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Arabic

Teachers: Mr Mohammad Ayari (BA; PGCE), Mr Adel Elfihri (Diploma of higher education in languages; Diploma in French language), and Mrs Jihan Jibrin (BSc Biology). Exam Board: Edexcel

Arabic is the language of the Qur’an and the fifth most spoken in the world. Learning it helps Muslim children connect more deeply with their faith heritage and offers pathways for careers overseas.

"And We never sent a messenger except with the language of his people in order that he might make (the message) clear for them."

The Noble Qur’an [14: 4]

We follow the national curriculum for Arabic which is designed to help students progress and develop a passion for the language, through culturally engaging content. Authentic situations and stimuli enable students to experience the Arabic language in context and learn about the culture of countries where Arabic is spoken. Our assessments allow for spontaneity and test grammar as well as providing plenty of opportunities for students to apply their knowledge independently, creatively and in authentic situations.

Students will understand and respond to spoken and written Arabic from a variety of authentic sources. They will learn to:

Speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity.
Find ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.
Write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt.
Discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

In 2024, 100% of students attained between grades 9-5 in Arabic. You can see our school performance figures for 2024 GCSE exams here.

Course Overview

KS3

Our goal is to help Year 7 and 8 students to gain the foundations in Arabic Grammar, which is taught and reviewed as an on-going priority in lessons. The new GCSE in Arabic language has a strong focus on grammar, so we start preparing students from KS3. Translation (both ways) is also an integral part of lessons, since it is another way of reinforcing grammar as well as vocabulary.

Each unit of work is approximately 10 lessons, based on a 3 lesson per week( 2 main lessons and the third is revision and support.

Year 7 Focus

In Year 7, students cover the following topics and grammar:

Greetings, introductions, and days of the week
Family and me
At school
My hobbies
In my city
Eating out

Year 8 Focus

In Year 8, students cover the following topics and grammar:

My Family
My house
My Garden
Our area
Shopping
Daily routine
At school

KS4

The Arabic course has been structured across five themes. This flexible programme of study allows time for a focused revision period at the end of the course.

Course objectives

The course is designed to help students develop their spoken and written ability to communicate confidently and coherently, so that they can convey what they want to say with increasing accuracy. by the end of the course, students are expected to be able to:

Express and develop thoughts and ideas spontaneously and fluently.
Listen to and understand clearly articulated, standard speech at near normal speed.
Deepen their knowledge about how language works
Build their vocabulary enough to increase independent use and understanding of the language in a wide range of contexts.
Acquire new knowledge, skills and ways of thinking through the ability to understand and respond to a rich range of authentic spoken and written material, adapted and abridged, as appropriate, including literary texts.
Develop awareness and understanding of the culture and identity of the countries and communities where the language is spoken.
Be encouraged to make appropriate links to other areas of the curriculum to enable bilingual and deeper learning, where the language may become a medium for constructing and applying knowledge.
Develop language strategies, including repair strategies.

Students are expected to build on the language learning skill they gain on this course, for immediate use and in preparation for further language study and use in school, higher education or employment.

Year 9-11 focus

In Year 9-11, students cover the following themes and grammar:

Identity and culture.
Local area, holiday, travel.
School.
Future aspirations, study and work.
International and global dimension.