Arabic Dialects and Facilitating Learning of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)
Teachers are encouraged to accept whichever dialects the students feel comfortable in using, until the students feel ready to shift to MSA. Teachers can use a contrastive approach to point out differences in the sound systems of the two varieties, for example, some words differ in MSA and the dialect only in the length of the vowel; in other instances the words are completely different. Teachers are encouraged to accept that students will experience difficulties, and that they may be discouraged from learning MSA if they feel pressured to make the transition before they are ready.
Teachers can develop their own lists according to which dialects are present in a particular student cohort. The list can be compiled using set curriculum as a guideline. For example, if the Year 7 curriculum contains a topic related to weather, encompassing vocabulary including the names of seasons and vocabulary relating to weather forecasting, the teacher can compile a comparative list incorporating as much relevant vocabulary as possible.
