Preparing Leaders in the Arabic Language Teaching Community
Iman Hashem, California State University at Long Beach

During the last decade we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of private and public schools offering courses in Arabic language and culture. Unfortunately, this has occurred with limited support for developing teachers qualified to teach Arabic to non-natives and heritage speakers. New programs seek teachers who can develop successful standards-based programs in Arabic language and culture. Perspective teachers are eager to develop the skills necessary to interest and retain students and successfully compete with well established programs in commonly-taught languages.

In this workshop the presenter will describe various models she has used for teacher preparation, particularly those designed to serve teachers of Arabic language and culture in light of their strengths and weaknesses. The presenter will showcase her most recent work that builds the capacity necessary to become certified to teach in the state of California, specifically to create and deliver technology-enhanced, standards-based materials. The workshop will be a guided tour of the materials used for preparing teachers to plan, implement, and reflect on standards-based Arabic language and culture instruction.