By Bilesanmi Abayomi
The Director of Arabic Village, Ikosi- Ketu,Lagos , Imam Imran Rufai, has commended the proprietor and administrator of Al-Munirat Arabic and Islamic Academy, Suilamon Ibrahim, Al-gamawi for organizing the first World Arabic Language Day celebration in Kosofe.
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He said it was with a joy to witness the international dialect of Arabic. “It has been an event that has been occurring for years before now.”
Continuing, he stated, “This is the first time we are organizing it in Ketu and its environment, and the academy that has brought it about, Ustadh Sulaiman Ibrahim Al-gamawi, is a known and renowned scholar in the field of Arabic language.”
While appreciating the efforts of the organizer, said he has been able to bring every one of us around on this field and described the program as the beginning of a new dawn.
However, he disagreed with the notion of decadence in the learning of Arabic, saying there’s an increase and an improvement in learning the language.
He said, “But the only challenge we have, as stated by a guest lecturer from Saudi Arabia, is that the methodology, the Manhaj, is not being upgraded. We have to upgrade the Manhattan scheme and methodology of presenting it to those who are not Arabic speakers. For every foreign language, there are challenges but we can make it attractive by forming a very attractive management. Number two, by practicing it and reducing our effort on the principles of Kawaii, we focus too much on principles, as said by our guest lecturer.
“We base too much on principles that we have not even perfected. But speaking of application, the practical should be emphasized more. When they learn a little principle, let them make appropriate and extensive use of it. It will imbibe the usage in them; the fluency and accuracy will be found when we practicalize enough of this color, which we brought again, just as our teacher told us that the use of the latest technologies attracts the speaking of that language.”
Explaining further, “When you use modern technologies, it attracts the young ones. It piques their interest in it. This is what the west is using and promoting—whatever knowledge it wants to inculcate into the people it uses. It combines technology with knowledge. Similarly, Arabic is in need of the latest technologies. We are done with the era of chalk and board. We are now in the era of electronic boards. As an Arabic language teacher, I have an electronic board, but we have not started using it since we purchased it.
“We use it with the computer and the laptop, and it is good to use. We cannot put it here, and they will steal it or damage it until we have a place to store it appropriately. And these are some of the things that make them last for a long time. and before you know it, we have already started using the latest one. By the time another technology comes along, it will not be running after the old one.
“They sell it cheaper, and they will bring the latest model, which we cannot afford. So on that note, these are the areas I think we should work on.” The area of the remaining hatch is the syllabus, or scheme. The area of practical usage of the knowledge Not just theoretical memorization of lines of poetry, but we need to practicalize it in usage number three, which is to make technology relevant to what we have been taught. It makes it attractive,” according to the summaries of the participant, Imam Imran Rufai.