Families learn Arabic together

At British school in Dubai, language is appreciated by all.

DUBAI // A burning desire to challenge themselves and learn more about the country they are living in led dozens of adults to take up weekly Arabic classes at a school.

More than 75 adults at Dubai British School in The Springs have taken advantage of learning how to read, write and speak the language.

The classes also provided an opportunity for parents to practice with their children, who are also learning the language.

Kay Coolledge, 45, from the UK, has two daughters who attend the school and has been going to weekly Arabic classes since September.

She had learnt some Arabic when the family lived in Bahrain for three years but had lost much of it.

“In Dubai, the signs and pretty much everything are in English, so I ended up using my Arabic less and, as a result, lost what I had learnt,” she said.

“But when I found out about these classes I jumped at the chance and it’s been so much fun.”

Since January she has also attended additional classes.

“My daughter is also learning Arabic, and we practise at home where she also sings the national anthem in Arabic,” Ms Coolledge said.

Since taking the lessons, her confidence in speaking Arabic with others has grown and she now uses it at every opportunity.

“At first I think people are shocked that I’ve said a greeting in Arabic but then they smile and are really happy to talk,” Ms Coolledge said.

“I think many native English speakers automatically assume that everyone else in the world speaks it, but that isn’t true.

“But by learning a new language you broaden your horizons and it’s just a matter of practice,” she said.

She is planning to continue learning Arabic until she becomes fluent.

Anna Forrester, 49, from Australia, has been in Dubai for four years. She joined the Arabic class in September and has two children at the school.

“It’s a challenge to learn and it’s good to push yourself,” she said. “I think it would be beneficial if all companies could allow their staff an hour a week to learn Arabic within the workplace, maybe a colleague could teach them, just as optional to their staff, as private lessons are very expensive.”

Khloud Shamayleh, deputy Arabic and Islamic coordinator at DBS, said she started the lessons three years ago as a way of helping parents understand the culture of the UAE.

“Although most of the parents are British, we have a mix of other nationalities in classes,” she said.

Each Tuesday morning, about 25 parents take part in the hour-long class before the start of school and about 10 also attend an optional class on Wednesdays to learn how to read and write Arabic.

“What I tell people is that they have a golden opportunity to learn Arabic in the UAE,” she said.

She teaches conversational Arabic phonetically, which helps to speed the learning process.

“Arabic isn’t a hard language to learn. It’s different,” she said.

“Once you learn the basic rules of the language, you can pick it up pretty quickly.”