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How to teach Spanish to Syrian and Palestinian refugees
From January 18, 2021 until February 18, 2021The workshop will be held on two Sundays, February 21 and 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (with a lunch break lasting two hours).
ONLINE
Microsoft Teams platform
The workshop will be held on two Sundays, February 21 and 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (with a lunch break lasting two hours).
Prior registration required.
In Spanish.
We are giving a new online edition of our workshops for learning how to
teach Spanish as a foreign language (ELE) to Syrian and Palestinian
asylum seekers. You may now register.
With the cooperation of two teachers who specialize in humanitarian action and mediation, Victoria Khraiche Ruiz-Zorrilla and Nadia Jallad, Casa Árabe is offering this new onlineedition of the series of four workshops on teaching Spanish as a foreign language (Spanish/LE or ELE) to Syrian and Palestinian asylum seekers held in prior years.
The workshops will discuss the process to apply for asylum in Spain and the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language (Spanish/LE, or ELE) at official intake centers and charitable non-governmental organizations, while also introducing basic concepts about the Levantine dialectal variety of Arabic and useful sociocultural information to promote empathy with the students that Spanish-language teachers will come across in this field of activity.
Contents
The workshops will cover three main subject areas:
(1) They will take an in-depth look at the cognitive and emotional implications which the asylum application procedure itself has on the applicants’ learning process, while examining the main features of these types of classrooms for Spanish as a foreign language, with students who are extremely heterogeneous in terms of skill level and origins. Similarly, they will also discuss specific strategies for Spanish as a foreign language teachers to put into practice in such environments, providing a list of the most common linguistic and pragmalinguistic errors made by Arabic-speaking students of Syrian and Palestinian origin when communicating in Spanish, while also assessing the potential for transference from Arabic and other foreign languages they speak, such as English and French;
(2) They will analyze the contexts in which these students reach Spain, examining the origin and development of the conflicts which have led to the arrival of refugees and displaced persons coming from Syria and Palestine, and
(3) Different elementary expressions in Levantine Arabic will be taught, along with sociocultural information that will allow the humanitarian workers and mediators for whom the courses are intended to receive and assist these types of students while promoting empathy.
General objectives
By the end of the course, those attending:
• Will know what the asylum application procedure consists of in Spain.
• Will get a general overview of the nature of teaching Spanish as a foreign language to asylum applicants.
• Will be able to foresee specific learning difficulties among their Arabic-speaking students and take the resulting action to remedy them.
• Will be able to understand and effectively use basic expressions in the Levantine dialect of Arabic, which will help them promote empathy in the classroom.
• Will have developed their intercultural skills.
Profile of students for whom the course is intended: Teachers of Spanish as a foreign language, hired staff and volunteers at humanitarian organizations, civil servants at refugee intake centers, and those interested in teaching Spanish as a foreign language to immigrants, refugees and others, in general.
Sessions
The course will be held on two Sundays, February 21 and 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with a two-hour lunch break and a total duration of 14 course hours.
Sunday, February 21, 2021
• Workshop 1, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
What is a refugee?: The right of asylum and subsidiary protection. The Syrian and Palestinian cases (Victoria Khraiche Ruiz-Zorrilla)
• Workshop 2, from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Introduction to the Levantine dialect of Arabic. Language and Culture I (Nadia Jallad)
Sunday, February 28, 2021
• Workshop 3, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Teaching Spanish to Arabic speakers from Syria and Palestine in a heterogeneous classroom environment (Victoria Khraiche Ruiz-Zorrilla)
• Workshop 4, from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Introduction to the Levantine dialect of Arabic: Language and Culture II (Nadia Jallad).
Registration
The course lasts 14 class hours and has a cost of 120 euros. The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 25. Those interested must sign up here using this form and make the proper payment by February 12 (after signing up, you will receive an email with the account number into which you should deposit payment for registration).
The workshops will discuss the process to apply for asylum in Spain and the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language (Spanish/LE, or ELE) at official intake centers and charitable non-governmental organizations, while also introducing basic concepts about the Levantine dialectal variety of Arabic and useful sociocultural information to promote empathy with the students that Spanish-language teachers will come across in this field of activity.
Contents
The workshops will cover three main subject areas:
(1) They will take an in-depth look at the cognitive and emotional implications which the asylum application procedure itself has on the applicants’ learning process, while examining the main features of these types of classrooms for Spanish as a foreign language, with students who are extremely heterogeneous in terms of skill level and origins. Similarly, they will also discuss specific strategies for Spanish as a foreign language teachers to put into practice in such environments, providing a list of the most common linguistic and pragmalinguistic errors made by Arabic-speaking students of Syrian and Palestinian origin when communicating in Spanish, while also assessing the potential for transference from Arabic and other foreign languages they speak, such as English and French;
(2) They will analyze the contexts in which these students reach Spain, examining the origin and development of the conflicts which have led to the arrival of refugees and displaced persons coming from Syria and Palestine, and
(3) Different elementary expressions in Levantine Arabic will be taught, along with sociocultural information that will allow the humanitarian workers and mediators for whom the courses are intended to receive and assist these types of students while promoting empathy.
General objectives
By the end of the course, those attending:
• Will know what the asylum application procedure consists of in Spain.
• Will get a general overview of the nature of teaching Spanish as a foreign language to asylum applicants.
• Will be able to foresee specific learning difficulties among their Arabic-speaking students and take the resulting action to remedy them.
• Will be able to understand and effectively use basic expressions in the Levantine dialect of Arabic, which will help them promote empathy in the classroom.
• Will have developed their intercultural skills.
Profile of students for whom the course is intended: Teachers of Spanish as a foreign language, hired staff and volunteers at humanitarian organizations, civil servants at refugee intake centers, and those interested in teaching Spanish as a foreign language to immigrants, refugees and others, in general.
Sessions
The course will be held on two Sundays, February 21 and 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with a two-hour lunch break and a total duration of 14 course hours.
Sunday, February 21, 2021
• Workshop 1, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
What is a refugee?: The right of asylum and subsidiary protection. The Syrian and Palestinian cases (Victoria Khraiche Ruiz-Zorrilla)
• Workshop 2, from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Introduction to the Levantine dialect of Arabic. Language and Culture I (Nadia Jallad)
Sunday, February 28, 2021
• Workshop 3, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Teaching Spanish to Arabic speakers from Syria and Palestine in a heterogeneous classroom environment (Victoria Khraiche Ruiz-Zorrilla)
• Workshop 4, from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Introduction to the Levantine dialect of Arabic: Language and Culture II (Nadia Jallad).
Registration
The course lasts 14 class hours and has a cost of 120 euros. The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 25. Those interested must sign up here using this form and make the proper payment by February 12 (after signing up, you will receive an email with the account number into which you should deposit payment for registration).
Victoria Khraiche Ruiz-Zorrilla has a PhD in Semitic Studies from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Arabic Philology and has a Master’s degree in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. She has been a lecturer of Spanish at the University of Damascus and a contributing educator at the Cervantes Institutes in that capital city and Cairo. Moreover, she was a teacher of Spanish as a foreign language in the programs given by Asilim (Association for the Linguistic Integration of Immigrants in Madrid) at the Refugee Reception Center (CAR) in Alcobendas, at La Casa Encendida and at its own headquarters. At present, she is an associate Arabic Literature professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) and a Spanish language teacher at the Fundación Ortega-Marañón in Toledo, activities which she combines with translation and teacher training for Spanish as a foreign language.
Nadia Jallad has a bachelor’s degree in Management and Business Administration from the European University in Damascus and is a graduate in Asia and Africa Studies with a Master’s degree in Contemporary Arab and Islamic Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Jallad worked in Syria as a project director within several international oil companies, and as a teacher and trainer of adults and children for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Since she arrived in Spain in 2011, she has received training on teaching the Arabic language, having specialized in teaching Levantine Arabic and Arabic for business. She has taught courses on the Levantine dialect and standard Arabic at various academies and at the NGO Asilim (Association for the Linguistic Integration of Immigrants in Madrid), where she is responsible for the Arabic teaching programs. Since 2015, she has taught Arabic courses at Casa Árabe’s Language Center and has given various workshops on Levantine Arab culture.
Nadia Jallad has a bachelor’s degree in Management and Business Administration from the European University in Damascus and is a graduate in Asia and Africa Studies with a Master’s degree in Contemporary Arab and Islamic Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Jallad worked in Syria as a project director within several international oil companies, and as a teacher and trainer of adults and children for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Since she arrived in Spain in 2011, she has received training on teaching the Arabic language, having specialized in teaching Levantine Arabic and Arabic for business. She has taught courses on the Levantine dialect and standard Arabic at various academies and at the NGO Asilim (Association for the Linguistic Integration of Immigrants in Madrid), where she is responsible for the Arabic teaching programs. Since 2015, she has taught Arabic courses at Casa Árabe’s Language Center and has given various workshops on Levantine Arab culture.