Learn Arabicin Cairo

Cairo - ILI

Living in Egypt

Modern Egypt

Cairo is a mega-city of some 25 million people. Cairo is called “Mother of the World” given its location at the crossroads of Africa

and the Middle East. Cairo is ranked the 16th amongst the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. The city is diverse and cosmopolitan, where ancient and modern cultures co-exist.

Old Cairo with its bazaars, dusty alleyways and coffee shops is circled by the modern city with five star hotels, fashionable cafes, shopping malls and cinemas. The River Nile dissects the metropolis, with the old city centre and Old Cairo on the east bank and newer residential suburbs with their local shopping areas on the west bank.Housing and new-town developments adjacent

to the city are rapidly developing in the form of the new desert cities where modern Cairo is emerging. Modern Cairo has become the home of hi-tech industries in the new ‘Smart Village’, factories producing Mercedes, BMW, Suzuki and General Motors; tech companies like Toshiba and National and other multi-national electronics industries; food factories like Nestle and Cadbury; pharmaceuticals, textiles and weaving; clothing producers like Benetton, Naf-Naf and Pierre Cardin and a huge range of industrial products and top brand names all manufacturing under license in Egypt.

Studying atInternational House, Cairo

The School

I LI was first opened in 1975 in a leafy suburb of Cairo and was the first International House language school in the region. Being

an International House school means that we approach teaching Arabic in a lively and modern way. If you don’t know the International House organization you can find out more on www.ihwo.com

Downtown is a 15 minute taxi ride away and the Great Pyramids of Giza about 40 minutes. (Admitted it depends on the traffic – however, sounds romantic!). Cairo, although a huge city is in a narrow valley and from one side on the Mokattam Hills to the plateau of Geza on the other side is only a few kilometers.

The school offers a wide range of Arabic courses with an average of 250-300 full-time students attending every month from some 30 different countries, so we really are a cosmopolitan community. 20 modern air-conditioned classrooms, a spacious café and restaurant open all day, a free internet centre, small one-to-one teaching units, teacher training, teachers’ development and resources unit, book writing, resident author and lots of practical technology are some of the facilities our students enjoy.

We also provide a whole range of other facilities and support (which you can read about later) including airport meet and greet, two serviced residences, social activities, trips and excursions, and special services to universities, foreign offices and organizations.

Arabic courses atInternational House, Cairo

What programs do we offer?

W e teach ECA (Egyptian Colloquial spoken Arabic) and MSA (Modern Standard reading and writing

Arabic). We offer full-time morning courses 5 days a week. We train teachers of Arabic as a foreign language in-house and on-line, develop teaching materials, on-line courses and tailor-made programs for clients.

We are particularly experienced in handling the following customers and are able to provide customized curriculums to meet our clients need :

Foreign Ministries, diplomat training Ministries of Development & AID. The Military. Groups of young learners. NGO’s UN/EU organizations Ministries of Education Teachers of Arabic University students from schools of Middle

Eastern Studies, Arabic, Politics and Islamic faculties, etc.

Arabic courses atInternational House, Cairo

Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) Modern Standard Arabic (MSA).

We teach Aameya or EgyptianColloquial Arabic which is the mostwidely understood in the Middle East.With our communicative approach,and our focus on small classes, studentscan quickly progress through the levelsto a point where they really begin tocommunicate.

For beginner students who do notknow to read and write we add on extrasupport, free of charge. There are 12levels, from beginners to Advanced thatconform to European and Americanlanguage teaching classifications andstandards.

We teach Fous-ha or Modern StandardArabic which is used in more academicconversation, books newspapers andthe media. The course enables you todevelop your reading and writing skillsas well as listening and speaking. Asyou progress you will be able to followcultural and current affairs in the MiddleEast and be able to understand radio andTV programs, read Arabic literature andalso Islamic texts. All the other stuff...

90% of our students come from abroad so we have to look after you. Cairo is an amazing city to live in, but

let’s say it can be challenging!

• Meet and greet. • 31 bed residence.

So please, don’t feel that you are on your own. We are there to support you and help you so you really enjoy

your learning and living in Cairo.

Arabic courses atInternational House, Cairo

Other courses

Teacher Training

Course Books

ILI has developed a wide range of special courses over the years and continues to do so through our development department. As well as private group classes in school or in-company, one-to-one and small group tuition we offer Media Arabic, and Arabic for Economics, Political Science, aspects of Religion, History, Business Communication and even Calligraphy (actually pretty popular!).

Live Online Courses: We do offer 24 hours on-line courses over 6 weeks. 2 lessons of 2 hours each week. Pre-lesson materials package provided for each lesson for supervised self-study. Access to interactive on-line materials. Regular homework assignments. Assessments and certificates. Experienced IH-trained Arabic native speaker teachers. Please check our Online course schedule and apply online at www.ihcairo.com

Local Blended Courses: from the comfort of your home, you will have online evening Arabic classes with a small group of learners and taught by one of our experienced native speaker teachers. You will also meet your teacher and your colleagues face-to-face in

3 evening lessons in the weekends at the ILI in Mohandeseen. After successfully completing the course you will get a certificate from the International Language Institute.

We have always trained our teachers on International House programs which ensure the quality of our staff and follow-up quality control. The full-time or part-time 120 hour courses are accredited by IH World and the certificates gained recognized worldwide.

ILI has developed two series of books over the last 3 years published by the American University in Cairo. The easiest way to learn about the books is through our website or from reviews on Amazon. Kallimni Arabi is the ECA program which is acclaimed worldwide and is available in 5 books covering 10 levels. Lughatona Al fusha is the new MSA series; book 1,2,3,4 and 5 are printed.

Arabic courses atInternational House, Cairo

Courses are offered in 12 levels each, from beginner to advanced levels.

Specialized courses like Media Arabic, Economics, Political Science, Business Communication , Poetry, Aspects of Religion & History and Calligraphy. Teacher Training in Teaching Arabic as a

Foreign Language. (TAFL certificate ) We offer young learner courses. We have our own books “Kallimni Arabi

Series” and “ Lughatuna al- Fusha” available through Amazon. On-line learning and on-line teacher

training. Tailor made courses.

ECA courses are offered 10 hours per week forEuro 135 (2 weeks) & Euro 265 (4 weeks)MSA courses are offered 15 hours per week forEuro 205 (2 weeks) & Euro 400 (4 weeks)Combined courses are offered 25 hours per week for Euro 340 (2 weeks) & Euro 665 (4 weeks)

For Online Application follow the link: www.ihcairo.com

What can you do?

N ewcomers to Egypt will want to sample Cairo’s Pharaonic history such as the Pyramids, Saqqara and

Memphis, old Cairo, the markets and visiting the Egyptian Museum. These places are easy to find but there are many other interesting archaeological sites within a day’s drive from Cairo that are less crowded.

Those who are particularly interested in Egypt’s ancient archaeological sites and seeing those that are less accessible to the general public should join the Egypt Exploration Society (EES) which organizes regular lectures and visits to archaeological sites. The school, as we said, organizes lots of local trips to the Pyramids, Old Cairo, Memphis etc with our really nice tourist guides!We also do camping and 4-wheel trips in the

white desert or visiting Siwa or the Sinai. One of the best ways of getting around is to ask other students who have done some of the more exciting and madder trips how they did it! However, do not tell your mother we suggested this!

Islamic Cairo (Old Cairo) and Coptic Cairo are fascinating parts of the city, both having excellent local museums. Islamic Cairo has survived virtually intact as it was spared the ravages of Mongol and Crusader invasion. Apart from the famous mosques and the “souk” area known as Khan El Khalili, Islamic Cairo is little changed, except over the years it sadly fell into ruin. Recently, it is being completely restored, becoming pedestrian-friendly, and now includes the extraordinary Aga Khan’s El Azhar Gardens of 35 acres.

What can you do?

T he old city walls have emerged along with the gardens from a very ancient and very, very large rubbish dump and

the whole area is now really interesting. It took 800,000 truck loads to clear the centuries old rubbish tip! Cairo has loads of modern cinemas showing British and American films.

There is an international film festival in the autumn which shows some of the latest releases.

There are 10 local television channels with many programmes in English and numerous companies offering satellite TV, e.g. Orbit and Showtime, with masses of channels.

The Cairo Opera House presents international events of modern, pop and classical music, opera and plays in sophisticated surroundings. A large number of international hotels provide a wide range of international cuisine. Students use them for their night clubs, bars and swimming pools.

Apart from the hotels, there is a wide range of restaurants and quality coffee shops throughout Cairo and the suburbs and finally just loads and loads of coffee shops, fast food outlets and good local cafes, bars and restaurants.

Cairo has the weather for outdoor sports. There are many sporting clubs with swimming pools, fitness centres like Gold’s Gym, tennis and squash courts. Most students pay the daily rate to use a club’s facilities but longer term membership can be bought.

What can you do?

T here are also many excellent golf courses – bring your clubs! The Sinai peninsula and Red Sea are nearby and the scuba diving and snorkeling on the coral reefs incredible and beautiful. You don’t have to stay in 5 star hotels – there is lots of

choice.

Further afield are the desert oases of Siwa and Baharia, Farafra and Kharga (best visited in winter). The school can advise you on visiting these little known oases, where off-road expeditions in 4x4’s or on camels are incredibly popular with students.

(Problem is most of them don’t want to come back!). Then, of course, there are the wonders of Luxor and Aswan. Travel by plane, train or bus to any of these destinations is good for short holidays.

Useful Information

Food and Drink

Almost everything you want is available from supermarkets - except Marmite, a strange black English substance which only appears occasionally and causes a small riot amongst a very small group of weird people!

Prices vary considerably whether you shop at mega-markets like Carrefour or street markets, small shops and street vendors. Fruit and vegetable markets display a huge range of produce all year round. Cairo definitely welcomes vegetarians!

There is a flourishing fast-food market (everyone delivers everything) with all the familiar names – Pizza Hut, Pizza Express, Burger Kind, McDonalds, KFC. Believe it or not, you can even get a McDonalds breakfast delivered at 6am!

More ‘sophisticated’ cuisine is also available in the city and suburbs including Thai, Chinese, Indian, French, Italian, Lebanese etc. and of course Egyptian.

Useful Information

Alcohol Medical

Although Egypt is predominately a Muslim country, alcohol is widely available and not prohibited. The local beer and wines are good (produced by Heineken), including made-under-license beers and good local brands. Quality local spirits (plus designer drinks) have recently come on to the market from the same company and are also good.

However, homemade-type locally produced spirits, although cheap, are truly appalling and at best will only make you impotent! Please don’t even think about drinking this stuff!

Pharmacies abound, and some are available for 24 hours, for example Ezaby and Seif Pharmacies. Most medical products are available and many of those subject to prescription in the UK are available over the counter. If you have to take special medicines regularly, check with us to make sure they are available.

As a student you should make sure you are covered with a good medical insurance policy. The school will be happy to refer to good doctors and hospitals that we know and trust. Please ask us to help.

Useful Information

Clothes

Winter is usually warm during the day but cold at night, with temperatures dipping to single figures, so for 8 – 12 weeks of the year you will need jumpers, cardigans and jackets. (Most foreigners think that Cairo is always hot – not true!) For other times of the year when it’s hot, smart loose cotton clothing is most comfortable. Please respect the conservative culture of the country and Islam, and dress modestly in the cities. In Sinai and the Red Sea resorts, wear what you like! This does not mean that in the cities women have to cover up Saudi-style; it just means you have to dress sensibly.

There is a huge textile industry in Egypt, which is famous for its cotton. Reasonably-priced casual and smart clothes are widely available and there are loads of local and international brands. Just a note: you should also have clothes for more formal occasions. When Egyptians celebrate, they really dress up! Don’t forget your diamonds when invited to a wedding!

Useful Information

Foreign Exchange Living on your funds

Exchange rates as of October 2014 are £1 = LE 11.55, U$1.00 = LE7.15 (Egyptian Pounds, ‘Livre Egyptienne’). Please note that these are only estimates, the currency rate is always fluctuating ! Cash can be withdrawn from ATM machines that are located all over the city. You don’t have to have an Egyptian bank account t or credit card.

Students obviously have varying perceptions of how much they need. You need to be able to live at a decent standard, afford reasonable accommodation, eat out from time to time, take breaks take part in a range of social activities with friends and colleagues. Everyday bills for phones, electricity and gas are reasonable and traveling around the city by taxi or going to different parts of Egypt by bus or train is cheap.

As students you are living very much ‘in Egypt’, not in a remote isolated expatriate community or compound. To help you get an idea of how much you will need to have attached a Cost of Living guide.

Useful Information

Tourist visas and Residence

Most nationalities can enter Egypt by buying a tourist visa on arrival at the airport. this visa has a validity of one month. However, some nationalities do have some restrictions, Citizens of Israel and South Africa are allowed a one-month stay and can only renew by leaving Egypt. Citizens of Malaysia, Indonesia and India are only allowed a three-month stay, and can renew by leaving Egypt. If you are unsure, please email us and we will advise you.

Thereafter you have to keep your visa up-to-date which is a relatively simple process and we can advise and help you. Fortunately, unlike some countries most nationalities are automatically granted an entry visa and no one needs an exit visa. Cairo airport and the immigration procedures are actually pretty easy to navigate.

However, to be on the safe side, please check with your nearest Egyptian embassy or email us to see if you have to get a visa before arrival. Obviously, we cannot be responsible for your entry or stay, but we can help and advise.

Student accommodation

Student residences

We have two residences: A 5 study-bedroom facility above the

ILI building. A 26 study-bedroom facility in Dokki, a

suburb some 15 minutes drive away.

You will find more details and prices on our website. Both buildings are recently modernized with comfortable apartments in units of 3 or 5 individual (not shared) study bedrooms, full air-conditioning, living rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, bathrooms, laundry facilities, WIFI, satellite TV, fire and smoke alarms, 24 hour security, and housekeeping.

Some students ask us for home-stay but unfortunately we do not provide this service.

Holidays, teaching weeks

ILI runs a continuous calendar of 13 x 4 weeks courses every year, 5 days a week, Sunday to Thursday. (Friday/Saturday is our weekend).

National and religious holidays are taken and if more than two holidays occur during any month course, subsequent days are made up.

Student Living Costs Cairo

Exchange rates and changing money

Estimated cost of living 2014University student budget

Budget for food per month

Accommodation

Students arriving in Egypt obviously need to know what it is going to cost them to live as well as study. This budget is aimed at our younger ‘university-type’ students.

The following figures are our best estimates:

Food: vegetables and fruit are excellent and cheap. Supermarkets offer all the usual products. Street vendors, soft drinks and fruit juice shops, bakeries and the ‘corner shop’ which is usually open half the night, still abound. Beer and wine from licensed outlets – readily available and good quality. Fast food, almost all the major multinationals are here, along with lots of local Lebanese, Chinese, and shops selling kebab, fool & felafil, mezzas, etc.Almost everyone delivers everything! You can check Macdolnalds, KFC, Pizza and Hardees and others!

Restaurants. Literally hundreds throughout the city. All types of food are available. Please note, however, it is really difficult to estimate as it depends if you choose a 5-star restaurant with lots of expensive drinks, or something more modest.

For more detailed and accurate information about budget in Cairo please check this link:h t t p : / / w w w . m y t r a v e l c o s t . c o m / E g y p t /prices-groceries/

There are no problems exchanging Dollars, Euros or Sterling and most other currencies, and exchange rates have remained steady for the last two years, currently averagingLE11.50 to £1, LE9.00 to €1 and LE7.15 to $1 (Please note that this is just an estimate as the currency rate is always fluctuating!) Transfers from abroad can be arranged through our bank if you wish.

ATM machines are found everywhere and you can access money from your overseas bank or draw on your credit cards. You do not have to have an Egyptian credit card or b a n k account.

Students will either use our residence: €400 per month in the ILI building or €380 per month in Dokki including a daily shuttle bus from and to the residence!

Student Living Costs Cairo

Budget for Shopping and transportation:

Budget for Utilities other commodities:

Clothing. As we point out in our notes, do not be under the illusion that it is always hot in Egypt!For 2-3 months during December to February you do need winter clothes, although not in the same quantities as you would need in an English winter. Temperatures during the day are 16-20’C and at night can get down to 5-6 ºC.

Many brand names are made inEgypt, (much more cheaply than sold in UK) as well as good qualitylocal brands. Again it is difficultto estimate how much you would actually spend on clothes as it depends so much on individual taste.

For more information please check this link: http://goafrica.about.com/od/egypttopattractions/a/cairoguide_2.htm

Usually there is a wide range of choice and deals available from sleeping on the beach through to hostels and 3-star hotels. Students who have been in Egypt for some time years are the best advisors of where to go and how to do it.

Utilities. Water, phone and electricity in your apartment will obviously be at your expense. We recommend students to get their own mobile phone and use pre-paid cards for calls abroad. You can get a internet dongle, but you also use the free internet facilities in ILI. The residences are WIFI’d.

Electricity will be somehow high if you are using air-conditioners. (Never, ever leave them running when you are out!).

Other expenses. Obviously, you will have other expenses which have a nasty habit of occurring in everyday life!

Our best guess after accommodation (you choose) is around LE 4500 a month living expenses or $ 630 or Euro 500 (Please note that this is just an estimate not accurate numbers as it is always changing!)

Please remember that this is our best-guess written in October 2014.

Travel and holidays. Everyone uses taxis for getting around. You can use public buses but they are not very good. The metro is clean and reliable but not very extensive. Most students take advantage of seeing as much of Egypt as they can, and of course, there is a huge amount to see. Luxor and Aswan, the Red Sea, the desert Oases and the Alexandria coast are all easily accessible from Cairo.

Inter-city flights, buses and trains are the best forms of transport. Flights are obviously the most expensive way of traveling, but for the longer distances, well worth it.

Please check the following link for updated information for the transportation budget: http://goafrica.about.com/od/egypttopattractions/a/cairoguide_4.htm

Contact information:

International Language Institute,P.O.Box 13, Embaba, Cairo. 12411, Egypt.

Phone: (202) 3346 3087 (Sunday to Thursday 08:00 to 16:00 Cairo time).Cairo is currently GMT + 2hours.Fax: (202) 3303 5624

info@ihcairo.comwww.ihcairo.com

How to apply:Students can apply to any of our courses online at www.ihcairo.com

So that’s it! We hope this was useful.Please email us if we can be of further help.

Cairo - ILI