Programs
A structured path, not a pile of hours
Three levels, each of exactly 72 hours. You are placed in a cohort of no more than 3 learners at your level and your pace, with a fixed weekly timetable and the same teacher throughout.
The three levels
Beginner
Script, sounds, and the first 500 words. From nothing to reading aloud.
- Read and write all 28 letters in every position
- Hold a simple conversation about yourself and your family
- Read a vowelled text aloud with correct short vowels
72 hours of tuition
Intermediate
Grammar in earnest, everyday conversation, and reading unvowelled text.
- Use the verb system with confidence across past, present and imperative
- Read unvowelled text and supply the vowels from context
- Follow and take part in a conversation at natural speed
72 hours of tuition
Advanced
Classical texts, nuanced expression, and sustained discussion in MSA.
- Read classical and literary prose with a dictionary, not a translation
- Argue a position in Modern Standard Arabic, in writing and aloud
- Understand the registers that separate speech, journalism and scripture
72 hours of tuition
Three paces, the same hours
The pace changes how long the level takes, never how much you are taught. Every learner receives the full 72 hours.
intensive
4 hours a week
About 4 months per level
standard
3 hours a week
About 6 months per level
flexible
2 hours a week
About 9 months per level
Why cohorts of 3
A class of three is small enough that you speak in every session and your teacher hears every mistake you make — which is the only way pronunciation is corrected before it sets. It is large enough that you are learning alongside people at your own level, which one-to-one tuition cannot give you and which is most of what keeps people going past the third month.
Never more than 3 learners
Cohorts are formed by level, pace and availability, so everyone in the room is working on the same material at the same speed and can actually make the timetable.
Children are taught one to one, because a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old are not at the same stage even when they are at the same level.
Find your level
Apply and we will arrange a short placement conversation — no test, no charge. We place you where you actually are, which is not always where you think you are.
Apply now