Location:

Amman, Jordan

Program Type:

Study Abroad

Degree Level:

Undergraduate

Term:

Academic Year, Fall Semester, Spring Semester, Summer

Program Overview

Program Description:

Sijal Institute is an Arabic Language Center located in Amman, Jordan. The institute provides first-rate language instruction for students of Arabic at all levels. Modern Standard Arabic is offered at Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced levels as well as Colloquial Levantine Arabic. The Institute also acts as a hub of intellectual and cultural events, bringing together scholars, artists, and specialists across a broad range of expertise and disciplines, for seminars, workshops, exhibitions, and informal conversation.

Modern Standard Arabic/MSA (al-fuS-Haa) is taught as well as colloquial Levantine Arabic (al-3arabiyya al-mashriqiyya). This is the dialect spoken in Jordan, where Sijal is located, but also in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon. Students with proficiency in colloquial Levantine Arabic are able to communicate across the Arab world. The curriculum is based on the best-selling series from Georgetown University Press, Al-Kitaab fii Tacallum al-cArabiyya (Brustad, Al-Batal, Al-Tonsi), the most widely used Arabic language textbooks in schools and universities in North America. These include online activities as well as extensive video and listening passages available on DVD and as audio files. The texts in the Al-Kitaab series are supplemented by colloquial passages and resources, as well as selections from Arabic language media and the internet, academia, literature, and the arts. Sijal offers courses over four terms: Spring, Intensive Summer I, Intensive Summer II, and Fall. Our Intensive Summer courses cover the same content as our Spring and Fall courses in a five-week period. The term dates for 2015: Spring: January 31 – May 21 Intensive Summer I: June 6 – July 9 Intensive Summer II: July 11 – August 20 Fall: September 5 – December 21

All our courses are taught by experienced and knowledgeable instructors. Our curriculum was carefully designed and closely overseen by advisors with extensive experience in Arabic instruction at New York University, Harvard University, and Dartmouth College. Qualified and approachable, our instructors craft personalized supervision in a friendly, open, and rigorous intellectual environment.

Setting Description:

The Institute is housed in a historic villa and gardens lying in the heart of the Rainbow Street cultural district of Amman. Immersion is reinforced by our location in a pedestrian neighborhood packed with local galleries, restaurants, and cafés, and with residents of all ages and walks of life. Architecturally, the house is a rare gem, built in the style characteristic of the earliest Ammani homes, with distinctive Jerusalemite and Damascene influences. It is made of thick, local limestone with large, sunlit windows. Its layout is archetypical of the era – rooms of equal size on each side that spill into the reception hall in the center of the house. The building now houses state-of-the-art facilities: seminar rooms fitted with purpose-designed classroom furniture, carefully allocated study areas, a well-stocked small library, and a comfortable common room whose membership is open to students and visiting scholars. The entire space is covered by the highest speed Wi-Fi connection avai

Cost:

The tuition fee for individual students is USD 2,000 per term. Special rates for universities, embassies and other organizations can be discussed directly with Sijal.