Bildungsurlaub course (for Germans)

Once you come to terms with the "immersion method" of Ali Baba, it is a good way for learning Arabic in all its different aspects.
If you come - like me - with an universitarian background (lots of grammar and vocabulary) you might be offended or frustrated to be put in a lower level than you think you can manage, because of low practice of speaking in a daily life context including the necessary vocabulary. So it feels like starting from a point you would think you already have. Not a good feeling personally. But if you accept there are areas you need to advance in order to develop a full set of competences it becomes better. This is, if you have time for a longer stay or - as in my case - you do not need it to qualify for starting a professional life (since I have a job, I have not need to hurry. In any case like mine or with abstract academic background I would advise you to take 1:1 lessons (this year I did 3 hours a day) where your special needs can be adressed without losing time over lessons in a class where you learn together with total novices and you might really be bored.

The teaching stuff is qualified and, as far as I see, able to give you a quick advance, if you articulate your needs and work out a plan together. In some cases you might have to speak a little bit "louder" to be understood.

Since I am a teacher myself in Germany I know about the importance of a good atmosphere for learning processes. This is, in my opinion, the strength of Ali Baba. You feel "at home" with all the personal care, good planned excursions, and friendly and reliable staff.
Facilities (work spaces, computers, WiFi, Cafeteria) are up to date. The apartments you can book are 3 min from the school and in comparison to a hotel sufficient at an acceptable price of € 750.--/month.

I really enjoyed my time at Ali Baba, the teachers and support staff are really friendly and welcoming. The course really helped me to improve my language skills in a very short time and I would love to come back for an advanced course in the future.

I liked the structure of the course and the set-up of the materials.
Even though it was online, there were enough opportunities to practice all the skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening).
Unfortunately an online course did not make it possible to participate in activities or really live in the country.

"I received a very warm welcome on my first day, I was shown around and the staff explained everything to me.

My teacher is very efficient and friendly with a lot of knowledge of teaching in a short period of time a big amount of content of learning.

She met my needs and was at all-time very kind and helpful and has an excellent way of explaining.

All the staff here at Ali Baba is very kind and helpful and I feel very welcome and at home.

The classrooms and all the installations are very clean.

I really hope to come back and go on with my studies."

The classes were very good, teachers are motivated and well prepared, location is nice and good assessable.

Activities planned by the center are awesome and the housing was fine.

I started off without any knowledge of arabic at all; after 2 weeks I managed to learn reading and writing, introducing myself conjugating verbs etc... I did have 4h of group class + 2 hours private class in the afternoon. This was a heavy regimen and I wouldn’t recommend doing it for more than 2 weeks. They planned the private classes only a 20 min break after the group classes so you’re not able to have a decent lunch break with other students which is a bit of a shame. But overall my learning experience was very positive with a pleasant teacher.

The school itself consists of clean basic class rooms and a cafeteria where you buy a snack. It is located in the university neighbourhood and there are several food options nearby. It is a bit far from the downtown (20min Uber for 4JOD or local bus for 40 piaster) I had a private apartment 2min walk from the school which was very convenient. It was a bit basic, especially on the kitchen utensil level, but the janitor was very accommodating to provide extra stuff when asked (despite language barriers). In the end I didn’t cook myself there because I didn’t trust the rusty gas bottle, but others have used it safely :) it was ok for 2 weeks, but if I would stay > 1 month I would probably try to find a place myself at some point.

School trips were ok. I only joined for a city tour in the beginning and a traditional lunch. For Petra I rented a car with some fellow students to be able to combine it with wadi rum, which wasn’t offered by the school + it gave us more time in Petra. But people who joined the school trip said it was nice, with a good guide, transport for free but just a bit short (2x3h bus up and down for only 4h on site).. but definitely a good budget option if you don’t want to be bothered with organising transport yourself.

I had a very pleasant experience although it was for a short period. Found the staff to be very efficient and professional in their approach. The facility was located in a very convenient location and the facility itself was very clean and well equipped.

The teacher I had was very knowledgeable and very efficient.

I was a bit nervous when arriving, as I had very little information regarding the accommodation (I was given an address and a few contact numbers, but no more than that); however, everything went smoothly upon arrival. A taxi driver employed by the school picked me up from the airport and took me to my apartment and told me what time to be at Ali Baba the next day.

Accomodation: clean and tidy but not the best equipped. I was staying in one of the studio apartment buildings used by Ali Baba, so there were a few other students also living in the building. Having visited a few of the other students' rooms, there appeared to be quite a diversity in terms of how well the apartments are equipped. In terms of kitchen equipment, mine simply had a camping stove and some basic crockery and cutlery, but not enough to really cook much. Other apartments had multiple hobs, kettle, etc. Was quite surprised to find that my apartment had no A/C, just a fan; however, it seemed that most of the other apartments were properly equipped in this aspect. All in all, though, it had a bed, desk, bathroom, chairs, table and a sort of couch, so it was fairly comfortable to live in. Certainly room for improvement, though.

Teaching: our teacher was always positive and cheerful, certainly passionate about teaching the language. Her English was perhaps not the strongest, as she struggled with some explanations of the grammar, but she informed us that she was taking English classes in the evening, so I highly admire her efforts and I'm sure she'll keep improving. The language wasn't a huge barrier to our (class of 4) learning, and we came a long way in just a month. I have, however, received news that other students did not have as positive an experience (read below). Our teacher made sure we had a fairly firm grasp of any new aspect of grammar before we moved on to the next thing, although I feel we should have been drilled a bit more on vocabulary, but that's more down to personal preference.

Extracurricular activities: Ali Baba did fairly well. We had a couple of trips and a few group activities within the school: the first trip was to Petra, although it was originally just meant to be a short day trip, one of the students asked if there could be an optional extension to spend the night in Wadi Rum; the school managed to accomodate our request, and hopefully it will include something similar in future semesters. The next trip was to Jerash and Ajloun; both very enjoyable. Our driver was friendly (although his grasp of English was fairly weak, it didn't cause any problems). The group activity turned out to be quite fun; a succession of team-based competitions with the prize of free cinema tickets at the end. With regards to other trips, everything was organised by the students, which worked out very well; we could go where we wanted and spend as much or as little time there as we liked, so a large group of us went on little excursions to the Dead Sea, Madaba, a few visits to Rainbow Street and the downtown area; it worked out quite well. One event all the students found a little strange and maybe even offputting was the presentation the school gave on the day of graduation. We were asked what stereotypes or assumptions we had about Arab people and Muslims before coming to the school, and they gave examples such as 'they all live in the desert', 'they're all terrorists', etc. We all found it rather incredible that they thought any of the students who have come thousands of miles to learn Arabic in an Arabic country would have such ridiculous stereotypes in mind. They then proceeded to show us a 'comedy' video made before Trump's election about what would happen to Musllims and Arabs entering the US if Trump were elected (essentially just a pretty unfunny but fairly on-point take on the 'Muslim ban' which was later instituted in the early days of his presidency). It made us all a little bit uncomfortable and patronised, so I would hope that they either change or get rid of that presentation entirely.

Administration: a word of warning here. Speaking to several other students, it would appear that the Ali Baba administration is fairly unpleasant when it comes to not entirely positive feedback. Halfway through the course, we were asked to fill in anonymous reviews of our teachers, and one class put reviews that were not at all scathing, just not brilliant; at the end of the term, their teacher assumed which one of her students wrote the least positive review, and then proceeded to demand that the student say a better review while she recorded him. The students in the class then later received emails asking for 'better' evaluations. It would seem then, that the school doesn't want genuine feedback, only praise. I would therefore take the student reviews that they quote with a pinch of salt.

Overall a good introduction to the language

Excellent and very patient teachers and good facilities. The accommodation was also nice. I would recommend this school.

I spent four weeks at Ali Baba and completed the Beginners II course. My teacher Ruwan was excellent - I really can't speak highly enough. She was imaginative with her lessons and tailored things to the needs of students. I stayed with a family during my time and there were no issues at all with this. They were welcoming and fed me lots of delicious food. The centre is smart and modern, with access to plenty of computers.

The only thing I was slightly disappointed with was the fact that the centre did not really organised any trips, except one every four weeks to Petra. They were not particularly knowledgeable about organising trips either. You are also expected to buy a textbook for your course which can be quite pricey (25JD). You will not be able to find out about your accommodation until the very last minute.

Ali Baba is a very modern centre with excellent facilities and teachers. Classes are small and interactive teaching methods make learning interesting and efficient.

Personally, I lived with a guest family who was very friendly and supportive. They introduced me to the extended part of their family, took me to leisure facilities and other locations in the city centre, and helped me with language problems.

I enjoyed the trip to Petra which was organised and paid for by Ali Baba. It would have been better if more trips had been organised (and not necessarily financed), because they made the students organise their own outings, often individually and not as a group.

It must be a problem for the Language School to place students in the right class with native speakers who are fluent in listening and speaking. I experienced this problem when I had to be in the class with just one more student who was just this: fluent in speaking (though he might not have been speaking with grammatical accuracy). After one week of feeling humiliated, I asked to be placed in another (lower) class.

Apart from this personal problem, I have a very high opinion of the school and the teachers there. Learning took place in an open and friendly atmosphere.

Thanks to all the staff!

To put this experience into one sentence would be to say that the month I spent in Amman was one of the best experiences of my life. If you are hesitant about Ali Baba, don't be! They're absolutely great and provided excellent service and resources in and outside of the classroom. I do, however, recommend looking up some apartments on Google in Amman before leaving instead of the dorms provided. The dorms were very overpriced for what you received-- which was just a room and a small bathroom. The apartments are pretty cheap in Amman. The Ali Baba Center itself is great. The teachers are very friendly and they teach the content very well. Also, the school does not provide many opportunities for excursions, but as far as learning Arabic, this place is stellar.

I was treated well and professionally, and appreciated the care and attention I was given. Accommodation was welcoming and comfortable enough for the price charged, as well as conveniently located a short walk away from the course location.
We received all the support necessary from the teachers to be able to get around and enjoy our time in Amman, and I thought both the placement testing and the teaching were up to standard.
We also received individual care and I was given five free one-to-one sessions of 90 minutes on the account of my staying only a week, which I thought was extremely kind and helpful.
Facilities are adequate with comfortable classrooms and whiteboards. Teachers are friendly and attentive, but quite traditional in their approach to classroom management (i.e. act with kind but firm authority), which was not always to my taste. I did not really have time to take part in activities because I only stayed a week, but what was on offer sounded nice.

Plus:
The teacher! Noor (Engno) was simply excellent. She is really gifted and sweet.
The teaching conditions were excellent too, as we were only 2 (or sometimes 1) in the class.
The staff at the school was really nice too (besides the "no drinks from outside" episode).
The dorm was really close to the school, so it was perfect.
The trip organised by the school to Petra the first weekend was a really great idea!
The room in the dorm was ok and relatively clean.

Minus:
The kitchen in the dorm room was supposed to be furnished (plates, glasses, cutlery, etc). It was not and I had to run to the nearest supermarket on the day I arrived. That was definitely not the first thing I wanted to do after arriving to my room.
I wish I had known beforehand there was a curfew at the student dorm. The school and the dorm are a bit too far from downtown/First Circle.
I was a bit disappointed that the school did not organise more trips/activities outside school.

I chose to study Modern Standard Arabic for one month and stay with a host family for the duration. I have since returned having had one of the most motivating and unexpectedly action-filled months of my life. Classes were set by an entrance exam and I found all my lessons suitably challenging, flexible, and interactive. We didn't just use al-Kitaab, we had debates in Arabic, youtube, and role-play. All the teachers were very helpful and there was always someone at reception to provide general advice. Open long hours, there was a whole floor full of computers, reading resources and even the centre's cafe. We also found a calligraphy teacher during our month with Ali Baba.
With relation to my host family it definitely helped to practice my Arabic with them. The centre made sure all host families were close by and taxis are unbelievably cheap. The location of the Language Centre is directly opposite to the University of Jordan and surrounded by cafes offering modern and traditional Middle Eastern cuisine. The area is safe, clean, and open, just 15 minutes drive to the city centre.
There is so much to see and do in Amman and this course provides the perfect environment to meet other students from all over the world who share ideals and the chance to be impressed by the hospitable nature of Jordan.

One thing I really enjoyed about the school was the composition of the class and our teacher who was absolutely excellent. The class consisted of 4 students who came from all corners of the world. I loved to meet these new people from South Korea and that very nice person from Germany.

In class, we always had a good time. We laughed a lot because our teacher invented a lot of great games in order to improve our Arabic speaking skills. One time we even went out and visited the local hospital in order to test our vocabulary we had learned about the "Mustashfa". It was very interesting. To make it short, our teacher was genius!

The housing was good as well. My student resident was only 3 minutes away from school and I was able to walk every morning so I did not have to care about getting a taxi. Besides, there were a lot of nice restaurants and small shops near.

I've learned a lot in Amman and I enjoyed my time there. I recommended the school to my friends and I hope to come back one day.

Overall, very happy.
Good points:
They were very nice teachers and people. We discussed interesting topics. It was very good to have an assessment sheet after a few weeks (lessons were much better afterwards). I liked the book, very good "Iftar".

To be improved:
I would have liked to speak more (courses too much focused on the vocabulary, written on the blackboard). Teacher went too fast, as if we had to finish the book or finish a program. It was too fast for the vocabulary written on the dashboard, for the grammar, for everything. We can't see all points of Arabic language in 1 or 2 months, and it's useless to try it. Just focus and spend time on some relevant points
Please give more exercises! Those in the book are good, but are not enough. We did them very very quickly during the classes, all together, without time to think about it before giving the answer. But, please, find more exercises, for instance, to learn the conjugation. It's good to conjugate 3 or 5 verbs at all tenses and persons. But I think it's far more useful to have a text with sentences and verbs which are given and that we have to conjugate at the given person. It's closer to real situation, as opposed to the very mechanical way like ana katabtu, anta katabta, etc. learned in the right order
Maybe next time I'll choose 1 on 1 classes. I practiced much more in a few 1 on 1 lessons than in all collective classes (which with only 3 students were almost 1 to 1 classes).

Housing: I found a Jordanian family on my own and it was very good.

I first came because it was the school that offered most information and made, in fact, everything easy. I was impressed by the service and the quality. The fact that they have such good teachers and are there to help you, completely aware of the needs of international students, was amazing. Another great fact was the school´s availability to accommodate private classes. The place is very nice and the neighborhood is quite animated. I very much enjoyed the group activities; wish I had more of them!

My experience with the teacher was great. I was really impressed by her preparation and her knowledge. Nariman is truly a great teacher and I was very, very lucky to have her teaching me in Spanish!

Overall, I had and excellent experience and I recommend everyone looking for Arabic classes to go to Amman directly to Ali Baba!

What I liked most about the experience with the Ali Baba International Center was the professionalism expressed by the staff and teachers. I had never heard about the institute before and neither had friends of mine who live in Jordan. Yet, I believe the school exhibits a quality service of language that left me completely satisfied with my learning there. I plan to return to this institute any time; I am in Jordan, insha'Allah. I didn't take advantage of the housing service, but I can say that the location was central and easy to get to from anywhere in Amman since the University of Jordan is right across the street. For those students, unlike myself, who are just graduating or taking a break from their university studies in their home country, should fit right in because the location of the center is right in the hustle and bustle of a college town with students, taxis, buses, etc. It also seems like a good place to work as the instructors seemed to enjoy their jobs and the atmosphere was pleasant.

My teacher was tough, but I think that is just a matter of coming from a different culture of teaching philosophy. I would prefer the toughness because it helps push the students. The course was fun, we laughed a lot and we learned a lot, at least I did. In just three weeks, I was able to have small conversations with taxi drivers and friends. One taxi drive for about a half hour, in fact.

The text for the course was good, easy to understand, and logical.

The facilities of the center were really modern with lots of computers and internet, which I never had any issues with. The building even housed an electronics store in the lobby to buy sim cards and the like. Not to mention cafes and eateries.

People were pleasant as most of the Jordanians I have met have been. The only downside to the whole experience was that I had to leave. I honestly didn't know what to expect, especially since no one I knew could tell me anything about it. I was pleasantly surprised and I so much look forward to returning to the Ali Baba International Center.

My experience at Ali Baba was very pleasant. It was a great foundation for strengthening my Arabic language skills. The center and faculty were very welcoming and truly cared for the betterment of their students. I really enjoyed the diverse community that Ali Baba brought. I made friends with people from all over the world. The location of the center was ideal, being across from the University of Jordan and a short taxi ride from downtown Amman. One of my favorite aspects about my stay at Ali Baba was the knowledge gained in regards to Arab culture. I believe culture is just as important as the language and learned so much about it from my teachers, the locals, cultural outings, and my overall stay in Jordan. I highly recommend this program to anyone looking to strengthen their knowledge of language and culture while growing and becoming a part of a wonderful community.

After my return, I wrote a detailed report about my experience in the Center for my classmates here, since a number of them may be interested in doing a similar course. My overall rating was excellent, since I was very impressed with the facilities of the Center, the method of teaching, the qualification of our teacher, the overall atmosphere among teachers and students, the flexibility to accommodate and deal with problems related to my own limits of coping with the amount of grammar and vocabulary. The accommodation in an apartment nearby was reasonable. The advantage of it was the independence and the short walk to the Center. I also found the friendliness and assistance given by the staff remarkable, also related to travel and sightseeing arrangements. I also took benefit of being assigned to a Jordanian language partner.

The classes were fantastic. We did 4 hours a day of MSA in a group of about 8 or 10 people, and I also took private colloquial languages. My teacher, Arwa, had a great personality and a lot of patience. We studied texts that helped us improve our understanding of Jordanian culture while we learned Arabic. The location of the course was great. Because it's across the street from the university, there are many students studying in the Gloria Jean's coffee shop in the same building. It's a fun experience to go do homework in that cafe. The facilities were state-of-the-art. I was impressed at the wifi, the abundance of computers, and the light, airy classrooms. The dorm room (in the sakan barakat lltalibat) was also very nice. It had air conditioning, ensuite kitchenette and bathroom, and wifi. The only thing that I thought could be improved was the activities. I wish there had been more activities arranged by Ali Baba. During my time there (which was Ramadan so perhaps that made things more difficult for the organizers), we had only one activity arranged by the school. Another student did all of the arrangements for our trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba, someone else made arrangements to go to Jerash, and someone else made arrangements for Palestine. I think it would have been nice to have pre-planned trips like this because we were all nervous trying to organize things while visiting the country for the first time and not really speaking Arabic.

However, I absolutely recommend this program. My Arabic improved during my time in Amman to the point where I understand almost everything people say to me, and I can express most of the things I want to say in any context. I wish that the colloquial Arabic was more of a focus, but the private lessons were great for this. This program was phenomenal. Amazing. I want to go back as soon as I can!

I was met at the airport, taken straight to my accommodation, and given directions for the following days. This, particularly if you are arriving late, is a really great service. The teachers were enthusiastic and set challenging amounts of work while tailoring their classes to the individual.