Since 2006 ARCE has partnered with the United States Department of State Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) to host US undergraduate and graduate students as they participate in an intensive "Beginning Arabic" summer language program in Cairo.

Part of the ECA's Critical Language Scholarship Program, the Cairo summer course is one of several intensive summer language programs hosted by American Overseas Research Centers to grow the number of American students learning critical foreign languages within real-world contexts.

During the two-month program, formal language instruction focuses on Modern Standard Arabic, and acquiring basic writing, reading, and vocabulary skills. Students are additionally exposed to a short "survival" course in Egyptian colloquial Arabic to enable them to function on a daily basis in their new environment. Weekly trips to cultural heritage sites, during which students build their familiarity with Egypt's Pharaonic, Coptic, and Islamic past and present, are considered part of the curriculum. Supplementary cultural activities, discussions and lectures help students ground their growing language skills in the daily landscape of modern Egypt.

HOW TO APPLY

For more information about the summer language program in Cairo, please visit the CAORC website. Critical Language Scholarship Program applications and eligibility specifics can be found there. The application process for the summer of 2012 is now closed.