v-Arabic : Virtual Arabic
v-tivity : virtual activity
Realia: Real life authentic items
Virtual Realia
Digitized objects and items from the target culture which are brought into the classroom as examples or aids and used to stimulate spoken or written language production.
Language Realia
Realia is a term used in education to refer to certain real-life objects. In education, realia are objects from real life used in classroom instruction.
In education, realia include objects used by educators to help students to understand better other cultures and real life situations. A teacher of a foreign language often employs realia to strengthen students' associations between words for everyday objects and the objects themselves.
In foreign language instruction, the term realia has a broader meaning, which includes photos of objects from a country where the target language is spoken.
Wikipedia
Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign Poster Map in Arabic
Map, PALDIS for the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, March 21st, 2004
“A translation of our english campaign map, this new map created by the Palestine Land Development Information Systems (PALDIS) for PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign shows the Wall’s latest path of devastation and ghettoization of the West Bank. Finalized in November 2003, with further updates in March 2004, this map reveals that if completed in its entirety, nearly 50% of the West Bank population will be affected by the Wall though the loss of their land, imprisonment into ghettos, isolation into de facto annexed areas by Israel.”
BBC Arabic (Learning English) has a dedicated bilingual radio programme aimed at teaching English to native Arab speakers. As an Arabic learner yourself, you may benefit hugely from listening to this interactive programme where the host (an Arabic speaker) interviews a guest (an English speaker) in English about a particular news item. The interview is then interpreted in Arabic immediately by the host.
In this podcast, Sam and Doug are talking about the role of English as a global language.
The 21st of February is UN International Mother Language Day, a day which promotes linguistic diversity and multilingualism. Being multilingual means that you are able to speak different languages.
Recently, students of Edinburgh University were asked to vote for and support the Right to Education Campaign at Birzeit University in the Palestinian Territories.
The following is a collection of miscellaneous Realia items (with English translation) which reflect the topic of Human Rights in the Arab world.
These realia items were carefully selected to include a wide range of the most commonly used law and human rights vocabulary.
In the events and demonstrations banners/posters realia, they are particularly used in the context of increasing awareness about the situation of Human Rights concerns in the Arab world.
The realia types available in this post are:
Organisations logos
Book covers
News Video Report Realia
Events and demonstrations banners/posters
Links to relevant vocabulary learning resources are listed at the end of this post.
V-tivity
Translate the text/meaning of the following realia items:
Just recently, a political campaign took over most of the Lebanese billboards with the message (I love Life) and other messages in three languages : Arabic, English and French.
If you happen to be in Edinburgh one day, or are already here, you may want to visit Scotland’s new Parliament. It sits at the foot of Edinburgh’s famous Royal Mile in front of the spectacular Holyrood Park. It is also located very close to “Arthur’s Seat” - a series of hills that are great for climbing.
The complex building has been hailed as one of the most innovative designs in Britain today. However, the design has been the subject of a lively yet controversial debate since not all agree with its attractiveness.
The following leaflet realia, written for an Arabic-speaking audience - explains how committees work and outlines their role in scrutinising legislation, conducting inquiries, gathering evidence and holding the Scottish Government to account.
This is a new book on the US war in Iraq published in 2006, which was translated into Arabic.
The editrorial review states:
” The graphic photographs of U.S. military personnel grinning over abused Arab and Muslim prisoners shocked the world community. That the US was systematically torturing inmates at prisons run by its military and civilian leaders divided the nation and brought deep shame to many. When Steven H. Miles, an expert in medical ethics and an advocate for human rights, learned of the neglect, mistreatment, and torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, and elsewhere, one of his first thoughts was: “Where were the prison doctors while the abuses were taking place?”
In Oath Betrayed, Miles explains the answer to this question. Not only were doctors, nurses, and medics silent while prisoners were abused; physicians and psychologists provided information that helped determine how much and what kind of mistreatment could be delivered to detainees during interrogation. Additionally, these harsh examinations were monitored by health professionals operating under the purview of the U.S. military.
Annahar (جريدة النهار), a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper from Lebanon, offers its readers a free virtual daily newspaper that you can read online using flash technology.So far, I found this the most authentic and life-like Arabic realia available online for Arabic learners and teachers as well as for native Arabs worldwide.This virtual tool will not only help you improve and perfect your reading skills, it will also keep you abreast of the latest current affairs in the Arab world in particular and international affairs in general.The newspaper content provides fresh and up-to-the-minute news and information for its readers.
قد يكون أول شىء يخطر على بالك وانت تسمع جملة “الاستثمار الأمريكى” هو ساندوتش الهامبرجر الذى تقدمه سلسلة محلات ماكدونلدز الأمريكية، او البيتزا التي تقدمها بيتزا هت، او الدجاج من KFC او كنتاكى… وغيرها من شركات المطاعم العملاقة.
وكثيرون لا يتذكرون ان أهم الاستثمارات هي ايضا فى مجال الأسلحة والنفط…والاستثمارات هي في الاتجاه المعاكس ايضا. عربية باتجاه اميركا.
فقد زار وفد من المستثمرين المصريين بورصة نيويورك الاسبوع الماضي فى أول دعوة توجهها البورصة لبنوك استثمار من منطقة الشرق الأوسط.
تمخض عن هذه الزيارة افتتاح أول مكتب تمثيل لبنك استثمار من منطقة الشرق الأوسط فى السوق الأمريكية.
اذا قد تكون المسألة اكثر تعقيدا من الهامبرجر والبيتزا.
ولكن هذا هو بالتحديد ما يراه المواطن العادي في بلده اينما كان.
هذا هو الاستثمار المرئي. فهل يمانع؟
Key Vocabulary
استثمار / استثمارات : investment
خطر على باله : something came to his mind, occured to him
سلسة : chain
محل / محلات : shop
عملاق : gigantic , mega-
مجال / مجالات : filed, area
أسلحة / سلاح : weapon
بورصة / بورصات : Stock exchange
تمخض / يتمخض : to bring fourth, to bring about
مواطن : citizen
بالتحديد : exactly, precisely
مانع / يمانع : to object
Activity:
Listen to the podcast - only the first half.
Read the transcript of the introduction (above)
Answer the following questions:
What is the main gist of the news podcast?
According to the podcast, what is the first thing (s) that comes to your mind when you hear about “American Investments” in the Arab World?
What are the other main American investments in the Arab world?
What does the public think about American investments in Egypt? (the interviews are in colloquial Egyptian).
Name at least one opinion for and against.
What does the broadcaster mean by ( هذا هو الاستثمار المرئي) ?
According to the podcast and interviews, are there any alternatives to Pizza Hut and other fast-food pro
How do the Arabs feel about these alternatives?
Find out more
BBC Xtra is the flagship daily 2 hour live magazine programme on BBC Arabic, driving social and human interest issues onto the main news agenda of the Arabic Service. In a fast, energetic and relaxed style, BBC Xtra tackles difficult and controversial social affairs, as well as arts, literature and sports. BBC Xtra has a strong interactive element, where listeners contribute with their viewpoints on all topics by phone, SMS and e-mails.
In this podcast, Sam and Doug are talking about the role of English as a global language.
