Starting your tutoring journey can be a challenge – especially when it’s a language as complex and diverse as Arabic. This is what Arabic tutor Neveen discovered by accident – while learning French.

“The whole tutoring thing wasn’t my initial intention. I used to study French literature and was looking for native French speakers that I could practice with.” While on her mission to learn French, Neveen was surprised by the amount of interest her French peers expressed in learning Arabic. “I had no idea.” she says.

As a result, Neveen started tutoring Arabic to her French friends. “I had no tutoring knowledge at that point. But that encouraged me to research methods of teaching Arabic.” The process piqued her interest in tutoring – determined to do her native tongue justice, Neveen decided to go back to university to dive into the study of Arabic and rediscover her language and history.

Neveen also took special courses to learn how to teach Arabic as a second language. She found that the approach to tutoring Arabic varied strongly across the globe. “In South Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Malaysia, tutors tend to adhere to traditional texts as their primary teaching resource, while in countries such as France, some skip teaching the Arabic alphabet altogether, replacing the ‘snakes and ropes’ as they call them, with latin letters.”

Neveen believes this is an erroneous approach. “All the Arabic letters are pronounced in the same way as they are written. We don’t have exceptions – one letter for every sound. Not like in English, for example, you can pronounce a ‘c’ like a ‘k’.”

However, Neveen says, it is equally important to acknowledge that every student’s needs are different. “I have seen many Arabic tutors use textbooks with grammar exercises as their primary tool for instruction. That is ok, however, some students are impatient – they want to speak Arabic from day one. This approach does not work with these students.”

While the students’ expectations may be unrealistic, Neveen believes tutors should try to understand the needs of their students and address those needs first. “If a student wants to speak Arabic straight away, instead of trying to teach them the basics, I provide them with some sentences that they can start with. It’s important to encourage your students and keep them motivated.”

Neveen’s best advice to tutors who are just starting out is to be patient and realistic. “It’s alright to not know everything, and it’s important not to judge your students. Be compassionate and try to reach mutual understanding.”

Every student is different – some are structured and know exactly what they need. Other students are more challenging to work with. They expect the tutor to take the lead and identify their needs straight away.

According to Neveen, one thing that Arabic tutors should avoid is oversusing Islamic references to teach Arabic. “It’s a sensitive topic. The Arabic language is deeply interconnected with the Islamic culture. All the classic books are based on religious contexts. These texts are really great resources for learning Arabic.” While Neveen finds that this approach works great with Muslim students, it’s a mistake to start using them with non-Muslim students initially. “Sometimes they may feel like tutors are forcing their faith on them even though that is not the intention at all. The intention is to provide the best examples – but in some cases it is preferable to be creative and turn to other resources.”

However, while there are ample traditional texts that are useful for teaching Arabic, there is a lack of new learning materials. If you research Arabic materials you won’t find that many – and those that you do find tend to be made by foreigners and not Arabs. “Many tutors feel that it is unnecessary to create new materials because we have so many old texts.” Neveen is grateful to the tutors who are creating new resources, but finds that they often fall short of expectations and are riddled with errors. “Tutors are improvising, but we need something bigger. If you want to learn French, for instance, there are so many great resources out there. The ministry of culture there is doing an amazing job.” The same can’t be said of Arabic as of yet.

Perhaps one reason for the insufficiency of modern Arabic materials is the diverse nature of the language. When she was just starting out, Neveen assumed that students would want to learn Fusha, or literary Arabic. “However, later I realized that when deciding on the teaching style, it’s important to consider the student’s goals. If the student wants to learn the language for travel and meeting new friends, then it would be preferable for the student to learn an Arabic dialect. For example, if you go to Jordan or Egypt, you should learn Jordanian or Egyptian Arabic as it would be much more applicable in practice. However, if the student is learning Arabic for religious, cultural, educational, or professional purposes, then Fusha would definitely be a better choice.”

With PrepYourLesson Neveen found an opportunity to lend a helping hand to Arabic tutors struggling to find engaging and high quality resources for their students. Now, she is excited to share her own carefully crafted materials with like-minded tutors on a mission to make their lessons fun and insightful. You can view Neveen’s materials here.