Language Learning Through Three Iconic Cities: A Shared Approach to Curriculum Development in Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish

This chapter describes the shared planning, design, and implementation of three similar courses in Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish about three major cities: Cairo, Jerusalem, and Istanbul. Using the theme of a city enabled us to integrate historical and current cultural materials as well as relevant vocabulary, grammatical concepts, and practical linguistic skills. It also allowed us to focus on questions of social justice while promoting critical thinking and empathy for the target culture. The courses were developed during weekly virtual meetings in summer 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the courses use different languages and cultural content, all three courses have comparable unit structures and designs and a common pedagogy with similar learning goals. Our work offers a blueprint that can pave the way for productive collaborations across different languages at other institutions.