In November 2021, a surprising chapter in my journey with Arabic, in Egypt, began. Indeed, I am still surprised by the experience that I somehow found myself living. As a result of a harmonious chain of choices and events, I came back to Alexandria of Egypt, where everything started, to take part into a challenging as much as enriching adventure.
After several long-term experiences in the country in the course of the last four years, I decided to take a further step in my journey with Arabic in Egypt. I therefore enrolled in the fall training course for teaching Arabic as a Foreign language at the TAFL Center, that unique place part of Alexandria University, where I was a student of Arabic for an entire year between 2017 and 2018.
What happened in between, to make me come back and make a shift from being a student of Arabic to desiring to teach it?
Undoubtedly, my year of studying Arabic in Alexandria in 2017 went far beyond the planned goal of learning this language. Both Arabic and Egypt naturally entered my life, becoming a centre of gravity throughout all further experiences in Paris, Beirut, Cairo and Dahab. During that time, my love for this language and the country of Egypt has reinforced and simultaneously evolved. I could start feeling a strong desire to share something so close to my heart, following the principle of learning, applying and then teaching something that matters to you.
While it could seem a sudden shift, coming to Alexandria to learn the strategies to teach Arabic to foreigners was definitely a choice progressively manifesting, requiring times of patience, focus and small steps. Indeed, tomorrow, little by little, with patience it can become a lot.
That one month course at the TAFL Center represented a journey made of small and daily steps, reflecting the overall journey of learning this language.
Learning step by step
“Tomorrow, little by little, with patience it will become a lot”
بكرة القلیل على القلیل بالصبر یكون كتیر
This sentence from the song “Fares” by one of my favourite Egyptian bands, Zap Tharwat, can best express how I started this experience, which I knew could be full of challenges but also rich of insights, lessons and achievements, if taken step by step.
Surely, approaching the goal of learning Arabic step by step was one of the most precious lessons, which I have learnt during my year of studying Arabic at the TAFL Center. Coming from a highly competitive university in Europe, my approach to study had definitely been different, characterized by stress, fear and speed for the sake of achieving outcomes. On the contrary, at the TAFL Center, I could experience a new learning experience, focused on each small improvement, which any student makes, day by day.
With this approach, it doesn’t matter where you start from, nor where you’re heading to, nor how much time you take. Rather, what matters is that, on the way, there are constant improvements, bringing you every time to an upper level.
“See, Farida (My Arabic name given by one of the teachers at the TAFL Center), today you are able to say this sentence,” Prof. Dr. Mohammed told me one day after noticing great frustration in my eyes from feeling completely inadequate to the level of the class I was placed in.
“Yesterday, you did not know that,” he concluded, driving my attention to my personal improvement. That day I could learn that patience, combined with kindness towards myself and persistence towards the goal, could be one of the secrets to continue learning, while enjoying, the Arabic language.
Climbing mountains
Starting learning Arabic could seem like standing in front of a high mountain and deciding to climb it. It seems impossible to reach the peak, needing too much time and energy without even being sure of effectively arriving at the top safe and sound. However, once you start, you initiate a process where small steps, one by one, if taken with focus, presence, consistency, will lead you up there.
My one year in Sinai accompanied by the Insights Seekers community helped me clarify this process, connecting the activity of climbing a mountain to the activity of learning (in this case Arabic).
I myself applied this approach during the training course. When I decided to start it, I was fully aware of the challenging experience I was engaging into, as I am not an Arabic native speaker. There, I was surrounded by Egyptians who naturally know, use and communicate in their native language. In front of me, there was a high mountain wall to climb. Why shall I do that?
I realized that clarifying the “why” behind starting any experience, like learning a language, travelling, climbing a mountain wall, becomes essential. If you know the true motivations driving you to step out of your comfort zone and to engage into a new experience, you will be able to keep on going, even when the way gets so hard. Indeed, I cannot hide feeling at times extremely frustrated, even in despair, while learning Arabic. However, I have kept and will keep going, because I know my why, or, more precisely, I feel it.
At the beginning, setting intentions and visualizing the goal helped me in my journey with Arabic. Then, I found myself completely absorbed into this journey, where every small daily step could lead me to a upper level. The moment of approaching the desired goal (you set it, as the journey of learning Arabic never ends!) might really seem like touching the chain of the top of the mountain wall. You made it, you climbed all the way up! What’s the next goal? Just feel the motivation, take a deep breath and you are ready to go, Yalla (Go)!
Additional lessons
The Arabic word “المثابرة “ translating into “persistence”, which I learnt from my teacher of Arabic calligraphy, Mahmoud Mostafa, (the experience of learning Arabic calligraphy is another highlight of my last period in Egypt, to which I will dedicate a separate blog post) can best describe a useful state of mind to keep while engaging into challenging journeys. I came to believe that persistence, combining qualities like determination and patience, becomes essential in learning languages, as it implies to never stop walking towards a challenging goal, even when it gets so hard to be willing to give up.
On the way, I have also learnt the power of unity, or rather sharing. The methodology applied at the Tafl Center focuses on group work, where all students help each other and the teacher assists them, coordinating the cooperation which naturally happens in class. In this way, learning becomes extremely effective, enjoyable and dynamic. If learning becomes an enjoyable experience to live, that kind of knowledge grows with solid roots and it will hardly go away.
No beginning nor end- La BIdayi w la nihayi
There is no beginning nor an end, in the journey of navigating the vast and deep water of the Arabic language. I myself, see this course as the end of a chapter, and the beginning of a new one. The beginning and the end fade away into a single blurry line. “La bidayi w la nihayi” as the singer Hiba Tawaji chants in her poetic song. Where is the beginning? Where is the end?
The navigation continues, stay tuned!
P.S. All my gratitutde to the TAFL Center for accompanying me in the journey of learning the Arabic language in the most supportive, professional and enjoyable way!
