CLS Learning Goals

Language Learning Goals      

1.      advance writing abilities – At the same time that I post entries on my personal blog in English, I will also write personal website blog entries in Arabic to improve written fluency and vocabulary comprehension.  I will make an effort to compose these posts daily, but if program obligations prevent this, then these Arabic posts will be produced at least weekly and will be more extensive/lengthy to make up for the lack of briefer, daily posts.

2.      improve listening comprehension – As part of becoming engaged in the spirit of Ramadan, I will make an effort to become a regular watcher of an Arab TV drama series (hopefully with a friend or host family member!), and might even purchase a previous season of the show so that I can take it back to the U.S. with me and continue strengthening my listening comprehension.  I know from studying other languages that watching people interact in foreign movies/TV shows is a strong way for me to observe cultural interactions and identify important phrases/inflections/vocabulary.

3.      become more comfortable in speaking interaction – Each time I meet with my language partner, I would like to spend a minimum of five minutes (but hopefully more like 10-15) reviewing with him/her in Arabic what my colleagues and I talked about in class earlier that morning.  This may include merely summarizing our classroom conversations, and could prove to be helpful in case I have any confusion or questions.  When applicable, I could also ask questions of my language partner related to the topic that was discussed earlier in the classroom and in this way further develop my conversation/knowledge/vocabulary of each topic.

4.      quicken reading abilities – Once a week (at the least) I will peruse the local newspaper, either in print or online for articles at my reading level.  This will not only keep me up-to-date on affairs, but will also help me become more proficient in skimming short pieces of literature in order to quickly get the gist of a news topic.

5.      become more confident in spoken production – After learning a great deal of vocabulary over the course of the two months in the CLS Program, I will compose a short interactive presentation that I would like to present to my classmates, if possible.  The topic would incorporate new vocabulary that we had learned, and my presentation would finish with a Q&A section.

Cultural Competency Goals

1.      become more comfortable at haggling – I imagine that haggling exists in Oman, and I am horrible at it, so I would definitely like to improve my ability to confidently haggle in the souks this summer.  This will require observing my friends, host family, and strangers as they haggle, and with practice I will hopefully become more comfortable in participating in this Arab tradition.

2.      attend a wedding – this may be a stretch, but I really hope that I am afforded the opportunity to attend an Omani wedding.  I spent a month in Morocco last summer, and was honored to be invited to a Moroccan wedding by a friend of mine, but it was taking place on the same day that I had to fly home.  Although there’s not exactly a way that I can guarantee my presence at this special kind of cultural activity, I hope that my ability to easily make friends with host country natives may once again result in an invitation to an Arab culture wedding.

3.      fast during Ramadan – although I might not have the willpower to fast as the natives do during the entire Ramadan season, I plan most definitely on participating in this holiday’s traditions a few times while I’m studying abroad and I am sure I can find a language partner/host family/CLS colleague who will go along with me on this one.

4.      learn an Omani/Arab game – I love playing games because they bring people together, and I love learning about games which originate from a culture other than my own.  Hopefully my language partner or host family could introduce me to an Omani card game or board game that we could play together and which I could then purchase to bring back with me to the U.S.

5.      research a specific Omani societal issue that I am not very familiar with – at this early stage of my CLS experience, I am not sure yet in which direction I will go with this goal, but I know that I want my efforts to result in knowledge that will help me gain a better understanding of how I can help people in the Middle East, or elsewhere, in the future.  My original consideration was to search out a human rights office or activist and interview them but after doing some research I discovered that Nizwa is home to the largest falaj in Oman (Falaj Daris).  It might be interesting to see if I can get a tour of this World Heritage Site and keep this agricultural engineering in mind if/when I work with other cultures around the world who struggle with their water supplies.