• ???@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Madaris? Just call them schools like a normal person. Anyone seeking English in Gaza would call that a “school”. Kinda weird, why would you choose a different word for this? Flaunting your Arabic, or what?

    • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      How many Gazians speak English as a fist language? Why do you have a problem with a word?

      • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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        9 months ago

        Most people here speak English as a first language and you’re making the choice to switch to the foreign word here for a reason.

          • ???@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I think you are doing it to make it sound more like the Taliban for whom the word “madrasa” (and not “madaris”, but somehow you wanted the plural form) specifically means religious schools that indoctrinate children into political Islam. No one else tends to use the word to mean otherwise. Hamas doesn’t do that kind of stuff. Basically, education in Gaza is on par with the rest of the world. They have had excellent universities, they have had excellent medical centers that had to specialize in very specific types of injuries (thanks Israel!). The UNRWA school offer a normal education like any other in the Middle East (Arabic, English, Math, Science, and so on). There is nothing “madrasa” about it. And yet you chose to use that word.

            Now, I don’t want to go around accusing, I just can’t help but think, why did this person choose to use a Arabic variety of the word “school” to describe Gazan schools and education? Is it just, *“omg look at me I speak Arabic, yalla bro!” or is it something else?

            • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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              9 months ago

              You are very much not off target with your suspicions about this account’s motivations. And it’s not to show off their familiarity with Arabic.

          • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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            9 months ago

            This both isn’t one and I don’t for a moment believe you’re using it in the name of multiculturalism. You’re a reliable apologist for Israel and want to make “schools” sound like something scary.

      • ???@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        As their first language? You just need to speak it. I think English education is compulsory in schools in Gaza so I’d safely bet almost everyone speaks a medium to advanced level of English.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          Wait really? Unrelated to the wider topic, I’m finding it hard to believe the majority of any Arab nation’s people speak a medium, let alone advanced, level of English.

          • ???@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            It’s all thanks to the English for colonizing us. Usually, the second language spoken is either English or French, depending on who this country celebrates its independence from.

            I even was an English teacher in the Middle East at some point lol

            Yes, English is taught in most Arab countries starting in Grade 1 all the way up to highschool. Almost every upper educational organization will offer students English 101 if they fail a placement test or need extra help.

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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              9 months ago

              I know about English education in the Middle East since I’m from there; what I meant is: Does it actually stick in Gaza? At least where I’m from it goes like this: You just memorize the words and grammar, somehow pass the exam and then forget all of it, after high school you go from kinda sorta having intermediate level English back to only knowing the basics unless you study a field where you learn in English. I doubt the average person in the street from my country would be able to have a functional conversation with a, say, foreign tourist, so I’m wondering if it’s different in Gaza.

              • ???@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                There are certainly problems with teaching it as a second language, but it’s still taught by UNRWA teachers (to at least one third of the kids there) from an early age.

                I grew up in Jordan and the average young person will in most cases speak good English. It fades with older generations given how much their education sucked, but a large portion of people speak it. I’ve even been told that it was taught better in the 80’s than now.

                Don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t speak enough English to communicate with someone on the street except for my Grandma and she was basically illiterate.

                What country are you from?

                Ps: to answer the question specifically about Gaza, I don’t have any stats for that, but I know the UNRWA schools teach English