After working a couple years in accounting, he decided to pursue his passion for teaching Arabic. As an undergraduate, he worked as both an Arabic tutor and Self-Study Instructor in Arabic and found he really enjoyed sharing both his language and culture with students studying Arabic. He is currently attending DePaul University in pursuit of a master’s degree in Arabic. In the spring of 2015, Mohammed received notice that he had been chosen to receive a fellowship from Qatar Foundation International (QFI). QFI is dedicated to connecting cultures and advancing global citizenship through the study of Arabic. As a Teacher Fellow he has received extensive financial and instructional support which he believes will be instrumental to his success in the field. He will graduate in June of 2016 and hopes to obtain a position teaching Arabic in a college or university.

How has the study of Arabic been important for your life and career?

Although I am a native speaker of Arabic having grown up in Saudi Arabia, I have found that studying Arabic in new ways such as through translation and the study of short stories and art has been enriching and has helped me see the language differently. Rather than viewing Arabic solely as the language I speak, I now see it through the lens of a teacher. Learning a language is complex but there are ways to teach Arabic that can not only be effective linguistically but also culturally. I am grateful for the opportunity not only to improve my own language skills but also to learn pedagogies that make language learning accessible, interesting, and fulfilling.

What has learning Arabic meant to you personally?

From the beginning, both learning and teaching Arabic from the Gulf (al khaleeji) perspective has been important because it has been quite absent in the field. I am excited to share not only my dialect with my students but also the culture of the Gulf. Language teaching has tended to focus on Egyptian and Jordanian dialects as well as Modern Standard Arabic, but I will be able to bring in this missing component which is quite important to me personally. Additionally, teaching Arabic and the culture of the Middle East is particularly poignant these days and I look forward to being an ambassador of my culture and dispelling many misconceptions about a culture I love.