Description:
Drawing on her years of experience as an Arabic instructor and course developer, Samia Louis has used a functional approach to create a bright, innovative coursebook for the study of Egyptian colloquial Arabic--the spoken dialect most frequently studied and most widely understood in the Arab world.
Designed according to the ACTFL guidelines for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, Kallimni 'Arabi trains students through ten highly structured lessons in the crucial skills, with particular emphasis on listening and speaking. The associated audio files carry recordings of the dialogues and exercises in each chapter, made by Egyptian native speakers.
From the basics of communicating (asking directions, the language of shopping) to more advanced conversations (future plans, hobbies, and free time), Kallimni 'Arabi is structured so that students learn Egyptian Arabic using real-life situations and expressions. The key topics covered gradually lead students to understand, use, and speak Arabic, rather than simply memorize fixed phrases. Kallimni 'Arabi is aimed at students with some ability to read and write Arabic, who have had the equivalent of 30 hours of a beginner Colloquial Arabic class or 40 hours of a Modern Standard Arabic program.
Brief description:
Samia Louis taught Arabic for more than fifteen years at the International Language Institute (ILI) in Cairo, which was an affiliate of International House. She is the author of all the books in the Kallimni 'Arabi series (AUC Press, 2007-2009), as well as the MSA series, Lughatuna al-Fusha (AUC Press, 2010-2015).
Review Quotes: "The books in the [Kallimni 'Arabi] series altogether present the best Arabic textbooks available . . . miles ahead of most others."--David Wilmsen, American University of Beirut
"The Kalimni 'Arabi Series are, in my opinion, the best books for learning Arabic in existence."--Donovan Nagel, The Mezzofanti Guild