Arabic Key Stage 3/4, S1-4

Workshop
The focus of this workshop will be a Chapter 1 extract from Munir Baalbaki’s Arabic translation of Jane Eyre. Using glossaries, students will literally translate the passage into English, and then ‘polish’ their translations so that they sound more natural. They will then compare their translations to the original extract written by Charlotte Brontë.

No prior knowledge of Arabic or Jane Eyre is necessary for the workshop. Students will be introduced to the storyline and themes of Jane Eyre in song form, and invited to share their first impressions of the novel after analysing book covers. 

Powerpoint for Arabic Key Stage 3/4

Worksheet for Arabic Key Stage 3/4

Independent Study
Given that Jane Eyre was published in 1847, the writing style would be considered rather old fashioned by today’s standards. Similarly, Munir Baalbaki’s Arabic translation of the novel uses Modern Standard Arabic which is generally only used in written language, and is also regarded as somewhat old-fashioned by Arabic speakers. 

This self-led worksheet encourages students to rewrite the dialogue from a Chapter 1 excerpt of the novel so that it sounds more idiomatic for a modern-day audience. Students have the choice to work using either the Arabic translation of the dialogue by Baalbaki or the original English dialogue by Brontë.

Independent Study Activity for Arabic Key Stage 3/4

Arabic Key Stage 5, S5-6

Workshop
The focus of this workshop will be an extract from Chapter 36 of the novel Jane Eyre. Using a glossary, students will translate two Arabic versions of the extract into English and will then compare and contrast the two Arabic versions with the original passage, with particular emphasis on how the character of Bertha is portrayed.

Following this, students are encouraged to rewrite the passage from either Bertha or Mr Rochester’s perspective using the ‘stream of consciousness’ writing style.

No prior knowledge of Arabic or Jane Eyre is necessary for the workshop. Students will be introduced to the storyline and themes of Jane Eyre in song form, and invited to share their first impressions of the novel after analysing book covers.

PowerPoint for Arabic Key Stage 5

Worksheet for Arabic Key Stage 5

Independent Study
In the novel Jane Eyre, despite her key role in the narrative, the character Bertha is not given any dialogue. We only hear about her through other characters’ descriptions of her before she meets her tragic end in Chapter 36.

After reading an extract from the novel Wide Sargasso Sea – a prequel to Jane Eyre exploring themes of race and inequality which is written from Bertha’s perspective – students are asked to draw on all the information they have on this character, to write a eulogy for Bertha in the form of an acrostic poem. They have the choice to write in Arabic, English or a mixture of both languages.

Independent Study Activity for Arabic Key Stage 5