Gaining Global Skills: LPS students benefit from Arabic world language courses

May 2, 2025

The dialects, details and descriptive phrases of one of the world’s most spoken languages are coming to life for Lincoln Public Schools students this year.
 
Dozens of high school students at Northeast, North Star and Lincoln High are sharpening their linguistic skills through the Arabic for Arabic Speakers (AAS) curriculum. LPS began offering AAS classes to students in grades 9-12 in 2022, and the popularity of the courses has prompted the school district to expand the offerings. AAS courses will be available to middle school students at both Culler and Goodrich next year.
 
Northeast students Rutha and Narjes said they have enjoyed their Arabic 2 class this year. The AAS course structure is similar to the other world languages taught at LPS: French, German, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and Spanish for Spanish Speakers. The introductory class features a mixture of English and Arabic in lessons. Arabic 2 students are fully immersed in the language to help them better absorb words and phrases.
 
“Compared to where I was at the beginning of the year, it’s helped a lot,” Narjes said. “I can read more fluently, I can talk more fluently, I can express in Arabic more fluently. It’s been helping a lot.”
 
“Ever since I was little I could always speak Arabic fluently. I never had a problem with that,” Rutha said. “But reading and writing were where the problems were. I took Arabic 1 last year and it really helped me a lot, and now that I’m in Arabic 2, my reading and writing have become a lot better.”
 
LPS World Language Curriculum Specialist Katie Damgaard said it was important to provide Arabic as an elective course. A 2021 report from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services revealed Arabic is one of the most spoken languages in the state. Other than English, the most widespread languages in Nebraska are Spanish (131,151 speakers), Vietnamese (6,961) and Arabic (5,387).

Those numbers are also large within LPS. As of April 2025, there were 1,703 students across all grade levels who indicated that Arabic is their first language.
 
“After interviewing students, families and our bilingual liaisons, it was clear that the Arabic for Arabic Speakers course was a strong fit for LPS,” Damgaard said. “Supporting heritage language development is essential for students’ identity and academic success.”
 
Mohammed Alnajem teaches AAS courses at both Northeast and North Star, and Nael Hijjo leads students at both Northeast and Lincoln High. They said the classes have helped students connect with their heritage, open new career opportunities and improve their overall language skills.
 
“As an Arabic language teacher, my work is dedicated to more than just language instruction. It is about building bridges of understanding across cultures,” Hijjo said. “By offering students the opportunity to learn Arabic, I provide them with both linguistic skills and cultural competence that allow them to engage more fully with the world around them.”
 
“The Arab community has expressed immense pride and comfort in seeing their children learn Arabic within the LPS system,” Alnajem said. “This has greatly strengthened parents’ trust and respect for the district. Most notably, Lincoln Public Schools has added another language to its world languages program, positioning itself as a leader in offering unique services and high-quality instruction.”
 
The AAS curriculum offers four proficiency levels, with students earning ten credits per level towards high school graduation. Completing two years of Arabic satisfies the world language requirement at many colleges and universities.
 
Hijjo said LPS students have realized the present and future value of the language. Arabic is one of six official languages of the United Nations, joining English, French, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
 
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Ethnologue language catalog, Modern Standard Arabic is the sixth most spoken language in the world, with 273 million users. An additional 102 million speak Egyptian Arabic, and millions of people converse in many other Arabic dialects, pushing the total near 500 million. English (1.45 billion people), Mandarin Chinese (1.138 billion), Hindi (609 million), Spanish (559 million) and French (309 million) are also widely spoken across the globe.
 
“In an increasingly interconnected world, a deep knowledge of Arabic can open new career opportunities in fields such as business, translation, education, media, diplomacy, international relations, trade and services related to the Arabic-speaking community,” Hijjo said. “It is a passport to the Arabic-speaking world and nearly 500 million native speakers worldwide.”
 
Narjes said the class is helping her both personally and professionally. She and other Rockets in Hijjo’s Arabic 2 section are expanding their vocabulary and gaining more knowledge about fields from literature to science. Many AAS students have also produced multimedia projects that showcase the school’s many cultures.
 
“It really does help getting a job if you know more than one language,” Narjes said. “I think that’s always a plus on your resume. I think just overall, it helps me comprehend my culture better. I’m always surrounded by that, but now I can understand why it’s there.”
 
Alnajem said the AAS program has spurred increased involvement and engagement of parents at school, which has positively impacted the entire community. The courses have also provided lifelong benefits such as critical thinking and research skills.
 
Alnajem felt the AAS classes would benefit everyone in Lincoln for many years to come.
 
“The linguistic and cultural knowledge gained through this program shapes students into informed, civic-minded individuals who will contribute meaningfully to the community of Lincoln,” Alnajem said. “For students who are passionate about learning Arabic, this program offers tremendous value.”
 
Visit home.lps.org/worldlanguage/ to learn more about the wide variety of world language classes available for LPS students.
 
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