Summer

CASA offers an intensive language and culture summer program that is designed to serve the needs of CASA Summer-Only fellows (currently in Cairo only) as well as Full-Year fellows in both Cairo and Damascus.

The CASA I Summer Program typically runs from early June to late July/early August and features the following components:

The Academic Program
The Cultural Program
Service Learning (currently available in Cairo only).

1. The Summer Academic Program

The summer academic program in both CASA locations aims to provide the fellows with opportunities to explore Egypt and Syria and to immerse themselves in their new environments both linguistically and culturally. The program offers between 20 and 23 contact hours per week and fellows are expected to spend between four and five hours daily doing homework and preparing for class activities for the following day.

The summer academic program includes two courses:

i. Hadduta MaSriyya: A Course in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic OR Shaamiyyaat: A Course in Syrian Colloquial Arabic
This course offers 10-12 contact hours per week and aims to develop the fellows’ proficiency in the Egyptian or Syrian dialect quickly so that they can function in their new environments. In addition to focusing on the colloquial of daily life, the course places emphasis on cAammiyat al-Muthaqqafiin in which the colloquial is mixed with formal Arabic. Multiple sections of this course are offered to accommodate varying levels of proficiency.

ii. Egypt: Culture & Society OR Syria: Culture & Society
This course offers 8-10 contact hours per week and aims to engage students through language in a number of historical, political, social, and cultural issues of significance to the society in which they are living. The course is conducted entirely in Modern Standard Arabic and places emphasis on the development of all language skills with attention to expanding vocabulary and enhancing grammatical accuracy. Themes in this course include:

• The Egyptian educational system, minorities in Egypt, honorifics, Egyptian nationalism, language of the youth, humor and jokes, the arts, etc,.
• Women in Syrian Society, social issues in modern Syria, Syrian youth, literature, social customs and traditions, etc,.

2. The Summer Cultural Program

The main component of the CASA Summer Cultural Program in both locations is “Mishwaar wa Dardasha” “field trip and a chat,” an activity that takes place once a week and lasts between two to three hours. Each week, small groups (4-5) of CASA fellows are paired with an Egyptian/Syrian university student who acts as a guide and conversation partner for the group. Each group chooses a place of interest to visit in Cairo or Damascus, and the group visits the place and engages in a discussion of its historical and cultural significance with the Egyptian/Syrian partner. Discussions also extend to touch on various aspects of life in Egypt/Syria.

As part of the Summer 2007 Mishwaar wa Dardasha, the CASA fellows had the chance to experience the following with their conversation partners:

In Cairo: Nile falouka ride, visits to Sayyida Zeinab, Al-Azhar Park, Khaan al-Khalili, al-Fishaawi Coffee shop, and a movie viewing at a movie theater.

In Damascus: Visits to the Umayyad Mosque, Takiyya Sulaimaaniyya, Suuq Al-Hamiidiyya, Al-Nofrah Coffee shop, Sitt Zeinab Shrine, and the towns of Macluula and Siidnaaya.

The other component of the Summer Cultural Program consists of trips and excursions to various places in Egypt and Syria organized by the Arabic Language Institute (ALI) at the American University in Cairo and the Arabic Language Institute at the University of Damascus respectively. These trips are optional and the CASA fellows are welcome to join them at a cost. Among the trips that were offered in Summer 2007 were the following:

In Egypt: tours of Cairo, the Giza Plateau, Saqqara & Memphis, Coptic Cairo & the Old Cairo area, a two-day trip to Alexandria, tour of St. Catherine and Sharm El-Sheikh, and a trip to Abu Simbel, Aswan, and Luxor (Nile Cruise).

In Syria: Trips to Al Hosn Castle, Kasab And Foroluq, and Ogaret & Ras Shamra.

3. Service Learning (currently in the Cairo program only)

In Summer 2007, the CASA Cairo program offered--for the very first time-- a community service component that was incorporated within the overall organization of the program. The goal of this new component is to integrate meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to facilitate immersion, enrich learning experience, and encourage civic engagement. With assistance from the Gerhard Center for Philanthropy at AUC, CASA Cairo established a partnership with several NGO’s that would offer opportunities for CASA fellows to develop their own community service projects both in the summer and the full year programs. CASA plans to develop this service learning further and make it part of the Damascus program as well.

Applicants to CASA should note that the CASA summer curriculum cannot accommodate individual linguistic preferences and does not offer individual tutorials in any areas beyond the courses specified above. Students not interested in the study of Egyptian or Syrian Colloquial Arabic should consider whether CASA is appropriate for their needs before applying.

For more information regarding the Summer Program, please contact us. If you are interested in applying to the CASA program, please go to the "Applicants" section of the website.

What Does the CASA Summer Fellowship (currently available in Cairo only) Cover?

Each CASA Summer Only fellow will receive the following:

• roundtrip airfare to/from Cairo
• paid tuition for all summer courses
• a stipend of 2200 Egyptian Pounds per month to help meet living expenses

The CASA program will handle all travel reservations and issue the tickets for the fellow. CASA fellows are responsible for arranging and paying for their housing and meals. Each CASA Summer Only fellow is expected to pay a non-refundable program fee of $825 (for students affiliated with CASA Consortium Schools) or $1,100 (for students not affiliated with Consortium Schools). More details regarding program expenses