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Type research diary part II

My first contact with the actual Arabic classes comes in form of a young lady, who having had her class cancelled, is very early for her next course. She reveals to me that the class doea not take a break, allowing the students to immerse themselves in the language and culture for an hour and a half, four times a week. In combination with her next informatiom bit, makes me wonder once again at the teaching methods employed here. She confirms to me the fact that the excersise of turning the theory of caffeine into a practical cup of coffee only begins at nine within these hallowed halls.

Having done so, she produces a multitude of notebooks, notepads and vocabluary notes, spreading them in a wide half- circle in front of her. Soon, her look begins to flit between grammar, vocabluary and half- formed sentences, forming homework out of seemingly random associations. I begin to get an idea that this series may be more interesting than anticpated.

At this point, One may ask why these classes are interesting in the first place. The answer is the teachers: the classes are taught by Arabs, who have been living in Germany for a numher of years. Taught almost exclusively in Arabic, the Sprachlabors' Arabic department is quickly developping a reputation of one of the most enjoyable and efficient institutions to learn the language in. One may call it a melting pot, in which, brains are molded into multi- lingual organs.

Meanwhile, the girl in front of me seems to despair of her flurry of notes. The only decent course of action is offering the damsel my aid, and hope that my own Arabic is not as rusty as it feels this morning.

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