excitement

Just a short note to show that I'm still alive. I remember, years ago, when email became the tool of choice for instant communication. Some friends of mine didn't seem to get it, though. Only after weeks, sometimes months, would I receive their replies. Their excuses were invariable. After working on the computer all day, they had no desire whatsoever to go back to the glowing monitor at night to write emails. I couldn't quite understand it. Computers were fun, and communicating with friends was fun.

I might have finally arrived at a point of saturation. Lately, I've been using the computer a lot. A digital crescendo saw me spend more and more time in front of my two screens at work. Over the last week, I've been putting together a new website for the lab and hardly left my desk. At night, I don't even turn the computer on. I need to get away.

Getting away was provided tonight in the form of the Arabic class I've been taking for a few weeks at Imperial College. I'm still very excited about the prospect of learning the basics of a language that is certain to be extremely useful when I go back to Syria next spring, but I'm not sure how long the excitement will last. I have doubts because the teacher is far from what I'd consider optimal.

She's from Egypt; that's a good thing. Arabic is her first language, and she has lived long enough in the U.K. that her English is of nearly native quality. Unfortunately, teaching is not a god-given talent of hers. She is very loose with terminology. Alphabet is frequently used to mean letter, and she doesn't seem to be clear about the difference between vowels and consonants. When you start out a language, these are crucial bits.

Instead of explaining issues, she frequently tells elaborate stories that might or might not be related to the question. A student asked today if there are Arabic book specifically tailored to learners, with vocabulary restricted to a few hundred words. She replied that there is a grammar companion to the text book we are using – and I am forever discouraged from asking her to clarify point that make no sense to me.

The first twenty minutes of each class are invariably filled with expansive rambling. This is quite entertaining but not what I paid my fees for. And while storytelling might be a revered craft in the Arab world, it doesn't add too much too my learning experience.

On the other hand, given that the course runs from six to eight at night, a bit of diversion might be essential. Hard-core teaching of such an unforgiving subject would leave us students stranded after half an hour, unable to take up anything. Maybe this lighter approach is exactly right for an evening class. Right before releasing us, our teacher explained the hamsa in a way that my Jordanian friends never could. I think I finally understood. For me, that's a good reason to be very excited.