Saud al-Sanousi’s Saaq al-Bambuu: the authorized abridged edition for students of Arabic. By Laila Familiar and Tanit Assaf. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2017. Pp. 366. $27.95 (paperback). ISBN: 9781626163850.
“Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language” (TAFL) to students by means of fiction, specifically abridged novels, is an innovative method of instruction advocated by the editors of Saaq al-Bambuu, Laila Familiar and Tanit Assaf. Familiar and Assaf are distinguished instructors of Arabic at New York University Abu Dhabi and University of Barcelona, respectively. They have contributed a significant work to TAFL in their abridged edition of the novel Saaq al-Bambuu by award-winning Kuwaiti novelist Saud al-Sanousi. This work also complements Familiar’s previously published abridgment of Hoda Barakat’s Sayyidi wa Habibi.
There are some important advantages to TAFL by means of the abridged novels of contemporary authors. The abridgement by a qualified Arabic instructor allows for a simpler text that students can more easily read without being discouraged or frustrated by challenging passages. At the same time, college-aged students can relate to the themes in contemporary novels, such as love, friendship, and identity. They are also exposed to real-life Arabic culture from the situations depicted in the novels. Engagement with the story, at a more accessible linguistic level students can handle, provides for a much richer and more meaningful learning experience than merely practicing drills or learning by rote. A meaningful experience helps to solidify memories related to words, phrases, and culture, and abridged novels such as Saaq al-Bambuu are an excellent way to bring about such retainable learning.
In Saaq al-Bambuu, Familiar and Assaf have prepared a text that is aimed at both instructors and students for use in classroom instruction. The text of the novel has been edited, which means almost half of the original has been removed. While such removal is unfortunate from an artistic perspective, it is inevitable and necessary given the purpose of the text as a tool of instruction. Students further interested in the story, however, will be equipped upon completion of the abridged version to take on the original novel.
The authors have included two prefaces for instructors and students, respectively, which explain how the abridged novel can be used. A short biography of the novelist Saud al-Sanousi is the first in-class reading exercise, providing some context before students dive into the text. Each section of the main text, divided from the original novel’s five chapters and epilogue, is only a few pages long, which allows for easier progression through the story. Important vocabulary and words of cultural significance are translated in helpful footnotes. Exercises are included after the main text, including pre-reading activities, discussion questions, notes on structure and narrative style, and creative writing and translation tasks. Augmenting the exercises are links to the book’s Youtube page, where students can participate in listening exercises from real-life media clips of Arabic television. The videos touch upon thematic issues from the novel and are intended to further acclimate students to living phenomena in Arabic culture. Articles related to the novel’s themes are included after the exercises, which can be used to spark classroom discussion (in Arabic) over issues raised in the novel. A list of Arabic literary terms and devices is included at the end, as a reference, to aid the student’s awareness of the aesthetics of Arabic literature.
The book was designed with classroom instruction in mind, but it is organized such that it can also be used effectively for individual self-learning. The pedagogical rationale behind Saaq al-Bambuu’s structure and resources is to integrate primary linguistic skills with awareness of Arabic culture: reading, speaking, writing, listening, and comprehension with real-world culture, literature, and aesthetics. This holistic approach to foreign language learning is predicated upon the work of John P. Miller in The Holistic Curriculum (1996). The book’s pre-reading, initial reading, and rereading exercises, along with their connections to lived human experience, facilitate students to be able to see each part of the language as it fits into the broader whole. The comprehensive experience offered by the book has the potential to not only help students learn Arabic successfully but, more importantly, to retain the language that they have learned.
Overall, the book is a welcome addition to the existing library of high-quality Arabic instruction materials and may be indicative of a new trend in university-level Arabic instruction. It is most appropriate as an assigned text for intermediate to advanced university-level students of Arabic in a classroom setting. Instructors may find it to be an effective and engaging tool to incorporate into their syllabi’s schedule. Individual learners may also benefit from the book by using it in their directed self-study or as a complement to another course.
Justin Parrott
New York University Abu Dhabi