EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- A rising demand for teachers of Arabic in the state considered the capital of Arab America has led Michigan State University to launch new undergraduate and graduate programs.
About 300,000 people in southeastern Michigan trace their roots to the Arab world, and the East Lansing university said the moves will help fill a shortage of those who can teach the language.
"Demand for teaching Arabic is particularly great in Michigan, home to one of largest populations of Arab Americans in the country. However, few teachers are actually certified in the subject area because state-approved preparation programs have been limited," said school spokesman Andy Henion.
In response, he said, the school will start offering an Arabic endorsement and related master's degree program for certified teachers who want to add Arabic to their credentials. It's especially aimed at native Arabic speakers, and most of the course work is online.
"There are so many native speakers in Michigan who are currently teaching other subjects, or who would like to become teachers," said Wafa Hassan, an outreach coordinator in the university's Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages.
Hassan's work now involves providing workshops on Arabic teaching around the state. She said she looks forward to the expanded Arabic language programs at Michigan State.
"Offering these certification programs will help us standardize the teaching of Arabic, as much as any other teaching area in the field," Hassan said.
The university also will offer a traditional teacher preparation program for undergraduates who want to teach Arabic.
"Many schools want to grow their programs in Arabic and better serve the linguistic and cultural needs of their students, but they have been stymied because there hasn't been a good pipeline for teachers to get certified," said assistant professor Jeff Bale, world languages leader in the university's College of Education. "We can use the strengths of our top-ranked teacher education program to meet a pretty urgent state need."
Published: Tue, Jan 18, 2011
