Project Information:

The project’s aim is to identify with a meticulous selection process qualified Arabic language teachers anywhere in the world whose mother tongue is Arabic and who can teach Arabic as a foreign language (or has the potential to learn how to teach) and who want to work in various education institutions in Turkey  most notably in divinity schools and ‘imam-hatip’ (religious) high schools and to provide them a certain training program and to offer employment opportunities to those who meet the required criteria.

1- Project rationale

The fact that the number of divinity schools has reached to almost 100 and the number of imam hatip high schools is already over 2000 has significantly increased the need for qualified Arabic language teacher in these institutions. 29 Mayıs ARÖMER conducted the first “Arabic Teachers! Let’s go to Turkey” project in February 2013.  In this project, after interviews made online and files and resumes reviewed for 150 applicants, 20 people were invited to Istanbul and  based on the training provided and the final exam participants are provided certificates and thirteen of these people are currently working in the different divinity schools.

Based on the positive feedback received from these institutions about this project and due to the requests from several divinity schools to repeat this project, more comprehensive and improved projects were conducted in 2014 called “Arabic Teachers! Let’s go to Turkey-2” and in June 2015 called “Arabic Teachers! Let’s go to Turkey-3”    Hundreds of CVs were sent from the Arabic countries for our AHT-2 project and 30 qualified teacher were selected among them and invited to Istanbul where 17 of them were offered job opportunities in Turkey. Again hundreds of CVs were sent to our AHT-3 project in June 2015. Based on the review of CVs and one-hour interviews online, 30 Arabic teachers who met the required criteria were invited to Istanbul to participate to the training programs and to give lectures in a real classroom setting.

2- Project’s objective 

The objective of the project is to standardize Arabic language teaching in divinity schools and imam-hatip high schools and contribute to improve education level; to increase the level Arabic language education to a higher level by identifying and selecting qualified Arabic teachers who have the skills to teach Arabic as a foreign language and employ them in education institutions in Turkey.  In this regard, ARÖMER has set a target of ensuring that 500 most qualified Arabic language teachers  of the world will be employed in Turkish education institutions by 2023.

3- Project’s stages

1-Divinity schools in different cities of Turkey are visited and the project is presented to them or if a visit is not possible, emails promoting the project are sent to the deans of such schools and then their “Arabic language teacher requests” are taken.
2-An ad is placed online using the social media that Arabic language teachers who have the required qualifications will be employed in Turkey. Thousands of CVs are received in reply to this ad.
3-Ass. Prof. Ibrahim HELALŞAH, ARÖMER Director and Project manager reviews these CVS and and selects the best CVs based on the required criteria.
4-An email is sent to the selected candidates to inform them that they have passed the first elimination and they will soon have an interview online.
5-Candidates selected based on the interviews are invited to a training program of 40 hours on “Arabic Teaching Process in Turkey” which we organize in our university around the starting date of the project.
6-In this training program candidates receive training and workshops are organized, 3 demo lessons of each of the candidates are filmed and then watched by experts to write review reports.  These videos are sent to the education institutions who have made requests for Arabic teachers.
7-After the training program ends and based on the evaluations of demo lessons given by the candidates, those who prove to have the best skills to teach Arabic are selected and given their certificates.
8-CVs of the Arabic language teachers who are certified in the project, interview printouts and three hourly video images are sent to the institutions who require Arabic language teachers through 20 Mayıs ARÖMER.

Innovative and original aspects of the project

Having a qualified and successful teacher has a critical importance in successful foreign language teaching.  This project will contribute to standardize Arabic language teaching and achieve a higher education level by providing more and better alternatives for the education institutions such as divinity schools and imam-hatip high schools which need Arabic teachers.  The level of the education in the Arabic Prep Class in Istanbul 29 Mayıs University and the outcomes of the “Arabic teacher! Let’s go to Turkey” Project are the positive and concrete proof that the possibility that this goal will be realised is very high. On the other hand, having young and talented teachers  whose mother tongue is Arabic and who have a high level of knowledge and good skills for teaching is not just good to meet the teacher needs of educational institutions but also contributes to the development of Arabic language education and helps people use Arabic sources.