The Middle East Raed Alsawaier Mrs. Lee is a new

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Chapter 4: The Middle East Raed Alsawaier Mrs. Lee is a new teacher in one of the elementary schools in the Pacific Northwest and has many students of Arabic descent mainly from the Middle East. She addresses one of the students at grade 4 (named Saeed) who does not seem to follow instructions. Her concern is turned into frustration as she tries to explain to the student that he needs to follow directions like everyone else in the class. She even feels offended as all that Saeed does is smile at her. She takes that as a sign of disrespect. She reports the case to the principal and sends a long email to the parents about what happened requesting their help in addressing their son’s behavior issue. The father gets upset and talks with Saeed about his behavior who in return explains to his father that he could not follow the teacher’s instructions. He only smiled as he felt really embarrassed in front of the class and meant no disrespect. The father has a flashback as he remembered that he used to do that in front of his teacher and father when he felt really bad. The fake smile actually covered the feeling of pain and embarrassment and was a way of escape from reality. Background The term “Middle East” was invented by the British Empire as a name to describe the area between the British mainland and the Far East, namely China. The people who live in the vast territories that the term “Middle East” encompasses, never call themselves Middle Eastern, except maybe when they move to Western countries. This can be understood considering the diverse countries, cultures, languages, and religions that flourished throughout history and continued to exist today in the Middle East: “The Middle East is a vast and critical area of the world, a composite of ancient and modern cultures, disparate races and religions, and uneven historical and natural influences” (Minor, 1961, p. 86). Some definitions of the Middle East

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include countries as far as North Africa such as Morocco, Tunisia and Libya. Zubaida (2015) notes that “The Middle East is that part of Western Asia extending from the eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey and Syria, through the desert to Iraq and Arabia” (p. 1). However, this chapter will focus on four main countries: Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, and Syria. The reason this chapter will only discuss these four countries is for practical reasons related to the commonalities among them, which are in some ways generally representative of other countries and cultures in the Middle East. For example, Palestinian culture and education are historically intertwined with Jordanian culture. The Jewish culture, represented by Israel, has not been listed here, although an essential part of Middle Eastern history and culture, because of the considerably low percentage of Israeli elementary students in the U.S. school system and the uniqueness of the Jewish culture. Demographics and Geography Close to 30% of the population in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria is between 15-29 years old (Youth Policy, 2016). Egypt is the largest Arab country in terms of population; estimated at 93 million in 2015 (Worldmeters, 2015). Egypt is part of North Africa and is not geographically connected to Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, The populations of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria has been radically transformed due the Syrian refugee crisis following the civil war in Syria. Due to shared borders between Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, millions of Syrian refugees fled to Jordan and Lebanon, among many other countries, causing the population of Syria to drop dramatically. The population of Jordan jumped from 7 million to over 8 million following the large influxes of Syrian refugees. The population of Lebanon also increased by a million due to the refugee crisis to become over 7 million. The current population of Syria is almost impossible to know. In a report published by the economist titled “Syria’s drained population,” the satellite

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images show vast Syrian territories with no human activity due to refugee displacement (Data Team, 2016). More than 50% of the Syrian population (approximately 4.5 million) are refugees in other countries (Amnesty International, 2016). The Obama administration has pledged to resettle 10 thousand refugees in the U.S. (many of whom are children of school age) (Sengupta, 2016). Middle Eastern Cultures and History The main components that Middle Eastern cultures share are language, religion as the source of ideas and beliefs, and behavior in terms of morals and folkways. Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria share these. For example, Arabic is the main language of communication and education, although English becomes more prevalent in academic settings; however, Lebanon and Syria show more communication in French as a result of the French colonialization. The majority of the population is Muslim with significant number of Christians, especially in Lebanon. Religion Egypt The largest Arab country in the Middle East is Egypt, which also has the largest Coptic Christian population, estimated at approximately 8 million. Christianity in Egypt dates to the Roman era where Alexandria was an early epicenter of Christianity. Egypt is truly an amalgamation of cultures and religions, though dominantly Islamic Arab. One researcher acknowledged that Egyptian culture, just like other world cultures, is affected by a “hybridization process” (Gregg, 2005, p. 4).

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Lebanon Lebanon has the most diverse culture in the Arab world with multiple religious groups and ethnicities. Lebanon shows a considerable population of Christians estimated at 38.22%, although the number is decreasing due to socio-political reasons (Lebanese Information Center, 2013). Many Christian Lebanese, with strong European influence, choose to have one or two children, whereas Muslim population does not exhibit this phenomenon. Jordan Jordan has one of the oldest Christian population in the world and many consider it, including the west bank of the Jordan River, to be the birth place of Christianity. The percentage of Christians in Jordan is 6% and is dropping due to the small family size many Christians choose to have, in addition to immigration to Western countries (BBC, 2015). The relationship between Christians and Muslims in Jordan is largely peaceful with a lot of Christians serving in key government positions and in the parliament. Syria The majority of the population in Syria is Muslim at 87% and 10% Christians in addition to other minorities (Mundi, 2014). These other religious minorities include Alwayites, Duruuz, and Jews; however, the religious and ethnic shape of modern Syria has been changed due to current civil war. Estimated between 175 to 200 thousand, the last Jews of Aleppo escaped to Israel following the intense fighting (Kaplan, 2015). Furthermore, a large number of the Sunni population have been displaced due to the attacks of the Shiite-supported regime. Morals and Folkways

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The behavior component of culture in the four countries of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria and is quite similar in many ways. They share the idea of respecting the teacher who, in most cases, will be like a “sage on the stage” with complete power and control of the classroom learning experience. Obviously, the student is not at the center of the learning process in a lot of educational settings. The majority of the teachers in Middle Eastern schools “tend to use direct lecturing illustrating concepts and reading from textbooks. Moreover, assessment relies almost entirely on examinations” (Derderian-Aghajanian & Cong, 2012, p. 174). Summative assessment is essential in the Middle Eastern culture where teachers evaluate their students based on their scores in examinations and not on authentic formative assessment or overall language development. Similarly, the parents will judge their students’ progress based on their final score which will decide, in their opinion, their child’s future and social acceptance. It is important for American teachers to understand that the score they assign to students of Middle Eastern origin carry a lot more weight culturally and socially than other students. During teacher-parent meetings, teachers could, for example, explain to the parents of Middle Eastern culture how their students are being assessed. Language and Literacies This chapter focuses mainly on the classic Arabic language widely understood by the majority of the Arabic speaking population, including the countries discussed earlier i.e. Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, and used in all forms of formal communication in writing and speaking. Furthermore, classic Arabic is the language used in the writing of the Quran, the holy book for Muslims, and the Hadith, the prophetic tradition of Mohammad. Arabic “slang” has more vowel count and sound combinations that do not exist in standard Arabic. Whereas in standard Arabic, there are 28 consonants and 6 vowels (3 long and 3 short), Syrian Arabic slang,

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for example, uses 11 vowels total (Shafiro, 2013, p. 147). This could be explained in part due to the foreign language influences such as English and French as introduced by the British and French colonialization. This influence was exhibited more on “slang” Arabic because of its usage in everyday communication while standard Arabic is used mainly in writing. In spite of the variation between classic Arabic and colloquial versions of the Arabic language, they both originate from the same phonological system. One of the main problems that Arabic ELLs face is the absence of some of the common vowels that are widely used in the English language (Table 1 shows a list of Arabic vowels and how they are pronounced in English words). Arabic ELLs have a tendency to replace the consonants and vowels not used in their native language (L1) with the closest sounds to be able to communicate in the target language, namely English. The /t͡ʃ/ sound not used in standard Arabic, as in the word “teacher,” will be replaced by many Arabic learners with the sound / ʃ/ as in the word “shape” (see Table 3). Even Arabic students with relatively good English language skills exhibit this tendency occasionally. Similarly, the consonant /v/, which does not exist in the Arabic alphabet, will be often substituted with the consonant /f/. It is not unusual for Arabic students, especially at the beginning level, to say “fery (very) good!” The most commonly misused consonant by Arabic students is /p/ which only exist in the Arabic alphabet as a strong voiced /b/ sound. Some English teachers will try to help these students pronounce the /p/ sound with a piece of paper close to their mouths to illustrate the tiny current of air associated with it something that should not happen when pronouncing the vocalized /b/ sound.

English vowel combination presents a lot of challenges for Arabic learners particularly vowel combinations or vowel combination. Due to the limited number of vowels in the Arabic language

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more complex English vowel combinations need extra effort on the part of teachers and the learners as well. Although Arabic language is complex and rich, the vowel limitations could be attributed to the fact that “the Arabic writing system was originally consonantal” (Alotaiby, 2014, p. 810). Table 1 Arabic vowels with English Pronunciation َ‫ء‬

/a/

As in the English article a

‫آ‬

/a:/

man

َ‫أ‬

/u/

to

‫او‬

/u:/

too

‫إ‬

/i/

inn

‫إي‬

/i:/

meet

Table 2 Chart with English vowels not used in Arabic language /ei/ /ɛ/ /ai/ /au/ /ju/ /ɔɪ/ /ʌ/ /ɛə/ /ɔə/

vowel combination forward vowel vowel combination vowel combination vowel combination vowel combination vowel vowel combination vowel combination

as in bait as in bet as in by as in house as in abuse as in boy as in run as in bear as in boar

Table 3 Chart with English consonants not used in Arabic language /t͡ʃ/

consonant

as in chair

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/v/ /p/ /ʒ/ /ŋ/

consonant consonant voiced sibilant velar nasal Ideas for Teachers

as in vote as in pen as in seizure As in sing

Understanding the culture Understanding the cultural variation between the Middle East and the U.S. could aid the American teachers in terms of teaching methodology and content. Although teachers in the U.S. school system have to comply with state standards and curriculum requirements, there is still some room for them to modify their teaching techniques and slightly alter the learning content. Methodology Once they come from their countries overseas, the immersion of Middle Eastern students is instant but their assimilation into American culture is slow. It will take longer for Arabic students coming from this background to “break the ice” and become actively involved in class participation and activities. It is not uncommon for Arabic students, especially at the elementary level, to show their embarrassment by way of smiling which could be interpreted in a western society as a sign of disrespect as in the in the scenario of Mrs. Lee in the beginning of the chapter. One approach educators can use is to limit initial involvement in the classroom activities to pair work or even individual work to gradually help the students of Arabic descent to overcome their social anxiety feelings. Relevant Learning Content Storytelling, which is an essential part of elementary school pedagogy in the U.S., is not so for students of Middle Eastern origins. Although, Arabic culture is very rich with fictional literature, bedtime stories and children’s stories are simply not part of the culture. In a similar

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vein, students of Middle Eastern origin do not read, in most part, as often as students in other cultures. When Arab-American children are exposed to stories translated into English from Arabic, they were able to make connections to their own heritage and establish cultural identity in terms of their experiences and self-esteem (Al-Hazza & Bucher, 2008, P. 210). When teenage Arab-American (born in the Middle East) students were interviewed about their experience as children exposed to different kinds of literature, they “remembered many favorite European American, Hispanic American, and African American children’s stories but no stories that reflected their own Middle Eastern culture” ( Al-Hazza & Bucher, 2008, p. 210). One approach that U.S. teachers can use to make sure Middle Eastern students are not alienated from the classroom experience, is to diversify the literature sources and include translations of Arabic stories into English language. Another more creative and student-centered approach is to make the students involved in introducing stories from their own cultural background and translate them to their peers in class. Establishing Connections Although cultural shock can have a significant impact on Middle Eastern students, especially when they first move in to the United states, statistical studies have shown that they have “healthy self-esteem” (Alkhateeb, 2014, p. 805). However, their acculturation and assimilation into the U.S. educational system may take some time and can be dependent on a number of factors. These factors include the time the students need to master English language and the support the students get from their parents and the local ethnic community. In the case of the Syrian refugee children, the war trauma and loss of close family members could further delay their full involvement in the school system and possibly their overall performance. One method U.S. teachers can use to facilitate Middle Eastern students’ engagement is to know some basic

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Arabic words and phrases. Using simple words of greetings and phrases communicating basic messages could have a tremendous effect on the psychological readiness of students to get involved. Table 4 shows a list illustrating basic words and phrases in classic Arabic (so it could be understood by all Arabic native speakers of all backgrounds) and their transliteration/translation into English. Note that the stressed syllables are in capital letters. Table 4 Common Arabic phrases Hello - Peace ʾAssalāmu ʿalAYkum - marHAban ‫َم ْرحبًا‬-َ‫السَّالمَعليْك ْم‬ (To which the reply is): Hello - peace Wā ʿalAYkumu s-salām - marHAban ‫َم ْرحبًا‬-َ‫وعليْكمَالسَّالم‬ ً‫ال‬ Welcome ʾahlAn َ ‫أ ْه‬ Goodbye maʿAs-salAma ‫معَالسّالمة‬ Good morning! sabAḥu khAIr !‫صباحَالخيْر‬ Good evening! masAʾu l-kḫAIr !‫مساءَالخيْر‬ Good night! (to a male) tusbIH ʿala kḫAIr !‫تص ِبحَعلىَخيْر‬ Good night! (to a female) tusbiHI ʿala kḫAIr !‫تصبِحينَعلىَخيْر‬ ْ ‫کيْف‬ How are you? kAifa alhAl ‫َٱلحال؟‬ What's your name? mā ismUk ‫ماَٱسْمك؟‬ My name is … Ismi …‫اس ِْمي‬ ْ I don't speak Arabic. Lā ʾataḥAddaṯu l-ʿarabiyyAH .‫الَأتحدَّثَالعربيّة‬ I speak English. ataḥAddaṯu al-ingilīziyYAh – .‫أتحدثَاإلنجليزية‬ http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/resources/arabic/articles/common-arabicphrases/#sthash.6lsg4Qtd.dpuf Culturally Sensitive Topics There are a number of subjects considered to be cultural taboos that Middle Eastern students deliberately ignore or were never exposed to in the educational system practiced in their home countries. Topics such as sexual education, sexual orientation, and atheism in addition to other culturally sensitive topics are rarely, if ever, addressed or discussed openly in any classroom setting in Middle-Eastern countries. Generally speaking, culturally acceptable or

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inacceptable topics are decided based on the idea of Halal (Islamically permissible) or Haram (Islamically prohibited) which affects many students coming from Muslim background. Cultural taboos have been connected in many studies to religious prohibitions (Fowles, 2008). However, as discussed earlier in the chapter, not all Middle Eastern students are Muslim, which is essential for American teachers to know. Culturally inappropriate topics can be defined as the ones “which may contradict the ‘common sense’ of the local society [of native country] including authorities, peers, and even teachers” (Gitsaki, 2011, p. 82). American teachers should consider the sensitivity of these kind of topics before presenting them to students of Middle Eastern descent. Some schools in the United States give the option for parents to provide sexual education for their children as a way to show cultural discretion in handling culturally sensitive topics. Another approach is to present these topics strictly within scientific outline and to not to expose students of Middle Eastern descent to discussion or questions that could cause embarrassment. For example, showing the anatomy or the biology of human body could be more acceptable culturally than discussing ways of having protective sex. Extensions Research has indicated that skills the children acquire as they learn their native language can be great assets when learning language skills for the target language: “First-language (L1) and second-language (L2) lexical development has been found to be strongly associated with phonological processing abilities such as phonological short-term memory (STM), phonological awareness, and speech perception” (Nicolay, 2013, p. 655). To achieve best results in teaching ESL students of Middle Eastern descent, a scaffolding approach should be practiced by teachers in American schools. They need not to be so resistant to using Arabic in the acquisition of

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English language skills. Based on this theory of using L1 cognitive and phonological skills in development of L2 language skills, here are some suggested activities for the teachers:

Teacher: How would you respond if you see some of your students consulting with an ArabicEnglish dictionary to help them do an activity or understand instruction? Activity 1 Teacher gives students a number of multiple choice (MC) questions where the students need to find the meaning of Arabic adjective, noun, verb, adverb, …etc., from a number of choices in English. Teachers do not need to know Arabic to complete this exercise as they would have an answer sheet with Arabic/English words. They will use Arabic wordshape recognition to compare the answers with English words. Below is an example question for this activity: Adjectives for people ‫صغيرَالسن‬ A. young B. old C. clever D. exciting

Some websites where similar activities could be found for teacher’s use: http://a4esl.org/

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•

Offers resources such as quizzes, exercises and puzzles for the ESL learners and teachers as well.

http://www.5minuteenglish.com/the-fun-of-learning-english.htm •

Provides many fun ESL activities for ESL students and teachers and is geared toward ESL programs in the U.S.

http://iteslj.org/games/ •

Lists many ESL games that the teachers post and allows for sharing additional games and activities.

Story time: Teachers often send books home with students to read them with the help of the parents. The teacher notices that students of Middle-Eastern descent often do not complete the assignment. Why do you think some students of Arabic descent fail to do the assigned readings? Activity 2 Give your students of Middle-Eastern descent some stories from Arabic culture translated into English. If you do not have any in your classroom, you can always refer them to some websites where Arabic stories translated into English are available. Ask your students to write a summary of the story and share it with the class. Here are some websites where popular Arabic stories could be found: http://www.worldstories.org.uk/stories/story/9-joha-and-his-donkey •

A good source for free Arabic kids’ stories translated into English with some videos.

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http://toolstolearnarabic.blogspot.com/2010/04/pdf-36-arabic-stories-for-kids-for.html •

A huge collection of free PDF kids’ stories in Arabic, but with no translation in English.

http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/SimpleSearchCategory?langid=309 •

User-friendly designed website with many story books in Arabic and some in English.

Suggested reading for teachers to improve understanding of Middle Eastern cultures: Gregg, G. S. (2005). The Middle East: A Cultural Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. •

Offers the reader a good background on the culture, values, and the individual variations between men and women in the Middle East.

Cleveland, William L. (2004). A History of the Modern Middle East. Boulder, Co: Westview Press. •

Examines the modern history of the Middle East in light of the relationships between the Middle East and Western powers including the U.S.

Peterson, Mark Allen; 2011 Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. •

Focuses on Egypt, the largest Arab country, and describes the social factors that contribute in creating the individual Arab and class identity. Conclusion Understanding the Middle Eastern culture helps the American teachers adjust their methodology and partially their content in fulfilling the needs of Middle Eastern students.

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In this chapter, some important information on the Middle East has been presented: its history, demography, folkways, language, literacy, and ideas for the teachers in the U.S. context. If you are an American teacher with some students from the Middle East, please allow the students to consult with an Arabic dictionary if they want to; to read stories translated from Arabic to English if this promotes their engagement; to speak a little Arabic among each other if that facilities comprehension. Learn few words in Arabic; they could make huge difference and make the Middle Eastern students feel more at ease and better receptive to learning.

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Sengupta, S. (2016, May 10). The New York Times. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/world/middleeast/us-has-taken-in-less-than-a-fifthof-pledged-syrian-refugees.html?_r=0 Shafiro, V. L.-D. (2013). Perceptual confusions of American English vowels and consonants by native Arabic bilinguals. Language and Speech, 56(2), 145-161. Trevalon, M. (2003). Components of culture in health for medical students' education. Academic Medicine, 78(6), 570-576. Worldmeters. (2015). Egypt Population. Retrieved from Worldmeter: http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/egypt-population/ www.pimsleurapproach.com. (2015). Retrieved from Pimsleur Approach: http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/resources/arabic/articles/common-arabic-phrases/ Youth Policy. (2016). Middle East and North Africa: Youth Facts. (Youth Policy Press) Retrieved from Youth Policy.org: http://www.youthpolicy.org/mappings/regionalyouthscenes/mena/facts/ Zubaida, S. (2015, December). Encylopedia of Food and Culture. Retrieved from Encylopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403400421.html