Arabic Creative Writing Program

Do you want to acquire creative writing skills? Do you want to discover your talent in creative writing? Do you dream of becoming a poet, short-story writer, novelist, playwright or journalist? Achieve your ambitions by studying with our experienced creative writing experts and teachers.

Brief Description

The program takes each student through the different stages of learning to become a writer of poetry, short stories, novels, dramas, plays, articles or personal texts.

The program as a whole teaches students how to overcome potential problems during the creative writing process including planning, writing, editing and final drafting, as well as other skills.

Objectives

• To assist researchers in diagnosing and overcoming writing problems in academic texts through planning, collecting scientific material, writing drafts and revising texts
• Acquiring the skills of editing and becoming familiar with relevant scientific terms

The First Course

teaches students the different skills needed to write Arabic poetry as well as instruction on how to create the exciting rhymes and rhythms of Arabic poetry.

The course will require a large amount of reading and the analysis of a variety of Arabic poetry throughout ages (ancient, medieval and modern).

The Second Course

teaches the necessary skills required to write short stories and novels through reading Arab and international texts and learning the techniques needed to build anecdotal perspectives, time and characters in parallel with other subjects related to storytelling.

The Third Course

deals with the skills needed to write drama and plays and present them as artistic works through intensive reading of Arab and international plays, drama and theatrical works. Other skills, such as creating plots, scenes, and characters for the theatre will be taught.

The Fourth Course

focuses on articles and personal texts in all their structural forms including repeated readings and analyses of samples taken from Arabic texts together with learning the basics of how to create them. Students will also study how to build sentences and paragraphs and how to associate personal ideas and opinions with available data, in addition to learning linguistic and grammatical rules.

Arabic for Academic Purposes

Do you want to develop your research skills in the Arabic language and literature?

Do you want to acquire the skills necessary for graduate studies?

Do you want to find out about possible research prospects in language and literature?

Experienced experts in Arabic language, literature, and criticism will instruct participants

Accreditation certificates will be awarded to students on completion of the course.

Brief Description

Experts in Arabic language, literature, and criticism conduct this course, which investigates the different stages of writing research papers in Arabic and Arabic studies (linguistics, literature, criticism, cultural studies and humanities).

Objectives

• To assist researchers in diagnosing and overcoming writing problems in academic texts through planning, collecting scientific material, writing drafts and revising texts
• Acquiring the skills of editing and becoming familiar with relevant scientific terms

The First Course

furnishes students with the skills to recognize problems that may arise in written academic Arabic texts and the ability to overcome common errors from the very beginning.

The Second Course

demonstrates how to successfully summarise, clearly explain and comment on texts, formulate ideas, create titles and subtitles, make footnotes and endnotes, and select references professionally and systematically.

The Third Course

teaches the skills to build sentences and create paragraphs that clearly support ideas and opinions. In addition, linguistic editing, the use of terminology, creating citations, documenting ideas and developing academic research plans are covered.

Arabic for Diplomats

Do you want to acquire the skills needed to facilitate the discussion of diplomatic issues in Arabic?
Do you need to become familiar with concepts and key words used in modern diplomatic media discourse?
Are you interested in learning more about the methods of diplomatic media discourse in Oman?

Brief Description

In this unique program specialist experts tackle the basic issues of Arabic for non-Arabic speaking diplomats or foreign media reporters .
The program focuses on issues such as intercultural values in facing civilisation conflicts and balanced Omani political discourse that frequently results in:
• the convergence of perspectives between nations and governments;
• peaceful dialogue as a strategic goal for the international community
• recognition of the ‘other’
• tolerance and cooperation as fundamental conditions for co-existence and mutual respect
• the impact of the discourse of tolerance on the elimination of sectarian, regional and ethnic conflicts
• the impact of discourse concerning industry and trade exchanges on the prosperity of modern societies
• the impact of balanced Omani media discourse in spreading the concepts of world peace and justice
The main aim of the program is to guide students towards professional Arabic diplomacy in the Arab media.

Arabic Literary Criticism Program

Do you want to acquire efficient research skills in literary criticism?
Is your ambition to become a specialist academic critic, cultural critic or critic in any field?
Are you interested in the future of critical theory in the Arab world and Europe?

Our specialist experts in literary criticism and critical theory share their knowledge to fulfil students’ ambitions

Brief Description

This program targets undergraduate and postgraduate Arab and non-Arab researchers, journalists and writers, and those who wish to learn the techniques of criticism across a number of disciplines that providing cognitive maturity in critical configuration.

This unique program deals with basic issues concerning theoretical and practical strategies in the field of literary criticism including:

• literary theory
• the crossover between literary theory and criticism
• textual curricular and contextual criticism
• formalism and stylistic narrative methods
• semantics and structure
• structuralism and postmodernism
• the principles of psychoanalysis, gender and feminist studies
• Marxism and historicalism
• post-colonialism
• environmental and cultural criticism

The courses aim to direct critical knowledge to the student, researcher or trainee in order to attain the ability to read texts, and literary and artistic discourses professionally and with a systematic approach that serves different academic, research and current cultural orientations.

The ultimate objective of the program is to help both Arab and non-Arab researchers develop their cognitive and systematic techniques in the fields of literary and critical studies.

The First Course

set sthe boundaries that separate literary and critical theory, and textual and contextual curricula as well as studying special curricula such as Russian formalism and stylistics in a way that combines theoretical approaches with different miscellaneous applied practices.

The Second Course

demonstrates narratives, beginning with basic concepts and advancing through theories and methodologies of structural and narrative analysis regarding the cultural narratives followed in literature. The course also considers the combination of theoretical approaches with different miscellaneous applied practices.

The Third Course

deals with semantic, structural and post-structural approaches whether in philosophical references or Arab and occidental applications in a balance between theory and practice.

The Fourth Course

studies the recognition of postmodern theses whether in their artistic and architectural sense or in textual cultural connotations. The course also deals with references to Freudian and post-Freudian psychoanalysis in an attempt to combine theoretical and practical approaches on one hand and Freudian and post-Freudian approaches on the other.

The Fifth Course

includes the study of feminist perspectives in occidental culture either by questioning and analysing the context in which it was created and how it was received or by questioning Arab feminism and the extent of its presence in old and modern literature. In addition, the course explains Marxist philosophy as a vision of the world and a critique of speeches.

The Sixth Course

deal with so-called new historicalism and its achievements in providing new readings to place history and society in the cultural body of texts and speeches. It also deals with post-colonialism through theory, discourse and practice as well studying the achievement of post-colonial perspectives in producing different readings of Arabic narrative discourse.

The Seventh Course

studies the concepts and texts of environmental criticism and their analytical tools, as well as the relationship between environmental with Arab criticism through working on the concept of nature and geography in texts. Finally, course looks at so-called ‘post …’ concepts such as  post-modernism, post-structuralism and post-colonialism etc. from a cultural perspective and studies dichotomies such as similarities vs. differences, theories vs. practices.

The Eighth Course

is devoted to cultural criticism and its different textual practices whether in theoretical references or critical speeches as well as studying articular shifts in the history of world criticism from theme to structure to rhythm in an ambitious attempt to predict the future of literary criticism and theory in the twenty-first century.

Developing the Skills for Teaching Arabic as a Second Language

Do you want to discover the most effective scientific methods to teach Arabic as a second language?

Do you want to learn how to use a computer to discover new cognitive methods of dealing with the challenges encountered by teachers of Arabic as a second language?

Our effective and knowledgeable teachers and experts will help you achieve your goals.

Brief Description

This program is designed to provide students with proven methods and techniques to effectively and successfully teach Arabic as a second language, including linguistics. The program supports teachers and enables them to perform efficiently and professionally.

The program examines scientific issues related to the role of the Arabic language in modern Omani society, and includes modern teaching methods, teaching Arabic to children, Arabic writing, Arabic syntax and dealing with the challenges faced by different dialects in the same language (diglossia) as well as studying effective methods of teaching students with learning difficulties. 

The ultimate objective of this ambitious program is to give trainees new methodologies to overcome problems through the use of scientific methods, cognitive experiences and proven and innovative teaching techniques.

The First Course

deals with the history of the Arabic language and its dialects in parallel with the principles and teaching methods of foreign languages. The course also combines the theoretical approaches with different applied practices.

The Second Course

explores methods of teaching foreign languages and curricula followed to acquire and practice a second language. The course also combines theoretical approaches and the numerous applied practices.

The Third Course

includes methods of teaching non-Arabic speakers in parallel with the study of applied linguistics through theoretical approaches and applied practices.

The Fourth Course

covers the recognition of selected subjects from applied linguistics and the principles of linguistic analysis through theoretical approaches and applied practices.

The Fifth Course

explores research methods used in the field of linguistics and socio-linguistic principles through theoretical approaches and applied practices.

The Sixth Course

focuses on the basic method of socio-linguistics through theory and practice.

The Seventh Course

is devoted to Arabic phonetics and learning the language combining theory with practice through use of a computer.

The Eighth Course

independently focuses on the study of linguistic deliberations and speech analysis for language teachers. This will include a seminar related to the challenges faced by teachers of Arabic as a second language, and will provide students with feedback about the goals of the program as a whole, its output and its different classroom practices.

Editing Arabic Manuscripts

Do you want to develop your research skills in the field of Arab heritage through documents?

Do you need to improve your research skills in the investigation of Arabic manuscripts and documents?

Do you wish to become a professional researcher in the future?

Potential participants

Arab and non-Arab professional researchers, undergraduates and postgraduates, journalists, writers, academics, those interested Arab heritage and those who wish to investigate manuscripts and documents to become specialist academics, professional researchers or experienced in reading Arabic manuscripts and documents.

Brief Description

This program deals with the basics of researching texts and documents   in Arab and oriental texts including:

• examples of ancient texts and documents
• methods of verification and research followed by modern practitioners
• methods and tools used in researching texts
• preparing texts for publication
• practical training on Arabic and Omani manuscripts

The program also deals with the science of manuscript research from both a theoretical and practical standpoint based on reading and scientific training in order to verify and disseminate such research according to current methodological and scientific perceptions.

The ultimate goal of the program is to develop the knowledge and skills of  researchers needed to verify Arabic manuscripts and documents.

The First Course

looks at the history of research through listening, reading, reading and handling texts, among other methods.

The Second Course

focuses on how ancient Arabs researched and dealt with issues such as the comparison of copies, correcting mistakes, treating incorrect or incomplete copies, dealing with similarities between letters, creating footnotes. It also details punctuation, symbols and abbreviations, etc.

The Third Course

analyses multiple models of the efforts made by renowned ancient Arabs such as Bekri and Baghdadi among others, in addition to detailed analysis of work by Orientalists such as  Carl Brockelmann and  Carlo Alfonso Nallino among others.

The Fourth Course

includes an extensive comparison between traditional and contemporary investigation methods and between Arab and in order to provide participants the ability to create and develop individual research methodologies.

The Fifth Course

studies different strategies employed to investigate texts such as collecting copies, documenting titles and attributing them to their authors, practicing reading different fonts, recognising the concepts of the ancients, becoming familiar with the methods of authors, analytical reading of texts and revising references through increased knowledge of an author’s works.

The Sixth Course

introduces a group of advanced skills required by text researchers  such as the revision of explanatory notes, footnotes and annotations, printing texts, comparison of texts, correcting spelling, editing, formatting, referencing and creating bibliographies.

The Seventh Course

deals with investigation and publication supplementation such as writing introductions and creating indices as well as preparing researchers to skilfully and scientifically achieve professional results.

The Eighth Course

studies the skills and experiences learnt during previous courses including how to select an Arabic manuscript and develop a clear plan for research following different strategies and, finally, discussing the reasons for those choices and the difficulties faced in overcoming any challenges in preparation for eventual publication.