Exploratory experiences at the TED Summit in Arabic shed light on the importance of the Arabic language in shaping identity

The first day of the TED Summit in Arabic, which is held within the framework of the partnership between Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development and TED, witnessed public interaction with the exploratory experiences that were presented to the public, to provide an opportunity to exchange and develop ideas through a group of interactive activities and inspiring practical workshops. The experiments included a number of topics centered on the importance of the Arabic language and how to enhance it at all levels. They also focused on creativity, science and exploration, and were consistent with the theme of the summit. "Butterfly effect" Which refers to the achievement of continuity beyond the end of the summit. Among the exploratory experiences that were presented to the public was an interactive workshop for teaching contemporary Arabic calligraphy, presented by the Jordanian calligrapher Hussein Al-Azaat, and attended by a group of people wishing to learn Arabic calligraphy of different ages and nationalities from across the Arab world. Al-Azaat said: Teaching Arabic calligraphy is of great importance in consolidating the Arab identity, indicating that his passion for Arabic calligraphy began in childhood admiring this fine art. He added: To shed light on how Arabic calligraphy is taught to students in schools, we have to ask ourselves whether the Arabic educational curricula that include Arabic calligraphy are presented to students in a way that is attractive or repulsive.". And he believed that there is a need to reconsider some practices that help in enhancing the passion for Arabic calligraphy among young students, expressing his hope that more workshops will be organized that spread the culture of the Arabic letter in a loving way, and provide an opportunity for creativity in Arabic calligraphy, as it is the best visual embodiment of the Arab identity. . For his part, Eng. Nayef Al-Ibrahim, Co-Founder and CEO of Ebtikar Digital Solutions, presented a workshop entitled "Teaching the Arabic language between traditional systems and modern frameworks", which dealt with the issue of teaching the Arabic language as a tool and a major part in shaping the identity of modern man. Al-Ibrahim stressed the importance of the Arabic language as it is closely related to history and culture, indicating that it is an essential part in building civilizations. He said: When returning to the history of civilizations, there is no nation that presented its knowledge and knowledge in a language other than its mother tongue, hence the importance of language in general.. The tools used in education today are tools invented by individuals at a specific time to face certain challenges, the most recent of which was 100 years ago, And the oldest of them 800 years ago, so why not create our own tools that suit our current generation and its challenges?". He stressed the need to find modern solutions in language education that simulate the data and requirements of the current era, calling for concerted efforts to preserve the Arabic language, as preserving it is an integrated process and a responsibility that rests with everyone.