Some people need group help. Some medical help. Some linguistic.
A few nights a week, three of us, that make up Grammar Rodeo in Tareem, meet up and go through an additional class we attend in the morning that is based on the legendary book: A New Arabic Grammar by Nahmad and Haywood. It’s meant for English speakers learning Arabic.
Ed, John and myself may spend half the time tea tasting, biscuit picking and discussing monumental things in life that do not involve grammar like football, TV shows and groceries. As host, as a Brit, and almost twice my age, John has preferred authority to apply sarcasm and dry humour for closure.
Ed: See Exercise 21. We’re suppose to translate this into Arabic. But check out what the authors wrote. Says here, ‘he is worse than his father, and his grandfather is the worst man in the village.’
Zain: They’ve done it again. They write sentences like these all the time. What lives did they have? What village is this? Who are they talking about?
John: Jose Mourinho.
All seriousness aside. We do have time for jokes. I am currently on a drive to really improve my Arabic. Methods are aplenty and not all may apply to one’s personal objectives of learning the language. As well as considering the level one is at and his aptitude.
One day Ed tells us that his studious neighbour suggests something which I think is brilliant and have started to give a shot.
Ed: He says write at the top of a paper, a column for singular nouns and another for plural. Make copies of this template. Fill it up with nouns you’re learning daily and find out its plural, then have it memorized.
Do another template for verbs with the header for past tense, present tense and command tense.
Zain: wow. He’s quite the nerd isn’t he.
John: you can get ‘help’ for that.
