We teach reading books, not ordering coffee
Furqan is a centre of classical Arabic in Cairo. We do not promise conversational dialect in a month: that is a different language and a different task. Eight steps in a row, groups of up to twelve, a separate women's department and children's groups.
What we stand on
Four rules you notice from the first class.
Steps, not A1 and B2
The European scale describes what a person can say. Our programme describes what they can read — different things, in a different order.
An interview, not a questionnaire
Somebody who does not know the language cannot answer «which course do you need». We make that call, not you. Twenty minutes, free.
Twelve people, no more
In a group of twenty each student reads aloud once per class. That is too little, so enrolment closes at the twelfth.
Twenty minutes at home every day
A line of handwriting, ten syllables aloud, five words. More is unnecessary, less does not work — and this is what separates those who finish from those who stop.
How the classical language differs from a dialect
Briefly, without arguing about which matters more:
«A dialect takes half a year and does not help you read. Fusha takes years and opens everything written over fourteen centuries — from the Quran to yesterday's newspaper. You will pick up Egyptian on the street yourself; the book you will not read without us»
This does not mean the dialect is useless. It means we teach something else, and it is better to know that before the first class rather than after the third.
The centre in short
- Steps in the programme
- 8
- Students per group
- up to 12
- Minutes per class
- 120
- Classes per week
- 2
Cairo, Nasr City, 14 Abbas al-Akkad Street, second floor
Sat–Thu, 9:00 to 21:00, closed on Friday
Book an interview
Where we teach
Nasr City, second floor: four classrooms, a library and an interview room. Classes are in person only — reading aloud and hearing a correction works worse over video, and we have tested that.
Four classrooms
Two for the men's department, one for the women's, one for children's groups and one-to-one classes.
Books on site
Textbooks, dictionaries and reading texts. You may take them home; there is nothing to buy.
A room of its own
Twenty minutes before enrolling: you read aloud, answer a few questions and get your step.