In between trying to remember the Arabic words for snowy and cold, Zak Khayat ate a sandwich, yogurt and orange.
As part of a pilot program at State College Area High School, Khayat and 12 of his classmates meet three days a week to study Arabic. The district is considering whether to become the first in Centre County, and one of only a few in the state, to add an Arabic language program to the curriculum. It’s also considering adding Mandarin Chinese at the high school, although school board members say budget constraints could halt both plans.
Most of the students now studying Arabic take the class during their lunch breaks and receive learning enrichment credit. “The Middle East is really big in the news right now, so having people speak Arabic would really help,” said Khayat, a high school junior who plans to become an engineer. He thinks Arabic would be an asset if he pursues a field connected to petroleum or natural gas.
He’s also one of the few State College students with a personal connection to the language. His father, who emigrated from Syria to the United States for higher education, grew up speaking Arabic. Before enrolling in the high school class, Khayat knew a few phrases, such as “marhaban” (hello) and “kayfa halluk?” (how are you?).
It’s a challenging language — different sounds, different alphabet — but the students enrolled in the pilot program think it’ll help them in college and beyond, whether they’re studying linguistics or working overseas.
“We’re opening up the curriculum to non-Western cultures,” said Martha Young, coordinator of the district’s world language program. The district’s curriculum includes French, German and Spanish in middle school and Latin starting in high school. Centre County’s other public school districts — Bellefonte, Bald Eagle, Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osceola — offer French and Spanish classes. Ferguson Township’s Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School opened in 2005 with a strong international focus, teaching Chinese and Spanish to kindergartners.
The U.S. Department of Education lists both Arabic and Chinese as critical languages for national security and global competitiveness. Chinese is the second most common foreign language spoken in the United States, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. And the need for Arabic speakers has spiked in recent years.
“Our testing in Arabic has increased. ... There’s been a huge demand,” said Elvira Swender, director of professional programs for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, which tests individuals from academia, government and the private sector.
In 2001, the organization conducted 95 Arabic proficiency tests. Last year, it conducted 811.
Leah Harris, assistant press secretary for the state Department of Education, said about 90 of the state’s 501 public school districts have Chinese language programs and about three have Arabic language programs.
About 20 students at Upper St. Clair High School in suburban Pittsburgh are taking the high school’s first Arabic class this year. Plans are to add an other course next year. The district also offers Mandarin Chinese in high school and teaches Spanish in elementary classes.
“The sooner we start kids on the language the better,” said district Superintendent Patrick O’Toole. “There’s so many languages, it’s choosing that’s the challenge.”
So is funding. Rick Madore, president of the State College Area school board, said Mandarin Chinese and Arabic would both benefit students, but he hadn’t yet decided whe ther the district should add them next year.
“It’s probably not a matter of if. It’s just a matter of when. With the economy being the way it is, people in our area are hurting to some degree,” said Madore.
The board’s scheduled to vote on secondary course proposals at its meeting tonight. But members say decisions won’t be definitive until the 2009-2010 budget takes shape over the winter and spring. The district has to adopt a proposed final budget by May 31 and a final budget a month later.
Mandarin Chinese, which would require either a new part-time instructor or an on line curriculum, would cost the district about $25,970. Because State College already has a French teacher whose native language is Arabic, the district estimates adding Arabic to the curriculum would cost $2,282. That cost includes certification, course development and textbooks.
A Syrian immigrant, Lina Eid has taught French in the district for five years. She could receive Arabic language certification from the state by taking a proficiency test through the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
At a recent 47-minute class, Eid and her students spent the first eight minutes reviewing homework on the chalkboard, mostly speaking in Arabic. Then, she showed an Arabic newspaper, published near Detroit, that a student had brought in. None of the students recognized the man on the newspaper’s cover, Omar Sharif, who co-starred in the film “Lawrence of Arabia.”
Next, they played a version of the memory match game, where 24 cards were placed face down, and then two were flipped over each turn. Students tried to match English phrases, such as “it is cloudy” and “it is cold” with the correct Arabic translations.
After one student picked up three matches and another had two, Eid joked with those who had fallen behind in the contest.
“Everyone is a winner be cause they know what they mean,” Eid said. “But they have better memories. Sorry.”
Once the board was cleared, Eid reminded them to practice pronunciation. Then she spoke in Arabic, and they responded with the English translation.
“Baarid?” she said, and several responded, “Cold.”
“Mushmis?” she said, and junior Garuth Acharya replied, “Sunny.”
Acharya spent seven weeks this summer studying at the University of Jordan as part of the U.S. National Security Language Initiative begun under President Bush.
Acharya, who hopes to one day work for the State Department as a diplomat, said he enjoyed being able “to go to an Arab nation that has not the strongest ties to America still. ... If we want to live in a more cohesive world, we’ve got to cooperate, we’ve got to learn each other’s cultures.”
Ed Mahon can be reached at 231-4619.
