A New Semester

This is definitely a new semester, unlike the first. I thought the first semester was intensive, but now having been through my first 2 days I realize it was nothing compared to what this semester brings. Last semester we had 4 courses: Reading, Grammar, Colloquial, and Drill(review class). As I mentioned before I was hoping to move up a few levels to the highest in Elementary Arabic. Well, I got my wish, I guess I tested rather well, out of the 11 people in our previous class 3 of us made it up this high. Boy are we in for a treat! We have 7 people in our class the other 4 came from another more advanced Elementary class last semester. I think the only thing that divides us is our vocabulary--it seems we are at the same level in grammar. They divided the High Elementary classes into 5 groups: Elementary 1-5. I was thinking of moving down a level with all the other members of my class last semester, but they are still reviewing previous lessons and it seems too easy, however this one seems to high, so now I'm using the positive mentality of 'who can say no to a new challenge? bring it on!'

I've been very surprised that most of our teachers are only using Arabic. I never thought I would get to this level and now being here I'm scared! When they first started using all Arabic--the first few minutes of class--I was like WHOA hold on!! what have I got myself into! But, I realized I know the majority of the words they use I just haven’t learned how to apply it yet in so many different situations, so it will really help me out a lot. The class is pretty much divided. 1/2 the class came from a bit higher course than we had last semester, so they are able to use a bit more vocab etc...and then the 1/2 I'm on is currently overwhelmed with the amount of vocab we need to 'catch' up. I'm sure we will...One thing I have going for me is that we only have 7 people in our class and it's amazing how much personal attention we get opposed to 11 people. It like night and day.

We have 4 courses again this semester: reading/writing, grammar, colloquial, and media. I was so excited for our new class, Media!!! It mainly covers news media, b/c it has different formalities in Arabic than standard or colloquial. However, today was the first day of class and it blew my mind away! I have over a 1 1/2 pages of new voacab words from just over an hr of class and this takes the place of a review class where no new material was introduced!!! We read 2 headlines and one little news blurb. When we read the first headline I felt so accomplished b/c I pretty much followed along and picked up some new word that would be useful like Presided over a meeting and similar phrases. Then, we came to the last headline and short passage. It read something like this: Musa the Secretary-General of the Arab League called a special session to discuss a new draft resolution concerning Iran’s Nuclear activities......

A little advanced for me....I just picked up the Media Arabic text book and am excited to get into the Media Vocab. This semester is going to be such a challenge and I'm excited. I'm blessed Casey has to be at the bus for her school at 6:50 & that means I get to school by 7:30 and have lot's of extra time to study in the morning. I think if I can rise to the challenge this semester my Arabic will be well on it's way to quite functional. Maybe I will be able to pick up an Arabic newspaper and understand some stuff instead of having to buy the English edition. It will also help me keep up with the language back home. Online newspapers are the way to go---no paper or mess as they pile up around the house.



Wish me luck! I'm going to need it...