Darija

Three of my roommates and I are taking a week's worth of classes (9 hours) at a local Darija (Moroccan Arabic) language school here. We had our first class last night and even though I knew most of the vocabulary, it was wonderful to have our instructor (Driss) affirm our pronunciation. Pronunciation is really key for me. I don't like to sound like a gringo. Tonight we will go more into the alphabet, the sounds, and how to write each letter which is something I don't know. I also bought some children's alphabet books from the grocery store which have spaces to trace and practice writing each letter. Not only will the language prove useful for the rest of the time I am here, but I am hoping I will have ample opportunity to use it in the future as well ;)