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In addition to the degree programs and courses just described, the academic units of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences offer Arabic and Englishlanguage programs. Two programs offered through the Arabic Language Institute provide intensive Arabic language instruction for non-Arabic speakers. The Intensive English Program and English 111, Academic English for Freshmen, of the English Language Institute provide instruction for students who have been admitted into a degree program but who require further work to achieve the required level of English language proficiency.
Arabic Language Institute
Professor: El S. Badawi (Director, Arabic Language Institute)
Associate Professor: A. El-Gibali
Arabic Language Teachers: M. K. Abdel Salam, N. Abdel Wahab, D. Abo El-Seoud, J. Allam, N. El Assiouti, R. El-Essawi, Sh. El-Ezabi, N. Harb, M. Hassan, Z. Ibrahim (Executive Director, Center for Arabic Study Abroad), S. Khalil, S. Massoud, M. S. Moussa (Coordinator, Arabic Language Credit Courses), I. Saad, W. Samy (on leave), L. Al-Sawi, Z. Taha, A. El-Tonsi, A. Wakid (Coordinator, Arabic Language Unit), N. Warraki (Director, Arabic Language Unit), L. White
The Arabic Language Institute is responsible for Arabic language instruction within the university's academic structure. It includes the university's TAFL (Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language) M.A. program as well as regular nonintensive and accelerated courses in Arabic offered for academic credit.
The Arabic Language Institute also administers two programs of intensive study of Arabic: the Intensive Arabic and the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) programs. These programs award program (but not academic) credit toward a degree at AUC. Students, however, may be able to obtain credit toward an academic degree at their home institution for their Intensive Arabic Language (ALIN) coursework. They should determine their institution's policy regarding transfer credit before coming to Cairo.
Intensive Arabic
The Arabic Language Institute offers intensive Arabic language courses for students, businessmen, diplomats, scholars, and others needing to gain a broad command of contemporary Arabic as quickly and as effectively as possible. For over sixty years, first through its School of Oriental Studies and then through its Center for Arabic Studies, AUC has taught Arabic to foreigners. Since the inception of what is now the Arabic Language Institute in the 1970s, this program has attracted students from the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe, offering intensive courses in both modern standard and Egyptian colloquial Arabic. A summer program is also offered.
Intensive Arabic Language courses (ALIN) are part of the Arabic Language Institute's program. Students must register for a minimum of ten program credit hours per semester, while the normal course load is eighteen to twenty contact hours per week. All courses are taken for grades, and program credit is awarded as indicated at the beginning of each course listing. Students may receive up to nine undergraduate credits from AUC by petitioning the director of the program (see page 62 "Non-degree Academic Regulations" for transfers of credit to other universities).
Elementary Level
The course for beginners runs from the first week of September through May. The main emphasis is on modern standard Arabic, but Egyptian colloquial Arabic is simultaneously offered (about thirty percent of class time is devoted to colloquial). Arabic is used as the main medium of instruction in the second half of the program. The course comprises up to twenty hours per week of classroom instruction, including language laboratory work, and up to twenty hours of home assignments.
A student who successfully completes the first year of intensive study with the Arabic Language Institute can expect to possess a working competence in reading and writing modern standard Arabic and understanding and speaking Egyptian colloquial or modern standard Arabic.
Intermediate Level
Courses at this level are designed for those who have completed a year of intensive study at the elementary level of the Arabic Language Institute or who have studied two or more years elsewhere and can demonstrate a similar level of competence. The program runs from the first week of September through May in the following year.
Arabic is the chief medium of instruction. Students continue work in modern standard Arabic and Egyptian colloquial Arabic. Interested students may, at this level, begin to acquire familiarity with classical Arabic. Attention is given to the Arabic of print and broadcast media, while special lecture courses in Arabic are offered in response to the special interests of the students, such as Middle Eastern economics and politics, business correspondence, medieval and modern Arabic literature.
Students who complete this second year of study should be able to read and write modern standard Arabic with some fluency, to pursue study in topics that specially interest them in Arabic, and to converse freely in Arabic. Intermediate-level students will also have had an opportunity to acquire vocabulary and terminology related to such special fields of interest as business and diplomacy.
Advanced Level
Exceptional students may wish to take a third year. These courses are arranged according to demand, but they typically include advanced work in reading and writing and lecture courses in special topics. At the end of such a course a student should be able to compete with Arab students at the university level. Alternatively, the student should be able to employ Arabic with competence and confidence in the fields of business and/or diplomacy.
Certificate and Program Requirements
Full-time students taking fifteen to twenty hours per week of class work who successfully complete at least eighteen program hours receive certificates of achievement from ALIN (specifying their level, i.e. elementary, intermediate or advanced).
Intensive Summer Program
Director: M. K. Abdel Salam
The Arabic Language Institute offers an intensive summer program from the first week of June until the beginning of August. Students must take twenty hours of class per week to be considered full-time. The summer curriculum includes either Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) at all levels, or Modern Standard Arabic only, both options as a full load.
In addition, a number of electives is also offered out of which each student may take up to two.
A total of ten program credits may be earned in the summer toward the Arabic Language Institute certificate.
Extra Curricular Activities/Trips and Cultural Programs
An integral part of the intensive language program is an extensive series of tours of Cairo and trips to the less easily visited sites of interest all over Egypt. These are accompanied by very efficient guides. While the institute subsidizes a large portion of the expenses, including transportation and entrance fees, students are required to pay for their food and lodging.
A series of weekly lectures covering the cultural, educational, economic aspects of life in Egypt is offered. The summer program also includes a cultural component featuring activities such as calligraphy, music, dance, cooking, etc.
In addition, seasonal activities, such as Christmas and Ramadan parties, are organized with the active participation of the students.
Arabic Language Intensive Courses (ALIN)
Professor: El S. Badawi (Director, Arabic Language Institute)
Associate Professor: A. El-Gibali
Arabic Language Teachers: M. K. Adel Salam, N. Abdel Wahab, D. Abo El-Seoud, J. Allam, N. El Assiouti, R. El-Essawi, Sh. El-Ezabi, N. Harb, M. Hassan, Z. Ibrahim, S. Khalil, S. Massoud, M. S. Moussa (Coordinator, Arabic Language Credit Courses), I. Saad, W. Samy (on leave), L. Al-Sawi, Z. Taha, A. El Tonsi, A. Wakid (Coordinator, Arabic Language Unit), N. Warraki (Director, Arabic Language Unit), L. White.
ALIN courses are listed sequentially by area. In this three digit system, the first digit represents the level of the course: 1 for elementary, 2 for intermediate, and 3 for advanced.
Prerequisites are not listed for every course. However, entry into all intermediate and advanced courses presupposes that the student is of intermediate or advanced standing. The instructor's permission may also be required. Standing will be determined by written and/or oral placement tests for incoming students and sometimes for continuing students.
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