Lower Intermediate - On strike

congrats - for me this is the best lesson ever - the format is excellent as this is exactly the way I do approach the study of a new language - in special the reference to the root is outstanding as this is the basis of the arab language -
keep it up and thanks again - value for money here

Judging by the results of a Google search, the use of “tuition” in the sense of “tuition fees” is an Americanism. Native speakers of British English normally say “tuition fees” when they mean “rusuum (ﺮﺴﻮﻢ) al-duruus (ﺍﻠﺪﺮﻮﺲ)”. Example: “One reason for the high fall-out is that, although tuition fees are very low, many students are obliged to earn their keep.” (J. Ardagh, The New France: 469).

Thank you @plop and @Desmond for the commentary. Much appreciated as always ;-)

I've just thought of a question, Sierra. Would you use exactly the same Arabic word combination for "go to university" (= undertake or pursue studies at tertiary level) and "go to the university" (travel to the university campus)?

Desmond- Although I think Sierra has more recent experience with American education, I must say I've probably never heard the phrase "tuition fees" in the U.S. I think "fees" would be considered redundant and stilted, or at the very least unnecessary, if used in combination with "tuition."

But what do I know, having earned my degrees more than 25 years ago. Usage is always changing.

Incidentally, the current fashion in U.S. educational phrasing that most hurts my ears is the use of "rising" before the student's level, such as "rising sophomore" and "rising junior." Back in my school days, we simply used "sophomore" or "junior." Why would anyone need to signify that the sophomore or junior is staying in school by the use of "rising"? I don't think it was actually originally intended to show that the student is simply staying in school, but rather perhaps to try to describe some additional quality of diligence of the student. I think the word "rising" fails to provide anything useful, really.

Sierra - I think it was this podcast where you asked for feedback on changing the explanation order for the words in a sentence from those of most importance to those of lesser importance. Nothing wrong with the new explanatory order, of course, but I don't think it (the order) needs to be followed as doctrine. I find variation in the instructional techniques interesting.

What I think would be very helpful (since you have asked for feedback) is for the instructors (at the beginner and lower intermediate levels) to make sure (a) there is a concrete illustration of the grammatical concept being discussed (and I think you generally do this); and (b) there is brief repetition of the Arabic phrase after the discussion of it (you carefully repeat the whole dialog superbly at the beginning and end of each lesson, but a little more repetition within the lesson is useful). Aheb and Mohammed, especially Mohammed, do (b) brilliantly - it reinforces and also punctuates the lesson so we can catch a breath.

All in all a very good lesson and I love hearing your work.

I fully agree with plop and chazyouwin. The format is excellent and the standard high, although a few more repetitions in-between (à la Ehab and Mohammed) would be very beneficial.;-)

Thanks again for the great vocab - it'll help us get the gist of a few more Arabic news reports.

Dear Charles,

I agree that “rising sophomore” sounds rather silly. Sophomores aren’t made of self-raising flour, and they don’t levitate like Simon Magus, do they?

The term “tuition fees” is still in current use in British English. Witness the following example from the website of the BBC (14.6.2010): “Geoff Mawdsley called for the introduction of tuition fees in Scotland”. If you go to the BBC’s website and use the search box at the top of the screen you’ll find lots of similar examples.

Desmond - interesting that "tuition fees" is still in use in British English. Searching the net for usage by prominent U.S. universities, I did not find it used. E.g., Harvard, Yale, Julliard - all simply used "tuition." http://environment.yale.edu/prospective/Tuition-Fees-and-Other-Expenses/

Another irritant is the fairly common dropping of "from" in the phrase "He graduated from" a unversity. People often now say, e.g., "He graduated Cornell." Of course he did not cause Cornell to graduate or caused Cornell to have a slope; rather, he graduated "from" Cornell. Bizarre.

Although I prefer the informal style of Ehab and Mohammed, I very much appreciate the references to root letters. I still very much consider myself to be a beginner but 'pieces of the puzzle' are beginning to fall into place as I've begun to recognise familiar root letters and some of the patterns of forms derived from them

I'm late to the conversation, but just wanted to make a comment about the "rising" usage at schools in the US. I'm from Arkansas (that is the South part of the US), and we do use the term "rising," but it only refers to a student who has completed one year/level but has not yet started the next (during the summer session, for example).

Someone who has completed their freshman year, but not yet started the sophomore year would be called a "rising sophomore" until they began classes in the fall.

I thought this was the common usage for the term, so I was interested in hearing comments to the negative!