For anyone feeling intimidated by a five-credit language class!

Last year, I decided to take Arabic as my language class to fulfill the language requirement. You might be thinking, who in their right mind would take Arabic? Well, me. Granted, I’m not fully a beginner, as I grew up in the Middle East and took Arabic till I was in Middle School before moving to the US.

Arabic is the type of language that, for non-native speakers, you need to keep practicing. Otherwise, you’ll just completely forget everything you ever learned, which is what happened to me. Before last year, I could barely speak and completely forgot how to read or write. When signing up, I remember seeing the five-credit marker next to Arabic. I didn’t think much of it at the time because I was still a baby freshman and didn’t know that five was the maximum number of credits that a class was allotted. 

It may seem like a lot of work, but last year, taking Arabic was the most rewarding experience, and I feel like I came out of it with a much more holistic understanding of the language. I compiled my tips and tricks, which I picked up because of my experiences last year, to help you on your five-credit language journey! 

  1. Go to class.

This may seem somewhat obvious, but go to class. A five-credit language class isn’t something you can occasionally skip just because you are feeling particularly lazy or just don’t want to go. I cannot stress this enough, but you really, really have to be there all the time. I remember, in the first semester, I skipped class once because I didn’t feel like going; I was behind for an entire week and missed one of the most important Arabic grammar concepts. 

  1. Befriend your classmates!

With a lot of five-credit language classes, you end up meeting every day of the week. While this may suck because you have to go to the same room every day, it’s a great opportunity to make friends with the people in class! One of the hardest parts I found about college was trying to make friends with people in your classes when you only got to see them twice a week. In this situation, it’s much easier to make friends with your classmates because you see them so often! Looking back, I feel like I made some great friends in my class. Beyond that, my class group chat was immensely helpful throughout the semester. I remember texting in it multiple times a week to ask about homework assignments or to trade study resources. 

  1. Go to office hours even if you don’t have to.

One of the most helpful things was going to my professor’s office hours, even when I did not have to go. By doing this, I was able to get to know my professor and her teaching style (I had the same professor all year). Also, by going to office hours, I was able to get a bunch of really helpful anecdotes about her expectations for the class and the assignments. 

  1. Quizlet is your best friend.

Quizlet was arguably the best study resource I had all year. At the beginning of every unit, I put in all my vocabulary words, which I tried to learn throughout the unit to prepare for quizzes and exams. When it came to the final, I had a bunch of smaller Quizlets, which I used to help me study.

  1. Study! Study! Study! 

This may seem super self-explanatory, but a five-credit language class is no joke. Arabic had the largest workload out of all of my classes last year. I had to carve out a dedicated study block of at least one hour to finish my homework. My main piece of advice would be to make time in your schedule for a little bit every day to work on your assignments or study for your tests. Carving out a small piece of time every week is much easier than cramming for your exams at the last minute. My teacher always suggested that my class do all of my homework on the weekend, which I tried to take into consideration and significantly lightened the workload. Also, the study group I formed at the beginning of the year was hugely helpful when it came time for exams. 

If you’ve made it this far, hopefully, I haven’t dissuaded you from taking a five-credit language course. In all seriousness, taking Arabic was the most rewarding experience; I enjoyed the class and the friends that I made over the year.

Classroom via Flickr