The course comprises up to twenty hours per week of classroom instruction, including language laboratory work, and up to twenty hours of home assignments. A student who successfully completes the first year of intensive study with the Arabic Language Institute can expect to possess a working competence in reading and writing modern standard Arabic and understanding and speaking Egyptian colloquial or modern standard Arabic. Intermediate Level Courses at this level are designed for those who have completed a year of intensive study at the elementary level of the Arabic Language Institute or who have studied two or more years elsewhere and can demonstrate a similar level of competence. The program runs from mid-September to the end of May in the following year. Arabic is the chief medium of instruction.
Students continue work in modern standard Arabic and Egyptian colloquial Arabic.
Interested students may, at this level, begin to acquire familiarity with classical Arabic. Attention is given to the Arabic of print and broadcast media, while special lecture courses in Arabic are offered in response to the special interests of the students, such as Middle Eastern economics and politics, business correspondence, medieval and modern Arabic literature. Students who complete this second year of study should be able to read and write modern standard Arabic with some fluency, to pursue study in topics that specially interest them in Arabic, and to converse freely in Arabic. Intermediate-level students will also have had an opportunity to acquire vocabulary and terminology related to such special fields of interest as business and diplomacy. Advanced Level Exceptional students may wish to take a third year.