Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2 May, 2024: Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) 2024 is hosting a remarkable initiative in its current edition under the title ‘Arabic Pals Competition’. Targeting school students visiting the fair, the competition aims at promoting Arabic language among youth of all nationalities.
Dr. Khaled Dalky, Head of the Arabic Language Proficiency Testing at the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), said: “The ‘Arabic Pals Competition’ is an edutainment or extracurricular activity launched by ALC. The competition’s first edition was introduced in 2021 with three winners. The goal of this competition is to improve Arabic content on social media and help students discover their passion outside of the classroom and traditional learning settings. This will be accomplished through creative and well-tested methods. Each winner receives AED 10,000 with three students winning in the inaugural edition, three more in the second edition, and four in the third edition. Currently, we are awaiting the winners of this year’s competition. Typically, submissions open on September 2 and close at the end of October. The results are revealed following the sorting and assessment process.”
Dalky added: “The last three competitions demonstrated a growing interest from different schools as well as foreign competitors. Recently, we received about 5,000 entries from both inside and outside the country. The competition is targeting both Arabic speakers and non-Arabic speakers, with the goal of reaching students who are at the interaction stage of the language, who have learned some aspects of Standard Arabic between the ages of 8 and 16. The second edition was won by a student from India and we had another winner from China. These students presented two texts with wonderful diction that won the admiration of all and came as a surprise. The winners are very happy with the title of the Arabic Pals.”
Speaking about the future, Dr. Dalky said: “The organisers are pleased with the participation from both inside and outside the UAE, which shows that the competition has a broad reach. We intend to expand that even further. Every year, we offer dozens of sessions in UAE schools that benefit huge numbers of students of all ages, and we also take advantage of public cultural venues such as the Cultural Foundation to host special sessions of the competition, and hold workshops in various libraries such as the Khalifa Park Library. Our primary goal is raising students’ interest in the Arabic language, which is why we work tirelessly to promote this competition.”
