It’s More than Elementary: Remote Teaching and Learning with Arabic Learners

Abstract

A challenge teachers often face is finding or making high interest, culturally relevant texts at lower reading levels. A case study of a Yemeni Arabic emergent reader in a Spanish-dominant high school drew needed attention to the paucity of Arabic materials and challenges of supporting literacy across first language groups. Such challenges were exacerbated in remote instruction, when for a time, sheltered instruction was limited due to shorter instructional times, staffing, and evaluation of the stable technological hardware and instructional platforms.  Using a translanguaging stance the researcher drew on her experience learning Arabic as a beginner to inform online material making and instruction of Arabic learners.  Constructivist online tools, usually marketed to young children, were carefully selected and fully integrated into a larger class novel study without appearing childish or disconnected to what more advanced readers in the mainstream class were using to practice and improve their literacies.  A more holistic situated view of the learner was possible when teacher and student roles were disrupted and the teacher had to deal with her own linguistic incompetence in the minority language, Yemeni Arabic. This case study offers teacher educators and teachers a way towards needed restructuring and “decreation” of language teaching and learning toward individualized instruction and exchange where materials from the start are matched to learner level, technological access, and rights to multiliteracy.