Adham Center News

Adham Center Introduces New Course on Broadcast Arabic

The Adham Center has introduced a new course for its second-year master's candidates, emphasizing reading, writing, and grammar used in the Arabic of the broadcast media. This new initiative, in cooperation with AUC's Arabic Language Institute (ALI), ALI Director Dr. Said Badawi, and Arabic language professor Abbas El Tonsy, is designed to strengthen graduates' opportunities in the regional market.

The two-hour, twice-a-week class, taught by El Tonsy, aims at refreshing the students' Arabic grammar as well as instructing them in Arabic scriptwriting. Students view different Arabic television programs and discuss how different forms of the language, from colloquial to formal Arabic, are used. They also practice reading scripts aloud, to develop appropriate delivery and intonation and correct pronunciation of formal Arabic. In one of the weekly script-review sessions, Prof. El Tonsy views and critiques the reports students have produced in Arabic.

The class of 2002, the first Adham Center class to benefit from the addition of Arabic to the curriculum, say they're already reaping the benefits. "This course is very useful in the master's program since it enables us to produce reports in both languages, English and Arabic," said Mervat Abou Oaf. Intesar Al-Shukry said that, "since I don't use my classical Arabic, I had forgotten many of the basic rules of the language which have now been refreshed by the course."

The addition Broadcast Arabic to the Adham Center curriculum has been welcomed by the entire regional broadcasting industry, with executives of Abu Dhabi, Dream, and NBC expressing their appreciation for the new course to Adham Center director Abdallah Schleifer. Orbit Network participated directly in the development of the new initiative, through the provision of guidance and advice during the first year by Tarek El Kashef, Orbit executive director in Egypt, and Ali Belail, an Adham Center graduate who heads Orbit's field production unit for the "Al-Qahira Al-Youm" program.