MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAN LANGUAGES PROGRAM

Winter 2024 Class Schedule

Course Descriptions

 ARABIC 111-2: First-Year Arabic
First-Year Arabic, Arabic 111, is a three-quarter sequence providing a thorough grounding for listening, speaking, reading, and writing Arabic. The course follows the integrated approach which blends the standard Arabic, Fuṣḥā, and the dialect or colloquial language, āmmiyya, in a way that reflects the authentic practice of native Arabic speakers. To develop reading and writing skills we will be using Modern Standard Written Arabic called Fuṣḥā; to develop speaking and listening skills we will be using an educated spoken version of the āmmiyya of the Levantine dialect. Topics covered during this quarter are: holiday, shopping, checking into a hotel, getting a new passport, eating out and reading a restaurant menu, renting a room, shopping at the vegetable market.First-Year Arabic uses a communicative, proficiency-oriented approach with fully integrated audiovisual media to teach modern Arabic as a living language. Instructors will use an interactive approach in the classroom, including conversational practice in class, reading practice, interactive small group exercises and cultural presentations.

Class Materials (Required): Arabiyyat al-Naas Part One, Second Edition: An Introductory Course in Arabic. Younes, Weatherspoon, Foster. (2023) Publisher: Routledge. Arabic 111-2 will cover Units 2-6 (tentative).

ARABIC 121-2: Second-Year Arabic
Second-year Arabic will focus on the integrated approach which blends the standard Arabic, Fuṣḥā, and the dialect or colloquial language, āmmiyya, in a way that reflects the authentic practice of native Arabic speakers. We will develop reading and writing skills using Modern Standard Arabic and speaking and listening skills using an educated spoken version of the āmmiyya of the Levantine dialect. The integrated approach successfully teaches the reality of the Arabic sociolinguistic and diglossic situation and prepares students fully for the various settings and contexts of the Arab world. We will start with Arabiyyat al-Naas (Part Two) focusing on culture, history, and useful vocabulary and phrases to communicate in real life context. Students will learn about the modern Arab world and its history, important Arab cities such as Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo, the Arabic language and its history, more about food and drinks and about personal and public health. Different media tools will be used such as games, crosswords, songs, movies, interviews, and documentaries about the Arab world culture and history. Second year Arabic uses a communicative, proficiency-oriented approach.

Class Materials (Required): Arabiyyat al-Naas Part One, First Edition: An Intermediate Course in Arabic. Younes. Publisher: Routledge. Units 17, 18, 19, 20.

ARABIC 211-2: Third-Year Arabic
This is an intermediate intermediate level course in which students will continue to advance their proficiency in Arabic language and learn more about the culture and people of the Middle East. The course continues to follow the integrated approach, which successfully teaches the complexities of the Arabic sociolinguistic and diglossic situation and prepares students fully for the realities of the Arabic world. The course will enhance learners' ability to read, write, understand, and discuss challenging authentic Arabic texts from different sources. This is a highly interactive class, focusing on developing reading, writing and speaking skills in MSA. Special emphasis will be placed on listening skills as well as developing conversational skills through small interactive group work designed to increase accuracy and fluency. Advanced challenging grammar discussions in class will lead to a more nuanced understanding of the Arabic language. Students will be taught to develop techniques for thinking in Arabic, which will be reflected in increased fluency in writing.

Class Materials (required): Arabiyyat al-Naas Part Two, Second Edition: An Intermediate Course in Arabic. Younes; Al-Masri. (2022) Publisher: Routledge. Units 9,10,11,12 (tentative)

ARABIC  316-3: Reading Modern Arabic Prose
This course is for undergraduate and graduate students as well as post doc researchers who are interested in exploring contemporary writings and how they have become a tool for forming national identities. Under the theme of "I am an Arab", the course offers an invaluable opportunity to engage with literary works of the Modern Middle East (roughly spanning the period from 1910-1980) cohesively examining the power of the written word within the historical, political, and cultural breadth of the region. The readings represent the region's best writers: authors are bound together not by the borders and nationalities that separate them, but by a common experience of colonial domination and Western imperialism. Student engaged in this course will learn foundational analytic skills such as the study of elements and imagery, sounds, forms, and writing styles, characteristics and development over time, which form the bases for analyzing a poem in its historical and political framework. Student will also refine their linguistic abilities in Arabic: in-depth analysis of each reading will improve the understanding of syntax and style; in-class discussions, reflections and oral presentations will enhance the acquisition of vocabulary and idioms; and short and longer guided writing assignments will help students assimilate in an informed way how meaning emerges through rhythm, word choice, style, and context.

Hebrew 111-2: First-Year Hebrew
This course is designed to develop all four language skills (speaking, writing, listening and reading comprehension) as well as provide a cultural foundation. The course is based on Hebrew from Scratch, a comprehensive textbook with grammar and interactive exercise for the beginning adult learner. . Hebrew 111-2, taught in the Winter Quarter, builds on material learned in the first quarter. After finishing in the Fall Quarter all seven units where we learned the aleph bet, fundamental vocabulary and basic sentence structure, we will begin the lessons of the book. You will learn the impersonal form widely used in everyday Hebrew, adjectives and more question words, as well as numbers, and the direct object, a unique form in Hebrew. All these new words and structures will be integrated into short texts and lively conversations which are part of the wider context of Israeli culture. As always, students will have ample opportunities to practice and expand all skills.

Class Materials: Hebrew From Scratch Part 1 (in Hebrew: Ivrit Min Ha-Hatchala Ha-Chadash Alef) Written by: Shlomit Chayat, Sarah Israeli, Hila Kobliner Printed by Akademon Press through Magnes Press, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 2012. Please note that the required text has a blue and yellow cover, and students should NOT use the older version which has a green and yellow cover.

Hebrew 121-2: Second-Year Hebrew
Second-Year Hebrew is a three-quarter sequence which will cover comprehensive grammar explanations and examples as well as cultural themes. The purpose of this course is to enlarge the students' vocabulary, and to reinforce and expand their knowledge of Hebrew grammar, as well as to deepen their knowledge of Israeli culture. Class will consist of interactive exercises for the intermediate learner, readings in a level-appropriate difficulty with more information of Israeli daily life and reality, and listening in the form of songs and clips in Hebrew. During Hebrew 121-2, students will expand their vocabulary and will practice the words already familiar from the previous year. We will continue learning more binyanim of the past tense. Students will also learn conjugations or basic prepositions they were introduced to last year. We will also learn the body parts, colors and more useful concepts, and we will integrate this knowledge into exploration of Israeli artworks. The readings will be in a level-appropriate difficulty with more information on Israeli daily life and reality.

Class Materials: Hebrew From Scratch Part 1 (in Hebrew: Ivrit Min Ha-Hatchala Ha-Chadash Alef) Written by: Shlomit Chayat, Sarah Israeli, Hila Kobliner Printed by Akademon Press through Magnes Press, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 2012. Please note that the required text has a blue and yellow cover, and students should NOT use the older version which has a green and yellow cover.

Hebrew 216-2: Topics in Hebrew Literature
"I'm still writing to you, maybe because I want you to give me a little hope", wrote Sayed Kashua to Etgar Keret in an exchange of letters between the two, after Kashua left Israel in 2014. Sayed Kashua is an "Israeli Arab", a Palestinian who was born and raised in Israel and studied in the Israeli education system. Kashua writes in Hebrew about his complex identity, and in addition to his novels and columns he has also written scripts for TV shows and movies. Etgar Keret is an Israeli Jewish writer, a son of Holocaust survivors, who wrote several short story collections and children books, as well as scrips for movies and TV series. Students in this class will read texts of Kashua and Keret and will also watch films written by the two. Students will be introduced to the stylistics of each of these writers, the unique fingerprints of each one of them, along with the traits they share as writers. A special emphasis will be on the language of each writer, the registers of Hebrew he uses, as well as the grammar structures and vocabulary, including slang and expressions unique to Hebrew. This class is intended for students who completed 2 years of Hebrew learning in NU or the equivalent and for students who passed the placement exams in Hebrew. Class requirements are weekly homework assignments, presentations, and short essay writing. A final project will be given in lieu of an exam. 

Turkish 111-1: First-Year Turkish through TV Shows
This course is for students who would like to start learning a language in the winter quarter. It provides a unique introduction to the modern Turkish language and culture through highly interactive TV shows.  TV shows reach 750 million people across 152 countries, and Turkey is second only to the US in worldwide TV distribution, with huge audiences in Russia, China, Korea, the Middle East, and Latin America. Turkish is becoming the language of global entertainment. In this first quarter, students will immerse themselves in the TV characters' personal stories and everyday realities of life in Istanbul. The highly interactive TV storylines offer ample opportunities to listen to and practice pronunciation,  internalize basic vocabulary and polite phrases, as well as learn about verb tenses and moods for more complicated language tasks. The class uses a communicative approach, meaning that group work and language production are emphasized in class.  The course ends with a class trip to a Turkish restaurant in Chicago where students will be able to communicate in Turkish outside of the classroom and utilize the skills they developed throughout the quarter. No prior knowledge of Turkish is necessary.

Class Materials (Required): Elementary Turkish: A Complete Course for Beginners. Revised Third Edition (2015). Kurtuluş Öztopçu. Kebikeç-Yayınları Sanat Kitabevi. Please purchase the print book, not the e-book. Additional materials will be provided by the instructor.

The seoncd quarter (Turkish111-2) will be offered in Spring 2024 and the third quarter (Turkish 111-3) in Fall 2024.  By the end of the third quarter, students will be able to use all common grammatical structures and engage comfortably with other Turkish speakers on a variety of everyday topics. Turkish is used in class whenever possible, and by the third quarter, it becomes the primary language of instruction.

Jewish Studies 280-6-1: Otherness and Othering in Israeli Film
Since its inception, Israeli society is comprised of various and different social groups; immigrants, Arabs, Jews, foreign workers, religious people, secular people, ultra-orthodox Jews, Christians, to name several. In a society where many feel themselves as outsiders, what does Otherness actually mean? Is it a subjective stance or a definite (and “objective”) position? Does Otherness exist only when juxtaposed with what is supposedly the social norms of “Israeli society” or can it stand by itself? Does Israeli society is othering others to have a false sense of unity? And is there an actual entity of “Israeli society” or is it only imagined by those who seek to be part of it? Film in its nature is an introspective tool, and in the case of Israeli film it has always been a prism through which Israeli directors examine questions of identity, the treatment of “others”, and the relationship between the center and the margins. In this class we will watch various Israeli films that relate to the notion of otherness and to the dilemmas that arise from the characters’ complex position in Israeli society. Among the movies we will watch are “Noodle”, “Borrowed Identity”, “Sandstorm” and “Baba Joon”. We will read texts that will contextualize the movies and will shed light on the stance of otherness in Israeli society. No previous knowledge of Hebrew or Israel or Israeli cinema is required. All the movies will have English subtitles and all the readings will be in English, as well as the lectures and class discussions.

MENA 290-6-1: Foodways of Turkey: A Multi-ethnic Look at Food, Culture and Identity 
Food represents an integral part of livelihood, culture and identity. Food production, consumption and sharing also have symbolic and ideological meanings. In this course we will explore the complex relationships between food, culture and society through the lens of Turkish food from the Middle Ages to the present. Using an array of primary and secondary sources from history, anthropology, literature, film and media, we will situate culinary practices and their use in constructing and expressing cultural, regional and national identities within the social, historical and political context of Turkey and the wider Middle East. We will study the consumption of and attitudes toward specific foodstuffs, gauging the relevance of items like coffee in the pre-modern world and baklava in modern politics. We will investigate the role of minorities and immigrants in shaping culinary practices in and outside Turkey; the effects of climate change on food production and scarcity; the role of globalization on national cuisine; and representations of Turkish food culture in world literature and film.