Why does the student like or hate Arabic?

Learning the language in communities has nothing to do with love and hate: a child learns it through the need to express himself and communicate with others. Many of our ancestors were illiterate. They learned the language by hearing it. They orally transmitted poetry, maxims, proverbs and tales from father to son. However, when language becomes a subject for learning at school, it becomes like other subjects for the pupil either he likes it or he hates it because of many factors, the most important of which is the teacher and his teaching method. I realized this during the second year of teaching. I found that many of those who study with Professor Makadri hate the Arabic language and I remembered Nouara and many of her fellows. Recalling my childhood memories, I was passionate about the Arabic language and loved it in my uncle's library with the stories of Kamil Al Kilani, Sinbad magazine and the novels of Georgi Zidane and others. I've been reading and writing since then. I remembered many friends who hated the Arabic language, who were amazed by my love for this subject and that I excelled in it. They didn't have a library like my uncle's in Arabic. Their teachers dictated the language to them like Makadri. However, some of them had a library like my uncle’s library, but in French provided by their families at home or their teachers at school. They were addicted to reading and became excellent. Some French and English students hate the subject of language at school because of their teachers. This does not mean that they hate their language. Consequently, the love of all linguistic subjects returns to the teacher and his teaching method, as well as to the library where the student learns the taste for reading until it becomes a habit and behaviour accompanied by him throughout his life.

Patriotism therefore has nothing to do with the student's love or hatred for the Arabic language. It is a mistake of education to accuse, those who love the French language and prefer to express themselves with, of the lack of patriotism. Therefore, I had to work with other teachers to develop methods of teaching Arabic so that the students would like it and get used to reading it. The task is easy in primary and difficult in the middle and very difficult in high school. What makes our task more difficult is the fact that we disproportionately compete with French and English teachers because of their modern means and supportive institutions.

I started this year to encourage my students to visit the library and try to link them to it through the task assigned to them. I also started to take a priority interest in written expression thanks to the influence of teaching methods in foreign languages. I realized that you can’t teach writing because it is a question of style. The teacher's task is to teach the student writing techniques and when the student is used to writing, he discovers his own style.

Wishing to link literature to art, poetry to song, the novel to theatre and cinema, I urged the students to visit the national theatre when it performs one of the Algerian and international plays. I wanted to inform them about good Algerian, Arab and international films because I realized that the novelist, the director of radio, theatre, cinema, the poet, the songwriter and the composer are trained in school. Expressive reading interested me a lot: in the future, all these people will need it, as well as their audience.

Abdellah Khammar

The third trimester: Principal or jailer?

An extract taken from the novel: Entry bell to class