The Journey of an Arabic Educator

QFI to Wind Down Operations.

Jul 16, 2026

By Ahmad Shami, Elizabeth Hampton, Parisa Bruce

This series honors the dedication, challenges, and roles of Arabic educators in advancing the future of Arabic education.

The Journey of an Arabic Educator series is a celebration of the educators who are advancing Arabic language teaching. This series honors their commitment, challenges and triumphs, highlighting their significant role in shaping the future of Arabic education.

Throughout this series, featured educators will share their individual career paths, the opportunities they have encountered, the communities and networks that have supported them, the resources they have found most helpful, and much more. QFI hopes this series will serve as a celebration of their achievements within the Arabic language education community, recognizing their impact and inspiring others to pursue their passion in this field.

Dr. Rolla Elsaiary

Dr. Rolla Elsaiary, an educator, researcher, and assistant principal in Texas, brings together classroom experience and research to explore how stronger connections between educators and researchers can support K–12 Arabic language education.

Through her experiences, she highlights how classroom-based research, educator-researcher partnerships, and collaborative inquiry can help inform teaching, support program development, and advance the field.

Read Rolla's story here.

Dana Slayton

Dana, an Arabic teacher in Texas, first discovered Arabic as a student before choosing to become an educator herself.

Her classroom is shaped by the belief that learning Arabic should be active, collaborative, and joyful. Through movement, games, repetition, and shared problem-solving, she creates opportunities for students to build confidence, engage with the language, and keep trying.

Read Dana’s story here.

Maria Kouli and Rima Mekdashi

In this inspiring episode, Maria Kouli and Rima Mekdashi, Arabic educators at the Elizabeth Learning Center, share their incredible journey—from building Arabic curriculums from scratch to presenting their innovative teaching strategies at ACTFL 2024! Having limited resources when they first arrived in the US, they turned to the Arabic educator community for support and inspiration. Today, they’re reshaping classrooms and inspiring educators across the nation! QFI is proud to support Maria and Rima as they continue to pioneer new teaching methods and empower students through Arabic education.

Bayan Naamani

Bayan Naamani, an educator at the Elizabeth Learning Center in the US, shares the challenges many Arabic teachers face, including adapting to a new educational system, navigating limited resources, and motivating students to embrace the Arabic language. She addresses the many challenges she encountered on her educator career path, including securing resources and support, gaining enough experience early on in her career, and connecting with other educators to learn from their expertise, which allowed her to become a better teacher. Her story reflects the impact that passionate educators have on students, communities, and the future of the Arabic language.

Sara Mallo and Manal Mahjoub

Learn about Sara Mallo and Manal Mahjoub, friends and educators at Liverpool Life Sciences UTC in the UK, who co-founded their local Arabic Teacher Council (ATC). In this video, Sara and Manal talk about the importance of connecting communities to support teacher training, share best practices, and build a stronger network for Arabic educators. The educators discuss how they connected with other Arabic language educators and built a network to support teacher training, share best practices, and foster community engagement.

Heather Sweetser

Meet Heather Sweetser, Senior Lecturer at the University of New Mexico, whose dedication to teaching Arabic and mentoring the next generation of Arabic educators has shaped the field. Heather shares her journey in teaching Arabic, reflecting on the challenges she's faced and how she continues to inspire students and fellow educators. She highlights the importance of collaboration among Arabic teachers to address common challenges and stresses the value of real-world language practice to help students develop essential communication skills in today’s interconnected world.

Samira Dani

To kick off the series, we are pleased to feature Samira Dani, World Language Educator at Earls High School in the UK. Samira discusses the importance of professional development, the value of network building, the role of Arabic Teacher Councils, and the significance of obtaining Arabic qualifications to thrive in the field. Her goal is to inspire others to represent their schools, communities, and themselves to the best of their abilities.