Alan's story

Tell us about your experience studying with Al-Maktoum College

I joined Al-Maktoum in November 2020, a late arrival in a course that had begun in September of the same year. I had initially set off on my Arabic language journey with a local evening class in Edinburgh, which was stopped due to lockdown. I tried to survive using Duolingo for many months until having a few Zoom lessons with a former Arabic student of St Andrews University, who was a friend of former pupils. He only had a few weeks to spare before leaving for Sudan and sent me links to three sources of online learning in Edinburgh, Dundee and London. After looking at all three, I favoured Al-Maktoum for various reasons: price; likelihood of finding a suitable level; the friendly efforts of college staff to answer my queries and taking the time to allow me to sit a ‘progress test’. Intuitively, I had the feeling that there was a family feel to Al-Maktoum, which turned out to be the case.

I was very impressed at the resources provided throughout the course: the many booklets; the audio resources; the ‘film nights’; the Natakallum sessions which were great fun; the tireless marking and communication of our lecturer, Fatima Aldergazaly. I was impressed at the balance between the various disciplines of language learning: reading, writing (by hand and on keyboard); listening; speaking. And I thoroughly enjoyed the classes. The mood was always light and thankfully free of unnecessary formality but we worked hard.

In addition to the joy of learning, I was delighted to find what a lovely group of people I was joining. There was not the slightest hint of rivalry – quite the reverse and students were keen to help one another, sending useful links etc through our WhatsApp group, which is still intact. There was a lot of humour in the course, especially in our conversation practice. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and Al-Maktoum and look forward to continuing.

What do you plan to do with your newfound Arabic Language skills?

Having crashed in late to the course (Week 7/20) I’m now revisiting and revising all the course materials. Having had all of our work corrected, I always made the necessary changes and now feel confident in using these documents to copy out, for the sake of (1) embodying spellings (2) reinforcing memory (3) practising hand-writing. I also copy out the ‘stories’ from the booklets provided. I have applied for the ‘Intermediate Summer Course’ beginning later this month and am considering taking up the college Arabic Language course at level SCQF7/8.

Do you have any advice for prospective students?

As for ‘advice’ for potential students, I feel I can vouch for: the quality of education; the level of support; the friendly, family feel from academic and office staff which I’ve experienced at Al-Maktoum College.