Our founder, Sanaa Ghanem, has always strove to integrate the latest technology with new teaching methodologies to make language learning, easier, more accessible and more enjoyable to people worldwide.  This was one of the founding principles of Arab Academy, and it is a principle that is very much alive to this day.

Here are two interesting facts about Arab Academy's history which will help showcase this spirit:

  ¤ Sanaa Ghanem, founder of Arab Academy, created a series of interactive CD-ROMs, entitled "Learn Arabic" in 1995.  They quickly became a worldwide phenomenon and won "Best Educational Program in the Middle East" at Gitex Dubai in 1996.
  ¤ Arab Academy launched the first ever Arabic courses to be taught online, as early as 1997.  To put this into perspective, many of the world's major languages were not yet available to be taught online at that time, not even the English language!

There is no doubt that Arab Academy was a front runner in online language learning and we think that says something about the type of company that we are.  To read more about Arab Academy's history, visit our Staff Profile section to read our founder's profile.

When you sign up to any of our courses, you would not just be learning Arabic, you would also be getting a real feel for the Arab world's customs, traditions and even idiosyncrasies! In many ways, this is to be expected, given that we are situated near Tahrir Square, in the heart of downtown Cairo, which is commonly referred to as the "cultural capital" of the Middle East! Whether by design, by default or a combination of both, you will find that elements of Egyptian and Middle Eastern culture are effortlessly inter-woven in all our online courses and speaking classes. Of course, if that little online taster of our culture has successfully wet your appetite for an even bigger cultural experience, we would encourage you to learn more about our Study Abroad Programs in Egypt.

There is no doubt that modern technology does play a critical role in language learning, and we are the first ones to champion this aspect of technology. However, we are also strong believers that technology both cannot, and should not, completely replace what we call the "human element" of teaching. A few facts about our "human element" feature:

1. a. Arab Academy has more than 80 dedicated Arabic teachers

2. b. All our teachers are native speakers of Arabic with advanced teaching degrees in the Arabic language

3. c. All composition exercises in our online courses are graded by one of our highly qualified Arabic teachers, who will also provide you with personalised feedback

4. d. You can interact with our teachers through the online student boards, one-on-one speaking classes or by simply requesting you talk to a teacher through our Live Help feature.

Please note that all the above mentioned services are provided free of charge, with the exception of speaking classes, which need to be booked separately.

We believe Arab Academy has the strongest and most robust program for teaching Arabic as a foreign language. That's what you get when you are as passionate about Arabic as we are and when you have been constantly refining an already outstanding program for close to 15 years.
Teaching Method
Arab Academy courseware follows a communicative language teaching approach, which emphasizes interaction in real life situations as the goal of learning Arabic. Our teachers also use a task based approach as they ask students to do meaningful tasks in Arabic. Task based learning focuses on the outcome, how successful students are in communicating in situations and tasks such as shopping, ordering food, asking for directions, etc...
Academic Guidelines
All of Arab Academy's courses are based on internationally recognised academic guidelines. For Adults - Arabic as a Foreign Language (AFL): - American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL) For Youth - Arabic as a Foreign Language (AFL) - Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia, USA - International Baccalaureate (IB) – Ab Initio Arabic exam - General Certificate of Education (GCSE) Arabic exam For Elementary School - Arabic as a First Language - International Baccalaureate (IB) – Primary Year Program (PYP) For Middle School - Arabic as a First Language - International Baccalaureate (IB) – Middle Year Program Year 1 (MYP) For High School Youth - Arabic as a First Language - International Baccalaureate (IB) – Language B Arabic exam - International General Certificate of Education (IGCSE) Arabic exam

Arab Academy offers the most extensive breadth of Arabic courses (link to Features Page) available online (more than 150 courses actually!), so with the aid of our Course Advisor tool you will be sure to find the perfect course for you:
 

i. Covering all competency levels (from novice through to advanced)
ii. Choose from standard Arabic, colloquial Arabic or Quranic Arabic
iii. Specialised courses for all age groups from school children through to adults

We are proud to say that Arab Academy is much more than an online automated language course.

You will never feel alone in your quest to learn Arabic as there will always be someone from our team on hand to support you with any query.

In fact, we can go as far as guaranteeing that should you ever need to get in touch with one of our team members, you will always get a response to your query within a maximum of 24 hours.

Most often, you will actually find someone from our Customer Support Team to talk to on the spot, through our Live Help feature.

Live Help is available 6 days a week: - Sunday to Thursday: 9am to 12am GMT+2 - Saturday: 9am to 6pm GMT+2

Yet another aspect that sets Arab Academy apart is the fact that it is so much more than just an online provider of Arabic courses.

As an established expert in the field of teaching Arabic, Arab Academy is proud to provide all of the following services:

i. Online courses and speaking classes
ii. Study abroad programs in Cairo, Egypt
iii. Specialised teacher training programs vii. Arabic language proficiency testing (ALPT)

Some of the international institutions & universities using Arab Academy's programs include:

- US Air Force Academy, USA
- US Defense Language Institute, USA
- Duke University, USA
- University of Maryland, USA
- University of Houston, USA
- University of Colorado, USA
- University of South Carolina, USA
- University of Phoenix, USA
- University of Manchester, UK
- African Development Bank, Tunisia
- Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia
- Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pakistan
- University of Jakarta, Indonesia
- Arab Academy's Schools Program has been used in schools all over the world, from the United States (in more than 10 different states) to the Middle East (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, United Arab Emirates) to Asia (Philippines and Malaysia). Click here for a list of some of these schools.

We are undeniably proud of how far we have come since Arab Academy was first established almost 15 years ago. Of course, numbers matter in today's world and we cannot claim not to be pleased that Arab Academy's courses are now being taught in 194 countries around the world (not bad considering there are a total of 203 countries!). But more importantly for us, each individual success story matters much more, stories such as "words cannot describe how proud I was I first found myself conversing with a taxi driver entirely in Arabic, a few weeks ago this would have seemed impossible"! It is those highly personal success stories that students share with us each day that fuel our desire to provide an even better learning experience for you.

So yes we are passionate about helping you learn Arabic – both the language and the culture. We know we are very good at it and we want to keep the success stories (link to student profiles) coming! But please do not just take our word for it. We invite you to take a moment to see a sample of our client list, read some of our student testimonials and watch America's NBC's feature on Arab Academy.