“I find it respectful that Irish students are learning my language.”
These are the words of Muhammad. He is 14 years old and moved to Northern Ireland from Syria in 2019.
At school his Irish friends come up to him and address him in Arabic and say hello (marhaba), good morning (abah alkhaer) and how are you? (kifak).
English-speaking students at Sacred Heart College Omagh, County Tyrone, are learning their native language in a five-week online course.
Pauline McAnea, a language teacher, said the main motivation for her students taking the course was the increase in Syrian students who have attended the school in recent years.
“It’s important for us to show that we respect them and their language and culture,” she said.
“They tried so hard to learn our language, so it’s important that we make an effort to learn their language.”
The project is being run by a London-based company that runs short courses for UK schools, teaching more than 1,000 children Arabic culture and the basics of speaking the language.
Each week, students take part in live online classes with two Arabic teachers and also participate in e-learning with interactive games.
“Sometimes in class I would get the Syrian students to go to the blackboard and write their names in Arabic, and the children would be fascinated,” said Ms. McAnea.
“I think it really opens their minds to see that there’s more to the world than just Omagh.”
This is not the first time that the school has participated in a project that aims to help students from different countries feel integrated into the school community.
Earlier this year, Syrian students learned about Irish culture by taking part in Gaelic games such as soccer, hurling and camogie.
Ms McAnea said there are 57 students at the school who come from different countries including Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia and Romania.
“We have nine different languages that are spoken in school, so it’s important for our children to recognize the richness and richness that these children bring to our school,” she said.
Bahaa, 16, moved to Northern Ireland from Damascus in Syria in 2019.
He attends Arabic classes to help the English-speaking students with the language.
“It feels like society is open to learning new things from different cultures and perspectives, which is really heartwarming,” he said.
He added that helping the other students with the language makes him feel special and important.
Rama, 14, moved to Northern Ireland from Lebanon in June 2019.
She loves it when other students in her class greet her in their native language.
“It gives me a very, very good feeling because only my family speaks Arabic to me.
“They would say hello, how are you and thank you.”
Ciara, 13, said she enjoys learning the language.
“It opens your mind and your perspective on the world,” she said.
She is friends with Rama and says she tries to speak Arabic with her.
“It’s nice to be able to talk to her,” she said.
“They came here and learned English for us, so why shouldn’t we do the same?”
Dawid, 14, is originally from Poland and said he finds learning Arabic easy because he had to learn English when he moved to Northern Ireland.
“When I came here, nobody understood me, my parents couldn’t speak it, so I had to learn through sounds and that’s how I started to understand everyone.”
He said he wants to be a translator when he’s older.
“I want to translate from Polish to English or from Arabic to another language.”
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