Growing an Engaged Pool of Teachers
At the heart of Arabic language growth and transformation are the educators who bring the language to life every day.
QFI celebrates and supports these teachers through a range of professional development opportunities, certification pathways, and community-building initiatives that strengthen the pipeline of skilled Arabic instructors. From the UK Bursary Programme, which addresses the shortage of certified Arabic teachers, to the Winter Workshop, which showcased the power of proficiency-based assessments, QFI equips educators with the tools and confidence to thrive in the classroom.
By investing in educators at every stage of their careers, QFI is not only filling classrooms, it’s cultivating a dynamic, empowered teaching community capable of inspiring the next generation of Arabic learners.
Bursary Certification Support
Bursary Certification Support
In April 2024, QFI began working with certification providers in the UK to support incoming Arabic teacher training candidates
Support for In-Service Professional Development
Support for In-Service Professional Development
Instances of Arabic educators trained across 87 QFI supported sessions
QFI provides ongoing professional development, mentorship, and resources to educators.
This support spans the entire lifecycle of an educator's career, helping them advance their skills, connect with peers, and grow within the profession. The following two initiatives from 2024 demonstrate how QFI supports Arabic educators at different stages of their professional journey.
QFI Advances Arabic Education with Successful Autumn Institute in the UK
QFI hosted its annual Autumn Arabic Institute in the UK. This three-day event brought together Arabic language educators at various stages of their careers to address a gap in continuing professional development offerings tailored to Arabic educators across the UK by providing access to trainings from Arabic professors and education experts in the United Kingdom.
QFI will continue to support this cohort through virtual follow-up sessions to enhance their continued professional development.
QFI Hosts Winter Workshop to Empower US Arabic Educators with Strategies to Improve Students’ Language Proficiency
The workshop brought together language teaching experts with Arabic educators to help equip them with essential tools to evaluate and enhance student learning outcomes in their schools' Arabic programs.
The workshop emphasized the transformative role of proficiency assessments in the classroom, encouraging educators to shift from viewing assessments solely as a monitoring measure to using proficiency assessments as catalysts for student growth.
“[This workshop] was such an enjoyable, enriching, and learning experience.
The event has the potential to create a transformative impact on my work by providing actionable insights and equipping me with applicable resources.”
Hanin Abukhas, Arabic Educator
Arabic Teacher Councils (ATCs) Working Together
Arabic Teacher Councils (ATCs) Working Together
ATCs foster community and collaboration between Arabic teachers worldwide
In 2024, QFI supported 13 ATCs across the US and UK.
One form of support comes in the form of workshops, which help to strengthen the ATCs across different regions. The following two workshops highlight QFI’s regional efforts to support ATCs.
Workshop in the US
QFI held its annual Arabic Teacher Council Meeting for its US-based councils at the ACTFL Convention in Philadelphia, PA.
During the meeting, both leaders and members from the seven councils convened to discuss how these institutions can grow and adapt to the changing needs of their communities, collaborate with each other across regions, and ensure the sustainability of the councils’ work
Workshop in the UK
QFI held its first Arabic Teacher Council Leadership Meeting for its UK-based councils in Oxford, UK in coordination with its 2024 Research Forum.
The leadership of each of the six councils met as a group for the first time to introduce their councils and activities, network and build relationships with one another, and discuss the needs of their communities.
Boosting Arabic's Presence in Modern Foreign Language Spaces
Boosting Arabic's Presence in Modern Foreign Language Spaces
QFI has increased the representation of the Arabic language at academic and professional conferences, where it was once underrepresented
Demonstrating the impact of QFI's work and thought leadership in this area over the past 10 plus years, 2024 showed an increased number of Arabic teachers having abstracts and presentations accepted at academic and professional conferences. The four examples below illustrate how Arabic educators supported by QFI shared their work at major academic and professional conferences in 2024.
QFI at ALL Language World 2024
QFI staff attended the Association for Language Learning's annual Language World Conference, which focused on the theme of “Languages - a unique ingredient of learning."
The conference included topics such as parental engagement, student motivation, a need for language educator resources, and the need for information sharing between language programs in primary and secondary schools.
The presence of Arabic education at the conference reinforces QFI’s dedication to shifting the status quo with regard to Arabic within multilingual education and professionalizing language teaching.
QFI Builds Communities of Practice at ACTFL 2024
At ACTFL, QFI participated in the largest and most comprehensive professional development event for language educators in the United States.
As part of its commitment to advancing Arabic education, QFI supported the atten dance of 42 Arabic educators, providing them access to training opportunities and a collaborative environment to enhance their teaching practices. In addition, QFI sponsored four exhibitor workshops, offering educators a platform to share their expertise with the broader language learning community.
Representing Arabic at the Dual Language Immersion Conference
Arabic teachers presented at the 9th International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education for the first time in October 2024.
There are only four Arabic DLI programs in public schools, so this number of presenters shows a changing perception of Arabic as it is being put on the same map as other more common DLI programs like Spanish or French.
The 5th Conference on Arabic language in German-speaking countries at LSI Bochum
This conference, supported by QFI, featured a variety of diverse sessions covering topics such as innovative teaching techniques, the integration of digital tools in the classroom, and the development of intercultural competencies through foreign language learning, as well as highlighting the latest advancements and ongoing challenges in Arabic language education.