Arabic from First Grade

Research conducted in 2015 showed that less than 10% of the Jewish population in Israel can speak or understand Arabic, in a county in which over 20% of its population is Arab. The Arabic from First Grade project aims to bridge that gap and overcome the lack of knowledge of the Arabic language among Jewish-Israelis students from first to twelfth grade, at the national level, by compulsory lessons of colloquial Arabic starting at first grade. The program considers different stakeholders when designing the program and establishes a team of over 70 people, both Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel, from various fields alongside a public council of 25 people to asses how Arabic should be taught in Israel. Additionally, the program reaches out to high school students through focus groups to incorporate and adapt the program to the needs in the field. Following this assessment, Manarat creates a report that details the guidelines for teaching Arabic to Jewish students in Israel, including the political aspects inherent in such action and emphasizes the potential benefits of learning Arabic in order to bridge the gaps between Jews and Arabs in Israel. The next stages of this project will focus on engaging the public and outreaching decision makers, to put into practice the consequences of the assessment research.     

The program runs in partnership with The Abraham Initiatives, a Jewish-Arab civil society organization that operates in fields of education, Jews-Arabs relations, program evaluation, language, multi-culturalism and shared societies.