Rockland Community College is offering a videoconference course in Arabic this summer that will be available to students at community colleges in Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster.

Syrian-born Guzide Kobati will be in a classroom at RCC, but her course will be videoconferenced to the other colleges. Over the course of the four-credit class (9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, eight weeks from June 10 to July 31), Kobati will also teach at each of the other college campuses at least once apiece.

Here’s what RCC said in a press release regarding Kobati’s feelings about course:

Ms. Kobati believes that learning Arabic eases the way for American travelers. “When students visit a very conservative Arabic community, I want them to understand not only the language, but also culture.” Kobati was troubled by the recent account of a British teacher in the Sudan who was jailed for naming a teddy bear, “Muhammed,”unaware that using that name for an animal is viewed as disrespectful. Kobati teaches her students phrases that enable them to communicate respectfully.

She was born and raised in Syria, where she spoke Turkish at home, Arabic at school and in the community. She learned English at school and by listening to the world broadcast, “Voice of America.” Her first experience teaching Arabic as a second language was as a college student in Turkey. In addition to teaching Arabic at RCC, she also works at Columbia University on a project to build an Arabic language database for computer translation.

RCC students must register by June 10 for Arabic I in Summer Session II.

For more information, send an e-mail to Mara Lee Bierman, professor of Spanish and coordinator of foreign languages, mbierman@sunyrockland.edu or call him at 845-574-4361.