Qatar Foundation International (QFI) has announced an educational exchange trip taking place in Doha until March 15, which aims to bring together students from the US and Qatar in an exploration of identity and cultures through the Arabic language.

QFI is a Washington, DC-based non-profit member of Qatar Foundation, dedicated to connecting cultures and advancing global citizenship through education.

‘Aber’ is an annual QFI educational exchange that stems from its Arabic Language and Culture programme, which seeks to expand the study of Arabic language and culture among public schools students in the US, Brazil and other countries.

Aber takes on a different theme each year but with the same goal of expressing one’s identity and culture through the Arabic language. Aber 2013 was centred around the theme of graffiti and art, where the students collaborated on mosaic art panels that have since been displayed at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar and at the Bergamot station gallery in Santa Monica,
California, US.

This year, the trip - titled ‘Aber, What’s Your Story? - takes on storytelling and includes 23 students from five places across the US (Texas, Washington, DC, Honolulu, Tucson and Seattle) who will join 24 of their Qatari peers on an educational adventure that focuses on practising and improving their Arabic-language skills, aligning with the SEC’s goal of increasing and strengthening the spoken and writing knowledge of modern standard Arabic.

The students will be accompanied by Dr Kevin Cordi, a professional storyteller with 28 years of experience and the first ever full-time high school storytelling teacher in the US.

Dr Cordi will guide the students on their journey as they each create physical “story-boxes” that showcase their own culture and community and then collaborate on building a larger cumulative story-box informed by what they learned from their experience in Qatar and from their time with one another.

“The Aber trip is another fantastic reflection of how QFI aims to provide a unique educational experience that lasts well beyond the average school day,” said Maggie Mitchell Salem, executive
director at QFI.

The seven-day programme will culminate in Umsiyya, a traditional Arabic storytelling performance, where the students from Qatar and the US will work together on performances and present their story-boxes to the audience, connecting the US form of storytelling with a great tradition of oral storytelling in Qatar and the Arab world.

The students will have the opportunity to contribute their own unique talents and showcase what they have learned from daily workshops focusing on storytelling and public speaking.