Videos & Podcasts
Video: Moroccan & Jordanian Cooking Event at Arabic House
http://utarabicflagship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Arabic-House-Cooking-Event_Fall2011.mov
The student residents of Arabic House organized and hosted students of Arabic and Arabic faculty, for a Moroccan and Jordanian cooking event. Athar Madanat, teaching assistant for First Year Arabic, and Ustatha Fatima Filali Salek, instructor of Second Year Arabic, took lead in the kitchen to create an interactive cooking session. They prepared traditional dishes from their respective homelands, and event attendees feasted on an extravagant menu of traditional Middle Eastern fare including Moroccan couscous, Bastila and Magloobah – a unique chicken and cauliflower dish that literally translates to “upside down!”
YouTube Video: “The Moroccan Referendum and the Future of Morocco”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP1RizmOo8w
Arabic Flagship Program student Grace Zhang, showcases a video on YouTube, which she created as part of a midterm project in her Arabic media class while studying abroad for the summer in Meknes, Morocco. For the project, Grace chose to focus on the referendum, a recent political topic in Morocco that has received broad coverage in both Moroccan television and newspapers. Grace wanted to personally learn more about why people were protesting, whether they supported or opposed the constitutional changes, and the rationale behind their support or opposition.
Grace’s video also appeared in a popular French-Moroccan political blog:
http://hespress.com/videos/34276.html
Alhurra Video: Teaching Arabic at The University of Texas at Austin
Alhurra Television developed a segment for its daily show about learning the Arabic language in the US, and featured The University of Texas at Austin’s Arabic Flagship Program. The segment explores the size and quality of UT’s Arabic Flagship Program, and interviews Dr. Mahmoud Al-Batal and Dr. Mohammad Mohammad, who discuss the importance of the teaching styles at our University. The instructor’s respective classes are showcased, displaying the focus on small classes and cultural elements that help students become more involved in the language. Student interviews and footage from Arabic House are also woven into the media segment, where students present their reasons for studying Arabic and the fulfillment it has provided in their educational journey thus far. Dr. Al-Batal also speaks about using Aswaat Arabiyya, a website for learners and teachers of Arabic that provides materials for listening comprehension.
Alhurra Interview: Teaching Arabic in America
Dr. Kristen Brustad, Chair for the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, is interviewed about the evolution of Arabic pedagogy in the United States. She puts forward that the events of September 11 increased the interest in the Arabic language and consequently, allowed Arabic language programs to be founded and flourish. The Arabic program at UT focuses on making the language accessible for students, not just teaching them formal Arabic. Dr. Brustad shares that students have a vested interested in learning Arabic: they enjoy it and want to learn it to understand things that they otherwise would not—not because they are looking to profit or learn the “language of the enemy.” Many of the students progress on to Masters or Doctoral programs to pursue teaching, while others enter Arabic-specific fields or may later use it for trade or communication.
Study Abroad Videos: Students Share Stories from Egypt & Syria
We invite you to view video clips of AFP students who are sharing stories from their various academic and cultural experiences while studying abroad at Alexandria University in Egypt. Not only can you hear the language of Arabic at various proficiency levels, but you will also discover the details of an immersion experience abroad through the cultural journeys of current students.
Arabic Culture & Relationships
The Flagship Experience
Trips & Traveling Abroad
Student Stories from Alexandria & Cairo
Cultural Videos: Events, Lectures & Student Projects from the AFP
We also invite you to view student videos from cultural events, lectures and student projects.
Intensive Turkish II Class
presents “Candle in the River” and “Groom’s Dance
Turkish folk dances titled “Candle in the River” and “Groom’s Dance” – the latter which is most commonly performed at Turkish weddings.
video: http://utarabicflagship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/1.-Turkish_Small.mov
Intensive Persian II Class
presents “Soosan Khanom”
This performance shows a modern satirical take on the traditional Iranian proposal process known as Khastegari. The men go out of their way through song and dance to convince a woman that they belong together. This song embodies the modern comical take on a long-standing custom.
video: http://utarabicflagship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2.-Intensive-Persian.mov
Intermediate Persian II Class
presents an “Iranian Party in Tehrangeles”
The performance reveals the traditional Persian New Year, giving a glimpse into holiday visits at at one’s house and showing off the set up of the Haft-seen spread (the traditional Iranian table set for the New Year) with seven items starting with the letter “S.”
video: http://utarabicflagship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/3.-Intermediate-Persian.mov
Intensive Hebrew II Class
presents “Yachad”
Yachad means “together”. The class sings two Israeli songs (Yachad and Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu) talking about peace and togetherness.
video: http://utarabicflagship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/4.-Hebrew.mov
First Year Arabic Students
present “The Voice of Freedom”
This is a song that was written and recorded during the January 25th revolution in Egypt. The video was posted on YouTube and went viral. It’s significant because it was filmed in the middle of demonstrations in Cairo, with protesters holding signs of the song lyrics as protest signs. The students sing and imitate the video by holding protest signs with song lyrics, as in the original YouTube video.
video: http://utarabicflagship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/صوت-الØرية.mov
Jamila Davey
presents “Ishar”
Jamila offers a poem in Arabic and translated into English entitled Ishar or “إسهر ”written by Mansour Rahbani. The poem was set to a Mohammed Abdel Wahab composition and was performed by Fairuz. Jamila first encountered this poem listening to a Fairuz album that was released in 1960 by the same name. The poem is in the Shami dialect.
video: http://utarabicflagship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/6.-Jamila-Davey.mov
Charles Nwaogu & Natasha Sharma
present “Songs from Zaid Rahbani”
These songs were penned by the acclaimed Lebanese pianist, playwright, and political commentator Zaid Rahbani. The following pieces depict the grace and energy of the culture from which they were derived and prove that meaning can be expressed through a medium more beautiful than the Arabic language itself.
video: http://utarabicflagship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/7.-Charles.mov
Lauren Baker
presents “In Jerusalem”
Lauren recites a Mahmoud Darwish poem titled “In Jerusalem” (في القدس). She chose Darwish, because of his prominence and cultural importance as a voice of Palestine and the poem itself because of her own mixed and powerful feelings about the city of Jerusalem.
video: http://utarabicflagship.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/8.-Lauren-Baker.mov
Jessica Tibbets & Kelly Stedem
present “Parody in Solidarity”
Jess and Kelly needed extra credit points in Laila’s third year Arabic course. Just when they thought they were falling short of interesting things to boost their grade, Tunisia sent Ben Ali packing and sparked freedom movements across the region, and ideas in their minds. They decided to travel to Saudi Arabia and see how Ben Ali was assimilating into his new society. Then they hopped a plane to Egypt to check on Flagship students recovering from the revolution in Sharm al-Sheikh, got intimate with Qaddafis bodyguards in Libya, whispered about their secret love for Omar Offendum in a cafe in Syria and demonstrated Lebanese-style in downtown Beirut.
YouTube video: http://youtu.be/kuJOSYpafpw
Arabic House Residents
present “Inside the Arabic House”
The video satirically profiles the various stereotypical residents in Arabic House. It shares interviews with the Arabic House residents, interspersed with scenes of them performing daily tasks, portraying them as different stereotypes. The aim was to portray how much fun the residents have living together at the house, experiencing Arabic.
YouTube video: http://utarabicflagship.org/media/
Lastly, we invite you to view our collection of Arabic Flagship Program videos on our AFP YouTube Channel at the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2616DF6509C25C71