PD Provider Highlight:  Faraz Malik

After graduating from The Ohio State University, Faraz continued his studies abroad in Amman, Jordan where he taught as an Arabic Instructor at Qasid Arabic Institute and obtained diplomas in traditional Islamic Studies. Additionally, he received Superior, the highest level in the Arabic language, from the American Council of Teaching Foreign Languages. He continued his education and graduated with a Masters in Islamic Studies from Hartford Seminary where he translated one of Ibn Taymiyya’s anti-Mongol fatwas for his Masters’ dissertation. He completed his ʿĀlimiyyah program from Qalam Seminary and is completing his Masters in Mental Health Counseling.

In 2017, after seeing the need for Arabic training, he authored Arabic Daily workbooks which focuses on walking beginners through language acquisition starting from building on reading mastery. While this book is not yet offered through a reseller, it is the foundation of the Arabic Daily courses and a big part for the success of the students.

What led you to become an educator/to create your own Arabic educational platform?

The current pedagogy has been attempting to teach students through vocabulary. However, as a non-Arab who learned Arabic and taught Arabic in Jordan, the biggest obstacle was understanding how the language operated. Vocabulary is simple, but stringing those words together to create a sentence is a separate challenge. Arabic Daily attempts to bridge this gap.

What are you passionate about as it relates to teaching Arabic as a second language?

Because it is an accessible language if it is taught properly. It has changed the way I think. It has surprisingly made my English much better and it is the language of the Quran.

Tell us one thing that Islamic schools should do today to help students master/learn Arabic?

Focus more on helping students to read and understand what they are reading. For native speakers, you can focus on speaking, but taking a non-native speaker to a high level of speaking is quite difficult and unrealistic. Provide a lot of love and activities to make learning Arabic fun!

Share one strategy that a teacher should implement in the classroom for the 2nd semester?

Create a goal that the student can display via a personal project.

ISLA PD Workshops

To learn more about bringing a virtual Professional Development workshop to your Islamic school, contact info@theisla.org