ALCASA’s June session was our fourth monthly session so far. The meet-up, as always focussed on the development of Arabic conversational skills, as well as the sharing and enjoyment of culture from the Arab world. This month the Children’s Group did an amazing job of learning the names of body parts in Arabic and creating a beautiful poster before delighting us with their presentation of what they had learnt. The Beginner’s Group made themselves very hungry learning the names of commonly-enjoyed food items in the Middle East and picking-up some food-related phrases. While, in the Advanced Group, Matt presented on his life experiences, and this led to some interesting group discussion in Arabic. Fayrouz also facilitated discussion about how she learnt to make PowerPoint presentations from her daughter when she was in her first year of primary school. Finally, we all listened and reflected on a beautiful song from Lebanon called Al hudood الحُدود by Marwan Khoury. Hayan presented a movie clip of the song with English translations so that all could enjoy the evocative lyrics.
After enjoying a delicious afternoon tea of “maamul” and “namura” مَعْمول ونَمّورة, we were treated to a fascinating cultural presentation on the archaeology of Jordan. The presentation was delivered by Ana, one of our talented members who is currently engaged in postgraduate archaeological research in Jordan. Following this link will allow you to find out more about the work being done http://hsnes.org/current_project_020.htm .
And so, another enjoyable and educational ALCASA session has come and gone. We are so pleased to see the many regular faces each month, and equally thrilled about our new members joining as well. There’s lots of room for more kids in our Children’s Group, so we look forward to meeting more families over the coming months.
Nicole Harb