Bethany College will offer Arabic language and culture courses for the 2014-15 academic year, as the College welcomes Fulbright Scholar Mai Ahmed Baddar of Alexandria, Egypt, to campus. Through the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program, Baddar will teach multiple Arabic language and culture courses.
Baddar will teach two beginners' language courses, Arabic Language and Culture I and Arabic Language and Culture II. In addition, she will teach Civilization of the Arabic Speaking World, a course, taught in English, which focuses on different regions of the Arabic-speaking world.
The Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is administered by the Institute of International Education. It allows educators from around the world to enhance their teaching abilities, further their understanding of American customs and serve as representatives of their home cultures by working with students in the U.S. and completing coursework at the host institution. Baddar will be the third Fulbright FLTA at Bethany.
"The Fulbright program has been working very well for Bethany," said Dr. Harald Menz, Professor of World Languages and Cultures, Co-Chair of the Department of Humanities, Director of International Studies and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies.
"It exposes the campus as a whole to a language and a culture that would otherwise be unavailable here. Having FLTAs from a variety of regions of the Arabic-speaking world present on campus, adds significantly to the intercultural experiences from which students and faculty can benefit."
The program is a chance "to inspire and be inspired," Baddar said in her application, adding that she is excited "to be immersed in several cultural activities and come closer to the American society I have studied about and watched from afar."
Baddar has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics and Translation, and she has taught English courses in Egypt for nearly three years. She is currently an editor for an English language magazine based in Alexandria, Egypt.
Bethany College is a small college of national distinction located on a picturesque and historic 1,300-acre campus in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. Founded in 1840, Bethany is the state's oldest private college.