Yawmiyat Bint Battuta fi-l-Mudun al-Masriya: Egyptian Colloquial Arabic for Advanced Learners

by Sayonara Tomoum, Laila Al-Sawi

Overview

Through engaging and original narratives, this innovative approach to teaching Egyptian Colloquial Arabic takes students on a tour of Egypt, exploring its diverse communities and linguistic richness

Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) is among the most commonly taught dialects of Arabic, reflective of Egypt being the most populous country in the Arabic-speaking world. This engaging and immersive new book is a celebration of Egypt’s rich social and linguistic culture, drawing on storytelling and narrative as a tool for language acquisition and cultural learning.

Written for advanced learners, students visit six Egyptian locales: Nubia, Alexandria, Fayoum, South Sinai, and al-Sayida Zeinab in Cairo. Each of these six chapters is carefully structured around a narrative which is accompanied by online audio and exercises to spotlight grammar, vocabulary, and regional variation, and to cement comprehension and language acquisition. It includes illustrations and an appendix to highlight key terms and expressions.

This book provides an in-depth exploration of Egypt’s diverse communities and is grounded in critical pedagogy to guide the teaching and learning of Arabic.It answers the call for education materials that reflect the local conditions on the ground, and can be used by instructors as a coursebook or as a supplementary resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781649034854
Publisher:	American University in Cairo Press, The
Publication date:	04/21/2026
Pages:	520
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Sayonara Tomoum is a lecturer in Arabic Language and Culture at the University of Pennsylvania and a doctoral candidate in Language, Literacy, and Culture Concentration in the College of Education’s Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She holds two Master’s degrees from the American Universityin Cairo: one in Applied Linguistics (Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language) and another in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Laila Al-Sawi is a senior instructor of Arabic as a foreign language in the Department of Arabic Language Instruction (ALI) at the American Universityin Cairo. She holds a master’s degree in teaching Arabic as a foreign language (TAFL) from the American Universityin Cairo. She is co-author of al-Murshid: A Guide to Modern Standard Arabic Grammar for the Intermediate Level (AUC Press, 2013) and Kalaam Gamiil, An Intensive Course in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, volumes 1 and 2 (AUC Press, 2010 and 2013). She lives in Cairo, Egypt.

Table of Contents

شكر وتقدير

المقدمة

تقديم الفصول

الفصل الأول: السيدة زينب – القاهرة

الفصل التاني: قرية أبو سمبل في نوبة التهجير

الفصل التالت: نويبع - محافظة جنوب سيناء

الفصل الرابع: قرية تونس – الفيوم

الفصل الخامس – إسكندرية

الفصل السادس – بورسعيد

Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR MEDIA ARABIC FOR BEGINNERS:

"Media Arabic for Beginners is a unique and timely resource for learners and teachers of Arabic who want to explore the language of Arabic media at the elementary stages of language acquisition. Offering an easy-to-follow format, clear structure, and texts that are relevant, current, and interesting, it engages learners and gives them a real world context for their learning." —Nevenka Korica Sullivan, co-author of Media Arabic

"This book successfully integrates different language learning skills, using authentic texts appropriate to the target level. These are accompanied by excellent listening texts, in addition to presentations that focus on key linguistic and structural phenomena in the language of the media, all in an easy and very clear way."—Saaed Alwakeel, Ain Shams University

“This is a well-structured, well-thought-out textbook that focuses on media Arabic for beginning learners, and targets all four language skills. The activities are varied and engaging, and focus on vocabulary and grammar, as well as collocations and appropriate usage.”—Nader Morkus, Indiana University

From the Publisher