Altawa Seminar 2019

The Arabic Language Teachers’ Association of Western Australia [ALTAWA] was established in 2015. The Association was formed with the express aim of collaborating with all Arabic language teachers in Western Australia, interstate and abroad.

The Association also aims to form partnerships with other stakeholders in languages education to improve the delivery of Arabic teaching and learning. All schools in Western Australia where Arabic is being offered are represented on the committee.

During the past five years, the Association’s members held regular meetings and attended many workshops, seminars and professional development opportunities. Members also attended various languages conferences in Western Australia and interstate. The president of the Association, Sh. Muhammad Agherdien, also attended an Arabic language professional learning opportunity in Rabat, Morocco during the school summer break in 2017.

This year [2019] has been a momentous year for the Association. The committee decided to become affiliated to the Modern Languages Teachers Association of Western Australia (MLTAWA), the peak association for languages education in Western Australia. To mark this occasion, the Association held a seminar on Wednesday October 9th, 2019, to celebrate this partnership. The President of the MLTAWA, Nadia Civa was the guest of honour at the seminar which was held at Al-Ameen College. Nadia Civa welcomed all the delegates as valued members of the MLTAWA and wished the Association well and congratulated all on this important milestone.   

The Association also warmly welcomed to the seminar, Ms Kate Reitzenstein, the languages consultant of the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia [AISWA]. Kate also joined the Arabic Language Teachers' Association [ALTAWA] as a member. The AISWA languages consultant commented “I feel that Arabic is a very important language, therefore I want to be a part of ALTAWA”.  The collaboration with AISWA provides the Association with much needed expertise in languages education, learning and teaching, program development, task design and curriculum implementation.

Another eminent guest, Nadia Selim, Australian academic and Arabic language researcher [University of South Australia], addressed the delegates on the day via zoom-chat. Members and guests had an opportunity to engage with her during a question and answer session. It is important that Arabic language teaching and learning is informed by research. ALTAWA is looking forward to further this collaboration with academia and other specialists in this important curriculum area.

The Association would like to thank Al-Ameen College’s management for hosting the ALTAWA seminar on campus.