Arab students taking part in the final competition for the Arab Reading Challenge representing the countries of expatriation said that the challenge reinforced their sense of belonging to the Arab culture. Twenty-two students from Arab expatriate heroes who took part in the Arab Reading Challenge took the final test before the jury in the final qualifying round for the participants in the expatriate community yesterday at the Address Hotel. The students will represent 22 countries from abroad, and the three winners will be announced in the first three places at the closing ceremony held in Dubai Opera today, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The prize for the first place winner is estimated at AED 100,000, while the second winner receives 70,000 and the third winner receives AED 30,000.

Great efforts

Regarding the level of Arab communities, member of the jury for communities, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Rugby, told Emirates Today: “The level can be assessed as good, given that the participants live in Western countries, and Arabic is not their mother tongue, because the languages ​​that "They receive foreigners, and it is clear that there is a lot of effort being made by them and their families to learn Arabic and read in Arabic. Some saw the award as encouraging and stimulating for reading." He pointed out that the diversity of some in the books of their choice, with some focus on stories and novels, pointing out that as a jury take into account the difference of these students from the rooted in the Arab countries in terms of facing the difficulty in reading, and the difficulty of some terms, however, some of them read books surprised by They read it. Regarding the basic criteria of the jury, Al-Rajabi noted that the general standards are followed, and take into account their ability to accommodate the readers and the diversity of books and critical reading and how to speak and display the book, but the competition is between them taking into account their weakness in some Arabic words, because they sometimes do not know all the synonyms.

Fifth generation

For her part, the coordinator of the challenge in France, the Netherlands and America, Dr. Mona Zarqa, spoke about the specificity of France in terms of dealing with the Arabic language other than European countries, pointing out that the expatriates in France are of the fifth generation, mostly of Amazigh origin, and therefore Arabic is a foreign language have no connection Out. She noted that she opened an institute to teach Arabic language, and found a large turnout by the Moroccan and Arab communities, including those who participated in the challenge during previous sessions, saying that when the child begins to learn the alphabet and reaches a distinctive level is the biggest achievement. Her students from the Institute participate for the third year, and noted that the children were hesitant but after winning the first places over the previous courses were encouraged, as they had great skills, including summary and reading comprehension, criticism and analysis.

Quality books

Mussa al-Khawam, a 16-year-old Syrian national who has lived in Canada for a year, is not modern with Arabic. She has been reading for a long time, and the library has been her favorite place since her childhood, where she spent hours. Traveling to Canada did not make any break with Arabic, but on the contrary, she became more loving to read Arabic books because of her longing to hear the language. She pointed out that she focused a lot on the quality of books that she chose to participate, and used her mother and professor in the selection of books that contribute to the refinement of the personality, and therefore the books varied between literature, philosophy and human development.

Increased talent

Bassem Manasriya, a 12-year-old Belgian-Algerian student, was born in Belgium and learned Arabic through Arabic-speaking animations. He also visited Algeria on summer holidays. He pointed out that when he reached the age of six began to learn Arabic, noting that he chose books with the help of his mother, and read 27 books to participate in the challenge, with his keenness to diversify in order to increase the talent and abilities in the language. And the diversity of advocacy in the books that he read, including scientific, religious, fiction and literary, while the book that influenced him a lot is «renew your life» of Imam Muhammad Ghazali.

A sense of belonging

Mariam Lamghari, a Moroccan-born native of France where she was born, took part because she possessed the keys to the Arabic language well, due to her parents' eagerness to learn the language.He started learning letters at the age of six, and was enrolled in an institute to learn Arabic at the age of six. She pointed out that the Arabic language and reading have secured her a sense of belonging, especially as she began to read in Arabic when she reached the age of 11 years, and this has increased the strength of her own lexicon. Maghari participated in the challenge after being tired of herself and participated as an experiment, because there can be no loser. The Iraqi student, who represents America Haya Mohammed, reads in Arabic at a very young age, noting that her mother was reading to her at first, and then began to read stories at the age of five years, although she moved to America at the age of two years. Mohammed was keen to diversify the books I read, focusing on simple titles, as well as books that show the life of the apostles.

The role of supervisors in the challenge

General Supervisor of the Challenge in Morocco, Mohamed El Kheitar, talked about the main role played by the supervisor during the challenge, explaining that he has a lot of educational and administrative tasks, as a central team is formed, and is an annual planner, and then work on the training courses through which Training teachers from various regions, and then prepare workshops to develop the love of reading among students, and how to invest what is read and promote the love of home and values ​​of tolerance. He pointed out that the supervisor tracks everything related to feasibility, and access to field information, especially as this stage is the longest and most difficult. Al-Khater pointed out that the act of reading in order to reach the largest possible category should be accompanied by a huge administrative and educational effort.

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A student from the Arab Community Champions took the final exam.