What is Cultural Orientation

In this chapter, the authors explain the integration of linguistic and cultural knowledge in two online beginner Arabic classrooms on a collaborative project between LaGuardia Community College and The University of Oklahoma. Students engage in a series of blended virtual and communal activities that result in new opportunities for learning, where the learning space is multi-voiced. The chapter highlights include an explanation of the project learning objectives, the project design, employability competencies learned, and synopses of students' interviews with members of the Arab communities as well as their reflections on the learning experience. The curriculum and pedagogy adopted for this virtual exchange project are grounded in the historical and current particulars of students' everyday lives and that of Arab communities living in the United States. This project aims at creating a third communal space where activities are discussed in meaningful ways, while unlearning stereotypes and shunning away prejudices, a goal informed by the belief that learning is a social process.