Monday, December 17, 2007

Arabic Class for Beginners

Last Friday Dec. 14th, I completed my 7-weeks course in Arabic for Beginners organised by the Islamic American University - Arabic Language Institute. It was held twice a week on Thursdays & Fridays from 6pm till 8pm. The purpose is just getting to know a few conversational phrases like how to introduce oneself, how to ask questions, how to answer questions, nouns , pronouns , adjectives... and once a while Sr (sister) Fadia Rayyan - the teacher, will throw in hadiths and du'a for us to translate. She also covered a bit of 'science' in the Al Fatihah within half an hour of the last class. Which she said it took her at least one semester. So that was just a tip of the iceberg! She has gotten her Masters in I think.. Usulludin & Hadith, can't remember, and she's now in the midst of her PHD. Seronok dengan orang banyak ilmu nii... Parents from Palestine but she was born and raised in Jordan. As a mudarrisah or mu'allimah (teacher) she's rather firm and strict - a trait she says comes from her Palestinian blood. Classmates? Ooo..all over the world..he..he... at first there were 14 of us but towards the end only 10 were left. Above is Ammar an engineer from India, beside him Abu Sattar (cannot see his face in the picture) a pharmacist from India as well. On the left here is Ahmad an engineer from Kenya, beside him Amir, forgot his profession but he's from Pakistan. Back of the class in the bottom picture is Hussein an engineering technician from Sudan. He is still studying to get his degree. In front of him is Hassan a chiropractor originally from Lebanon but now his parents are living in Canada and beside him is Ahmad Othman a student from Malaysia. He is currently staying here with his parents and 2 sisters in Sunnyvale. Ahmad or Ozy as we call him here is the youngest in this class...and of course, I am the oldest. But, I am also the best student! he..he.. We were missing a few others on the last day, Tasneem a teacher from

Somalia and Rahmatullah an engineer from Pakistan.
Tassannam an architect, born and raised in US but parents originally from Pakistan and Johan an accountant from Singapore were not around after a few classes. All these people have been in the US for quite sometime now...ooo, last but not least "Ana Ainaalfadhilah min Maleyzie, kuntu muhandisah wal'an ana rabbatu bait". Which means... I am Ainal Fadzellah from Malaysia, I use to be an engineer but I am now a house wife... And it was all and more of it captured on tape! Which Fadia says she'll get them up on youtube...so watch out, you'll soon see us introducing ourselves and our families on the internet...in Arabic!
I’m A Star
The course cost us 100 dollars for 14 classes which means about 7 dollars for a 2-hr class. Ok la tu...ilmu ni kalau tak kena bayar tak berkaaat....he..he..
I hope to enroll in the full program which starts next year...
"masaa unnuur"

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

wah bestnya zura dah lama nak belajar di sini

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

azura asri ni kat mana? kita kenal x? u can email me if u like... :-)

Nor said...

Pn. Ainal, apa kabar ? 4 a moment I lost ur blogsite. Alhamdulillah dah jumpa balik. Kena catch up. Congratulations on taking up Arabic class. Oops belated Aidil Adha greetings to you and family. How was it ? Kami di-sini quiet mode tapi insyaAllah kami (K.Sairah, Laila, Tini, dll) semua akan berkumpul di-rumah saya Ahad ini. It was predicted to be a rainy day, hope it will not damper our spirits to get together - potluck style !
Nor pun ada ambil Arabic class at the masjid - quite confused with the grammar and word building. Alhamdulillah I am grateful that I can read the letters though.
Take care and salaams to En Sohaimi.

Anonymous said...

Sabaah'ul Hair ... Kaifal Hal? Ila 'aina ba'dal yaum? (hopefully betullah Arab karat nie) ...

Jamiil Jiddan ... ini ustaz selalu cakap kat kami kalau pandai sikit cakap dgn dia.

Have fun esok, stay safe, insyaAllah. I suggest you use Hwy 50 sebab last year kami kena turn back using Hwy 88 tu, we lost about 2 hrs turning back to Hwy 50 to get to the South Lake.

Ismaliza Neezam said...

hai kak ainal.....

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

Hai... orang Virginia. Semoga sihat semua.. Kami kat sini alhamdulillah :-)

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

Dear Noria;
Kami kat sini doing just fine....alhamdulillah. We had a small gettogether after solat raya last wednesday at our place. Adha here in San Jose is also in quiet mode. Hope everyone had fun over at your place last sunday, though. Yea...Arabic can be quite confusing. Anyhow, hope I can proceed with more lessons next year. Just came back from Tahoe X'mas evening. Will keep you posted..:-)

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

Bikhair..alhamdulillah..
Just came back this evening.. Hwy 88 was smooth ride this time around. Even the tyre chains were not necessary.. :-)

Anonymous said...

Kak Ainal
Seronok baca ur blog. Keep posted!
Salam aidiladha

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

Kaedah,
Thank you for visiting my blog. I'll keep on writing, insyaAllah. Dah tak der keje... he..he..

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