Fulbright FLTA Newsletter

When I arrived in the United States, I had just experienced health problems on the plane and then the airline lost my luggage. The night I arrived in my apartment, I did not find anything except a sofa bed, a bottle of water, and a bar of soap. I started to ask myself; is this America?

Soufien Jarraya, Tunisia, 2007-2008

After a while, I was able to recognize how people were friendly and helpful. And truthfully, I discovered another side of America, one very different from what is portrayed in the media. Americans consider helping foreigners a duty, whereas I used to see it as a favor. Then, I started to integrate myself within a completely different educational system. Everyone was ready to answer my endless questions. I soon discovered how much Americans were ignorant about the Arab World and its history. However, quite aware of my responsibility as a cultural ambassador whose main goal is to build bridges of understanding between different cultures, I have tried to make this an active goal.

In my second week at Missouri Southern State University, I was interviewed by the college newspaper, www.thechartonline.com, in the August 31 issue. During the interview, I mentioned that I believe only in the power of dialogue between nations. Indeed, I believe that dialogue can be achieved mainly through a greater focus on education. With my article on the front page, I had an opportunity to advertise the goal of my mission as well as the Fulbright Program's intentions.  As the only Arabic instructor at Missouri Southern State University, I launched an Arabic club for which I am the advisor. The club's activities include: organizing debates about Middle Eastern history, showing Arabic movies on a weekly basis, and organizing sessions to familiarize people with Arabic calligraphy and the art of Arabesque. Additionally, I was invited several times to give presentations in different humanities classes such as Communication and Intercultural Relations and French. Conducting presentations in English, as well in French, I have tried to shed light on some topics that might look provoking to the American layman, such as: Judaism in Tunisia: a Model of Peaceful Coexistence, African Literature between Islam and Tradition, Tunisia and the Development of Identity in Relation to the Arab World.

In my classes, I was surprised by the fact that my American students did not know much about their own history and surrounding nations. For instance, they did not know the date of the American Civil War, the birth place of George Washington, the capital of Canada, and the name of the Mexican president.

Since I have always kept in mind that I am a cultural ambassador and that teaching a language requires familiarizing people with the whole culture, I have tried to introduce the tradition of seeking out world news. In the Arab World, it is not surprising to find a seven-year old child talking about politics. As such, I introduced an oral assignment at the beginning of my course in which students are required to give a summary of world news in Arabic. The other goal of the assignment was to introduce grammatical points such as negation, tense, etc., from real data, not just introducing the course in an abstract manner. Now, my students know more about circumstances in Pakistan, Myanmar and Middle East conflicts as well as the everyday prices of oil; and they are able to make an analysis in Arabic.

Before coming to America, I took for granted that a coffee will always be served hot. During my first week, I went to a coffee shop, ordered a cappuccino and I was handed a frozen one! I would recommend to any new Fulbrighters to make sure you ask for a hot coffee when ordering.