Arabic Intensive @ Qalam Insitute

Rabat, Morocco

Qalam Wa Lawh Center for Arabic Studies

(mar-haba) مرحبا welcome

This summer semester 2025, I have immersed myself in many concepts previously foreign to me including Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), Moroccan culture, and Islamic culture and community. Getting to study at Qalam institute has been an extreme joy and privilege that has brought a new light into my life. From meeting new friends to field trips to home-cooked meals to phone repairs or even gold shopping, my dear friends in the Qalam staff truly had my back in every way I can describe. I am a much richer person having had the experiences I lived out exploring Morocco this summer.

Qalam Wa Lawh Center for Arabic Studies

Founded in 2007, Qalam Wa Lawh has since gained a reputation for excellence and expertise in teaching Arabic as a foreign language receiving more than 1200 students from around the world each year. Qalam partners with Moroccan and international universities to bring students to Morocco and enhance the immersion and learning experience. Some top partners include Yale, Georgia Southern, Michigan State, Mohammed V University Rabat, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), and the Middle East Studies Association.

At Qalam, I began in MSA Beginner 1. All Qalam semi-intensive courses consist of 4 hour daily courses, with a tea + msmen break and ending promptly before lunch, where students recieve home cooked meals with a daily rotating menu full of delicious dishes such as tajine, rfissa, and tagra. Classes take intimate settings with 1 professor and anywhere from 5-10 students. Learning is paced rapidly, blowing through the alphabet on day 1 and already writing on day 2 in beginner 1. I ended my 4 week program (having no prior arabic knowledge) with a 5 minute presentation about the members of my family.

In addition to the classes, Qalam offers its students an abundance of extra curricular activities like projects, cooking workshops, tea times to mingle with locals, beach outings, and a luxurious graduation ceremony at the end of a student's program.

Although Qalam in all its wonder was a huge part of my journey this summer, it was not the only thing that made this experience so wonderful. Morocco is full of many treasures like local markets/souks, friendly locals, efficient public transit, beautiful beaches, the Sahara desert, exotic fruits, the Strait of Gibraltar, and more. While living in Morocco, I was shown extreme kindness every day by both friends and strangers that will continue to stay in my heart and shape my actions and choices. Above all, throughout this experience I have become better educated about life in Morocco and Arabic countries and can spread that knowledge to help reduce the spread of misinformation and stigma that sadly exists here in the United States.