hoffman, MAS’s operations officer.
“But when you meet people in remote villages, they might not speak MSA if they haven’t been to school,” he said. “That’s where the 75 hours of training in the Levantine, Egyptian or Iraqi dialects come in.”
Because the Arabic students at DLI are being training to use the language in military or intelligence applications, their training includes “modules” that deal with the vocabularies specific to those disciplines, Hoffman said.
A Comprehensive Process
As with each of the languages taught at DLIFLC, students are introduced to Arabic in phases. The first is “sound and script,” an introduction to the alphabet and the sounds of the spoken language.
“They then see things on the computer, listen to the tapes they’ve downloaded to their MP3 players and get into the reading. When they get into the higher semesters we have more speaking hours for them, because speaking is the hardest skill to master,” Hoffman said.
To polish their language skills and stay up to date on the culture, politics and current events of the Arabic-speaking world, students watch Al Jazeera and other Arabic-Language TV networks on each classroom’s smart board, said Ousama Akkad, chairman of one of MAS’s four Arabic departments.
Students point out that, in addition to being phased and comprehensive, the school’s learning process is continually challenging, especially given Arabic’s complexity and the course’s accelerated pace.
“I took Spanish and German in high school, and compared to Arabic, those languages were both ridiculously easy,” said PFC John Martin.
“In our first three weeks at DLIFLC we covered everything that I studied in an 18-week semester of Arabic in college,” Robertson added. “You really have to pay attention and stay focused, because each day is full.”
“Yes, we keep the students pretty busy,” Hoffman said. “A typical day includes at least six hours of class time, as well as physical training, formations and two to three hours of homework at night. In addition, twice a week there are mandatory evening study halls. It makes for a very full and challenging schedule, and the students really have to make an effort to get all the work done to keep up.”
