Successful Teaching Strategies: Findings from a Case Study of Middle School African Americans Learning Arabic

A six month case study of ten African American Middle School students in an inner‐city school setting provided the data for the article. Successful strategies were based on theories of discovery learning and synergistic learning styles. The classroom allowed for free physical movement, bonding and multisensorial activities. Students were incorporated into planning lessons and activities, as well as in teaching. Students visited sites in the community where they used the language in real life situations. Contrary to previous research findings on L1 L2 transfer, the study showed that the students' L1, (African American English), facilitated the learning of Arabic.