Arabic and Islamic Studies
Year 7: Building on the KS2 platform, students go on to study vocabulary, grammar and structures related to the curriculum while following the guidelines established by the Ministry. Under Islamic Studies, students work on improving their understanding of the Holy Quran while building on their understanding on the core concepts of the religion. Emphasis is also put on following the principles in day to day practical life.
Year 8: Students progress on their Arabic language skills and start work on using the correct form of tenses, past, present and future. Students are encouraged to speak Arabic under normal adult speaking speed. Under Writing, students start writing short paragraphs while under reading use of newspaper reading and other media content is encouraged.
Under Islamic Studies, students strengthen their understanding of Allah (SWT) and prophets, God consciousness, sound values, and proper manners in Islam. Students learn different verses of the Holy Quran with a view of reading, writing and memorizing them. A large section of the course contains a detailed study of the biography of the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) as practical image of Islam for he is the example for all Muslims.
Year 9: Students continue to build on their vocabulary as well as writing skills. Students are encouraged to use correct grammar while also emphasising on adult level consistency. Cross curricular references are also incorporated to encourage students to relate to the language outside of the classroom settings. Students also learn about the relevance of the language in the context of local customs and culture making them more aware about their own role in an Arab society. Under Islamic Studies, students start attempting study of the longer chapters of the Holy Quran Students. Students also continue studying different aspects of worship in Islam and how to link their practical life with Islam as a way of life. Current affairs issues are evaluated in group setting under an Islamic perspective as well field trips and project work is encouraged.
For Arabic, assessments are done under the MoE guidelines where the mark systems is on a scale of 30 – 100, with the highest band of 90 – 100 as the equivalent of A*. At Year 7, most students are expected to achieve a level 3. At Year 8 and Year 9, most students would have progressed to level 4 and level 5-6 respectively.
For Islamic studies, assessment follows a formative and summative approach including open ended questions, project work, report writing as well as oral presentations. Students are also observed on their adherence to Islamic principles in day to day behaviour. Students are formally assessed at the end of each term in the form of a written exam.