Hard work (plus some fun work)

The 3 separate Arabic classes (beginner, intermediate and intermediate/advanced) joined forces (and hands) today.  The 3 Arabic instructors (Rima, Riham and Noor) plus the dynamo Jumana (Arabic Coordinator, and so much more!) wanted to teach students more Arabic via music and some dance.  So they taught them (and us all) some Dabkeh while also teaching them a song plus key words (e.g., left, right, in, out) and more. 

After the morning Arabic (and Dabkeh) lessons, we had lunch break and then an afternoon discussion with Muhammad Zeidan, discussing "Youth in Jordan."  Muhammad is an engaging young man, a great speaker, indeed a charismatic one.  He spoke a lot about poetry, novels, blogging, youth activism, and much more than I can recall.  (Sorry I have no pictures of Muhammad; I have some below of Dr. Raed and a good portion of his amazing staff plus some of the Arabic and Dabkeh)





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You can't get there (Serbia) from here (Kosovo) - go to Montenegro!

Image
“You can’t cross this boundary from here [the Kosovo “border”/Administrative boundary]. You’ll have to go to Montenegro and then enter Serbia from there.” Thus sayeth the Serbian policeman at the boundary/border, yesterday (Thursday) around 3:30 pm. The reason? We had a stamp on our passports that read “Republic of Kosovo”, which Serbia does not recognize as independent nation-state (nor do a small number of nation-states of the international community – Russia, Spain, Greece, and 6 other members of the EU). “Kosovo is Serbia.” What he was proposing was for us to “re-enter” Kosovo (1/4 th of a mile back from where we came); return to the town of Mitroveca (where we just left 90 minutes ago); cut over to the West, and enter Montenegro (another 90 minutes-2 hours); then drive to the Montenegro-Serbia border (another hour); then drive until we catch up with the road we could have been on – only one hour from the point on the map where we were standing that ver
Read more

(Remember me?) Back in Amman, Jordan Dialogue 2016

Image
'been a long time without posting ... time to get back in the game! I'm in Amman with students on my "Jordan Dialogue 2016"!  Had to stop in Beirut (thanks APSA-MENA!), prior to joining up with my group here in Amman.  I want to give a shout-out to Mr. Charles, Ms. FaHu, and Lt. Briskin plus the inimitable Dr. Shakir for leading the group here ahead of me. Now we're all together and my first day with everyone was a trip to Ajloun Castle after they all toured Jerash ... Note - I was standing right in front of this group, but they insisted on using the selfie stick!  And I found a kindred spirit with a nearly matching hat.  Plus, a non-selfie with the amazing Farhana. Ajloun Castle - built by  nephew of Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi ( Saladin ), in AD 1184-1185. 
Read more