Wissam Abdelkareem

My name is Wissam. I am from Egypt but I live in the Netherlands.I have been in the career of teaching for 16 years. I hold a master's degree in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language from the American University in Cairo (AUC). I am a professional certified trainer as well as a certified Language instructor from the American university in Cairo. I have taught Arabic inside Egypt at AUC and abroad at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and now I am teaching at Maastricht University.

I teach two varieties of Arabic; Modern standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA). Also, I prepare students for ACTFL Arabic test in four skills; writing, reading, listening and Oral proficiency Test (OPI). I design syllabus, prepare materials and plan lessons according to students' language proficiency needs and preferences using a variety of techniques such as songs, short stories, TV shows, games, visual and audio materials.

As a teacher, I shape my teaching around notions of active learning; active to new materials, active to strategies of listening and reading texts, active to participation in classroom, active to additional resources for students with different learning styles, individual differences, as well as low achievers. One of the special advantages of teaching profession is providing learners with opportunities to both develop potential and recognize pitfalls of their language proficiency whether while reading new texts or listening to a song.

Since my teaching goals revolve around communication, availability and learning as a process, I give whole-class feedback with special focus on common mistakes in assignments and inquiries about specific points in class topics and lessons. Furthermore, students meet with me outside formal classes to clarify any points they could not absorb throughout the semester. This feedback in addition to presentations, writing samples, audio recordings and quizzes-all give me deeper insight into their learning progress.