Hafida Bourote, a native Arabic speaker originally from Morocco, will assume Instructor in Arabic Mohammed Harba’s duties for the remainder of the year. Harba, the only Instructor in Arabic at Phillips Academy, stepped down on Friday, February 19. Bourote will take over Harba’s Arabic language classes as well as his Arabic Culture class. Temba Maqubela, Dean of Faculty, wrote in an email, “[Harba] resigned on his own accord to pursue an interest to serve in a different manner.” “We tried to intervene and ask him to postpone his resignation, and he told us he could not as he was looking forward to pursue a dream in the next stage of his life,” Maqubela continued. Peter Merrill, Head of World Languages, said, “[Harba] was a really dynamic and interesting person. That being said, we are all looking forward to getting to know Ms. Bourote.” Bourote said, “The structure of the course will not change. I feel like there will be a change in teaching strategy because each teacher has their own style.” Merrill said, “Because Mr. Harba is from Iraq and Ms. Bourote is from Morocco, the students will be able to gain a new perspective on Arabic.” “We decided to offer Arabic here because we understood that there was, from a national perspective, a need for people to learn the language,” Merrill added. According to Merrill, Harba’s departure will cause one change to the curriculum: the traditional Spring term Arabic class will no longer be offered. “We plan on doing what we already had in mind in regards to our future offerings of Arabic,” he said. Harba thinks that the approaching spring break would help both students and faculty to negotiate the change. Merrill said, “It’s challenging stepping into the place of such a popular teacher.” He continued, “I know the students will be ready to learn appropriately.” Max Png ’10, an Arabic student, said, “[Bourote] was really understanding about the transition we were going through.” Arabic was first introduced to the Andover Course of Study in the 2007-2008 school year, and is only offered to students who have already completed their language requirement. “From a student perspective, we do not offer Arabic until Upper year because of the limited college options,” said Merrill. “The consequence of becoming passionate about Arabic is that a student has severely restricted choices about where to look at college,” he said. “We want all of our students to understand that before they decide to commit a lot of time to the language,” Merrill continued. Since its inception, the Arabic department has lined up a sequence similar that of the French and Spanish departments. The class divides into an accelerated and a normal section when deemed appropriate. Harba said, “Peter Merrill was a great supporter of the Arabic team, and we wouldn’t be where we are without him.” Tavie Abell ’10, another Arabic student, said, “Every year there are more and more people getting excited about the Arabic program. This is all a testament to [Harba’s] teaching.” Harba said, “I was lucky to be able to teach the first students of Arabic at Phillips Andover. These people have made history and they should be proud because, I am so proud.” “It is not about who teaches, “ Harba continued. “It is about the commitment of all the members of the Arabic team to learn.”
