To reach more students, we have launched an Arabic portal, where our distance learning radio scripts are available in translation. This follows the success of our French portal, which has reached students in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Guinea. Both Arabic and French are among the most widely spoken languages in Africa: in addition to lessons translated into these languages, we created separate portals to deliver a tailored user experience to Arabic and French-speaking partners.
A team of 11 translators, led by a project manager Somaia Razzak, and based all over the world — ranging from Saudi Arabia to Lebanon — is responsible for translating 1000 lessons covering literacy, language arts, and numeracy at five different levels across K-12, from early childhood education to senior secondary school. The lessons also include health and safety messages. In addition to our lessons, our professional development and teacher tutorial call scripts will also be available in Arabic.
“We are not just translating the lessons,” says Razzak. The way phonics and grammar are taught in English and Arabic are different, as is the format in which numbers are read — the translators need to pay attention to the scripts to make sure the instructions are rephrased. For example, when the scripts instruct students to draw out numbers, the directions have to be rewritten so that students are instructed to draw numbers as they are shaped in the Eastern Arabic numerals.
The trickiness of translation was not limited to just our scripts. We had to troubleshoot in order to get the Arabic script onto our website, as most web development platforms are built for English-language users. When a digital divide is multiplied with language barriers, inequalities are exacerbated. Our hope in launching the Arabic portal is that non-English speakers can navigate our website and adapt the scripts to their needs.
Our Arabic radio scripts can be used anywhere, from Morocco to Iraq, since Modern Standard Arabic is the formal language of written text and is used in schools in the Middle East and Africa. While our radio lessons were designed to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, they can be used to bring distance learning to students affected by other crises as well. “Informal learning is really important for internally-displaced and refugee communities, where students miss several years of school education,” says Razzak, who grew up in Syria. Radio lessons, while a temporary solution, allow for incremental progress for out-of-school children. “It gives them the motivation to learn on their own, and a reason to remain hopeful.”
The Rising On Air Arabic Portal can be located here: https://risingacademies.com/onair-arabic
It was created through the generous support of the UBS Optimus Foundation.