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I have always had a fascination with the language & culture. I listen to a lot of Arabic music & even study belly dance.
Throughout my French major at Brock, I had several classes focus on Maghrebian French. As such, I learned a lot about Moroccan & Algerian French language & culture.
Lastly, as a Spanish speaker, I have always been intrigued by the Arabic influence on the language.

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Personal reflection about my experience using LiveLingua:

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Personal reflection about my experience using LiveLingua:

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Altogether I had a good experience with this program. I was surprised by how quickly an instructor reached out to me! Jaouad (my instructor) was very accommodating as I delayed in answering him & even had to reschedule; but he was very polite & kind the whole time :)

Jaouad was really prepared! He had several worksheets with words/phrases & dialogues ready to upload one after another.

I felt a bit rushed to memorize all of the words & phrases but think I did pretty well considering the fast pace. I was not able to remember all of phrases off the top of my head but I successfully matched all of the English phrases to the Arabic ones.

My one bone to pick with the program is that my lesson did not last anywhere near an hour. We started our Skype session at 17:10 & it ended at 17:38. At this point Jaouad was just beginning to discuss Arabic letters & the alphabet when suddenly he started to allude to future lessons and payment plans. I was quite embarrassed to have to let him know that I was not currently looking for paid lessons. All the same, I think the program prompts its instructors not to provide a full service unless the learner appears interested in further paid classes.

Nonetheless, I would still consider my experience to have been a good one & would recommend Jaouad to others looking to do Arabic on LiveLingua.

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Steps & requirements for signing up for a free 1hr language learning course:

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Steps & requirements for signing up for a free 1hr language learning course:

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1.      Go to livelingua.com

2.      Scroll down the homepage and choose the language you want to learn.

3.      On the left side of the screen, there’s a white box that tells you to try a free 60 min lesson.

4.      Fill out the information – you will need to make a Skype account in order to complete this section. Then, press “start my free trial.”

5.      You are then prompted to fill out more on your contact information. You are then asked about the type of course you’re interested in trying – and depending on the language, it even asks the type of dialect you’re interested in learning. There are then some demographic questions. Once you fill that out, you press “register for free trial.”

6.      Afterwards, you are asked to fill out your availability.

7.      Very shortly after, a language teacher contacts you on Skype and you set up your meeting time through there.

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Study work sheet provided to me by my LiveLingua instructor:

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Study work sheet provided to me by my LiveLingua instructor:

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https://voicethread.com/share/12348916/

1.      Alhamdolillah (Thanks to God/ Allah)

2.      Issmi Paloma. (My name is Paloma.)

3.      Min ayna anta /anti? (Where are you from?)

4.      Tacharafna! (Nice to meet you!)

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Arabic IPA transcription of my 4 phrases/words:

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Arabic IPA transcription of my 4 phrases/words:

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- Couldn't go at my own pace (much faster than how I would normally practice a language).

- Potential problems with internet connectivity.

- Quality of lesson really depends on who your teacher is. (I was fortunate to have a good instructor but I heard of others in my class not having a good experience with their instructors.)

- It’s awkward engaging with a complete stranger (although I imagine it gets more comfortable with each lesson.)

- Don’t’ get to choose (at least for the first lesson) the topics I would like to cover.

- Can’t always see the teacher (it would be nice to be able to make eye contact).

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- There’s a person you can actually converse with to practice your speech in the target language.

- Can hear the phonetics of the target language.

- Authentic input.

- The person can guide your speaking and pronunciation.

- Can practice from anywhere as long as you've got a working internet connection.

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Picture of live images on Arabic phrases/words & some basic letters:

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Picture of live images on Arabic phrases/words & some basic letters: