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Professors Oya Topcuoglu and Franziska Lys present at the Consortium of Middle East National Resource Centers Languages Workshop

March 2, 2023

 Profs. Topcuoglu and Lys presented their paper on the topic of Programmatic Vision which explained the development of three content-based courses in the MENA Languages Program at Northwestern. The courses at issue were developed utilizing cities to teach the language and culture at the intermediate level.  In recent years, Professor Topcuoglu developed the course "Istanbul: The Gateway between the East and West;" Arabic Professor Ragy Mikhaeel developed "Cairo and its Seven Layers of Civilization;" and Hebrew Professor Hanna Tzuker Seltzer developed "The Four-Dimensional Jerusalem."  Each of the courses utilizes authentic sources accompanied by creative learning exercises designed to help students explore the language and the cultural, social, and political issues.   The paper showcases the innovative approach to faculty development with the goal of reflecting on, assessing and sharing practices across language faculty teaching Turkish, Arabic, and Hebrew as the Program designed and developed three new courses based on a shared pedagogical model. 

The virtual national workshop was hosted by the Middle Eastern Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University,  the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona, and Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan. The themes of the workshop included Resilient Middle East Language Programs as well as Globally Competitive Graduates.