Teaching strategy for Arabic language teaching of 11 to 16-year-olds at Al-Iman School located in North West London, England, UK

The purpose of this research is to explain how and why there is no suitable standard programme to fulfill the comprehensive needs of migrant Iraqi and second generation British-Iraqi 11-16-year olds wishing to learn Arabic in community based, supplementary Saturday schools in London. The ultimate aims of this study are to produce a remodeled curriculum, based on modern standard Arabic (MSA) teaching texts, for the purpose of raising the success rate of passes in Arabic GCSE exams for what is considered to be low achievers. The remodeled curriculum will achieve this through engendering pride and passion in both teachers and pupils for the cultural heritage and Islamic identity associated with learning Arabic.
I chose Al-Iman Saturday School in North West London (a member of the National Resource Centre for Supplementary Education (NRCSE); as a typical community Saturday school, a registered charity, still using substantially outmoded syllabi, a narrow curriculum and teaching practices that are not consonant with Iraqi children’s aspirations and mixed-cultural sensibilities. With the exception of the final GCSE year group, who are taught the Edexcel Arabic curriculum, all other age groups are taught Arabic using textbooks introduced directly from Iraq. The school does not rely on a nationally recognised curriculum nor on standardised Arabic texts with which to teach 11-16-year-old students.
For the purposes of Al-Iman school, the research undertaken was mainly qualitative as opposed to quantitative. From this research, a new methodology was designed for classroom teachers based on examining the current weaknesses and strengths of teaching practices through interviews, classroom observation and questionnaires of a sample of 13 teachers at the Al-Iman school.
Most of the student population at Al-Iman school are second generation Iraqi native speakers born and raised in the UK. For the purposes of this study, Arabic Learners are defined as students with limited Arabic speaking ability.