Preparations are completed for the last-minute Arabic language floor, dubbed Beit al-Arabiya-or Arabic House-opening this semester in Georgia State’s residence hall, the Commons. Residents of the Arabic language floor will be Georgia State students who wish to enhance their learning experience by immersing themselves in Arab art, language and culture.
Michael Herb and Alta Schwartz, the Director of the Middle East Institute and director of outreach, took a grant opportunity and proposed the idea of creating an Arabic language floor through the Residence Life office.
“We met frequently throughout the Spring semester with the leadership staff of the Middle East Institute to design the program, solicit student involvement, and make preparations for the Fulbright Scholar who will be living in the living learning community with the students,” said Zduy Chu, the coordinator of Living Learning Communities and Academic Initiatives.
Living-learning communities allow residents to live beside individuals with like-minded interests, lifestyles or studies. A language floor for Arabic students took the Residence Life department to another level.
“We thought this particular living learning community would be a great way to advance academic initiatives, partner with other campus departments, and enhance our living learning community program,” said Mylon Kirksy, the associate director of University Housing for Residence Life.
Chu had an extensive list of reasons for why students should start to live on campus.
Chu cites benefits to living on campus: living in downtown Atlanta and talking advantage of the urban landscape; close proximity to classes, student services, great eateries and stores; living in secure and inclusive communities; having the opportunity to socialize and develop lifelong friendships with other students and the ability to live in an environment and interact with professional and student staff that support students’ academic and personal success.
“Students who live in the residence halls tend to have a higher GPA than those that do not,” Chu said. “And [they] have higher graduation rates.”
According to Schwartz, Beit al-Arabiya is currently one of the only Arabic residence floors in the United States with both faculty and student residents for a four-year institution, not including regular language immersion programs.
“It can be so difficult to study abroad,” Schwartz said, “so students really jumped on the opportunity to live here.”
Apart from being a rare sort of residence hall, the students will also have the opportunity to live by and learn under Emna Jarraya, the faculty resident for the hall and the Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant for the Georgia State Arabic classes.
In charge of organizing activities for student residents, Jarraya plans for the student residents to watch Arabic films, listen to Arab music and taste Arab food.
“We want to make Arabic a 3D experience,” Schwartz said.
Part of Jarraya’s task as Faculty Resident is to assist students in cultivating their language skills. But with a language that has so many dialects, this can get difficult.
In order to become more fluent in the language, Kirksy also noted that Beit al-Arabiya’s residents are encouraged to speak Arabic while on the floor.
“My kind of Arabic is hard, I think,” Jarraya said. “I want to mix words and use a variety of dialects so that they [the students] can understand and communicate.”
As a perk to accepting the positions, Jarraya can take up to two Georgia State courses per semester in any subject she chooses.
“I think I’d like to do Spanish. I like languages,” said Jarraya, who already has a graduate degree in Business English from the University of Tunis and is a native Arabic speaker.
Although meetings and activities will be exclusive to Beit al-Arabiya residents, the Middle East Institute hosts events for all interested students through the Arabic Cultural Association. Arabic coffee hours-casual get-togethers for students to practice Arabic, listen to lectures and taste Arab sweets-take place throughout the school year. Speakers on current Middle Eastern events and affairs also frequent Georgia State to educate students.
Even though Beit al-Arabiya houses only five students this semester, a growing interest in the language and culture is sure to raise the number of residents for the 2013-2014 academic year.
