Viewing the world through dual lenses

Shi Hongming, a pioneer of the Chinese School Dubai's Arabic education, and Noor Ahmed Jaber, his Iraqi teaching partner, have forged an alliance with the mission of bridging China and the Arab world.

When Shi joined the school in 2020 as its sole Arabic teacher, challenges loomed large. Students, mostly from non-Arabic backgrounds, struggled with the language's complexity. "Parents doubted if their kids could ever master it," said Shi, who graduated from Dalian University of Foreign Languages.

Obtaining the proper textbooks to teach Arabic was also an obstacle, he said. In China, they are designed for college students wanting to learn the language, but those in the UAE mainly focus on Arabic culture, not proper pronunciation or basic vocabulary.

For children, it is important to stimulate their interest in Arabic, he said. Different types of methods can be later used to enable them to achieve rapid improvement in a short period of time.