PROJECTS FOR IMPROVING ARABIC TEACHING 
 
Shortly called Akademi Association, is found in 2009 by Prof. Dr. Ahmet AĞIRAKÇA, in Fatih, Istanbul. Akdemistanbul is a non-governmental organization where civil works of Language Education Institutions are run. The association, of which among the objectives are to contribute to language education and to support the academic studies on this field, seminars and language studies have been continuing since 2009.
 
The Akademi Association has performed many important services and activities such as Arabic Competitions among Imam Hatip Schools, In-Service Arabic Education for Teachers, Arabic Teaching Methods Seminars, Improvement of Arabic Teaching Symposium, Consultancy Services to Arabic Project Schools, Consultancy Services for Arabic Language Education in Public Institutions and Al-Lisaniyyat Journal of Linguistics and Discourse Analysis and contacted ten thousands of students and teachers through these activities going on for years.
 
The works that the Akademi Association conducted to promote Arabic teaching are as follows:
Organized by the Ministry of National Education Religious Education General Directorate and contributed by the Akademi Languages and Scientific Research Association as project partners, International Arabic Competitions between Imam Hatip Schools are the largest language activity performed in Turkey in the name of Arabic.
 
To improve Arabic teaching in Turkey, to teach Arabic by making it loved by modern methods and to grasp the importance of Arabic, thousands of students from Imam Hatip Middle and High Schools participate each year to the competitions held since 2009 until today. Competitions are held in the categories of Knowledge Competition, Poetry Reading, Text Enaction, Debate, Calligraphy at high school level, Poetry Reading, Story Enaction and Children Songs at middle school level. The competitions are followed at www.arapcayarismalari.org.tr.
 
As the Akademi Association, we are continuing our services to determine the team to represent our country in the Arabic Debating Competitions held in Qatar (Qatar Debate) every year and training of the teams.
Our in-service Arabic practical trainings, which we offer teachers to carry higher quality Arabic lessons for Arabic courses in Imam Hatip Middle Schools and Imam Hatip High Schools in Istanbul, continue uninterrupted since 2009. Hundreds of Arabic teachers participated in the trainings, which are held at different locations in Istanbul for 90 hours each year, free of charge, to contribute to the teachers' ability to speak Arabic.
In order to enable for Arabic teachers to offer a more qualified language course, seminars on Arabic teaching methods are given to Arabic teachers in Akdemistanbul. In these seminars held during certain periods of the year, expert teachers of the field provide practical seminars for Arabic teaching skills.
 
In addition to in-service education programs organized by Akademi Association- cooperated with the Ministry of National Education- for Arabic teachers, thematic education methods seminars are also offered to teachers in the summer periods.

 

The Akademi Association offering intensive "Arabic Teaching Techniques" seminars for Arabic teacher candidates in summer every year, also offers opportunities for candidates who are successful in these seminars to intern at certain places and become a qualified Arabic teacher in the future.

In Turkey and in the world, to address the developments in the Arabic education field at an academic level, the Symposium on Improvement of Teaching Arabic organized by Akademi Association with various institutions, features a wide platform where academicians and field practitioners of Arabic teaching are brought together.
 
In the Symposium on Improvement of Teaching  Arabic organized first on December 2011 in Istanbul, the topic of "Arabic Teaching in Imam Hatip High Schools" was discussed in detail, symposium final declaration was actively implemented as a road map from the point of Arabic education by Ministry of National Education Religious Education General Directorate, in the both curricula, teaching models and in language activities.

In the second of Symposium on Improvement of Teaching Arabic, "Arabic Teaching in Preparation Programs in Turkey - Current Status and Improvement Methods" was addressed.
 
In this symposium held in Istanbul between 16-18 December 2016, Faculties of Theology, Arabic Language and Literature, Arabic Language Teaching and Arabic Translation and Interpreting Departments and the different dimensions of Arabic teaching in Arabic Language Preparatory Classes in Imam Hatip High Schools and Arabic Project Schools were discussed.
 
www.arapcasempozyumu.com
The Akademi of Languages and Scientific Research Association contributes to the schools that implement one year of Arabic preparatory class by the Ministry of National Education Religious Education General Directorate and the schools which implement Arabic as the second foreign language from Imam Hatip High Schools which teaches different foreign languages in the preparatory class. In case it is required or demanded due to the protocol made with Religious Education General Directorate, selection of foreign teachers for schools, supporting coordination of inter-school Arabic group meetings, making end of term joint exam applications, field visits and group studies, supporting material needs of schools are the additions offered by Akademi Association to our schools.
Our Akademi Association, having successfully completed "Istanbul Treatment Center of Middle East, Training of Service Personnel Needed in Health Tourism" project submitted to Istanbul Development Agency in 2012, provided Advanced Health Arabic training of 480 hours for 100 people to be employed as Arabic translator in public and private hospitals of Ministry of Health. Within the same project, 500 healthcare workers were given 30 hours of Basic Health Arabic training in order to speak basic Arabic with patients from Arab countries.
 
In addition to the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Development, our experts of the association have provided consultancy services in the meetings held by Ministry of National Education, General Directorate of Religious Education, General Directorate of Basic Education and Board of Education and Discipline on Arabic curricula.
 
www.saglikarapcasi.com
Publication preparations continue for a 6-monthly international peer-reviewed journal to address the developments both in Turkey and in the world regarding Arabic education at an academic level and to gather the experts of the field on a scientific common platform. The journal, which has a very wide range of writers, scientific committee and refereeing committee, is aimed to deal with the problems of the field with Arabic, English, French and Turkish articles.
Due to anniversary of announcement of Arabic as an official language by United Nations on 18th December 1973, "18th December World Arabic Day" was announced upon decision of 8th October 2012 in UNESCO Board of Execution.
 
From 2012, celebration of the World Arabic Day in Turkey, organizing events on language education in the week of 18th December, supporting nation-wide activities regarding the subject, the Akademi Association has played a leading role.
 
With "Arabic is our lingua franca" slogan, our institution leading the active celebrations in Turkey general, led to the organization of influencing programs in nation general as a thematic language association in the field.
Istanbul’s first Arabic FM Channel Misk FM 94.5 airs its Arabic learning themed program “Let’s Learn Arabic” every Saturday with one our leading instructors, Mr. Faisal Musa. In this program, students who study Arabic can follow the free Arabic classes and benefit from Akdemİstanbul’s teaching experience. The reruns of the programs can be listened to in weekday afternoons.