Elise Seiwert, Joseph Otte and Rachel Peterson attend an Arabic language class in Amman (Photo by Amy Hybels)

By Amy Hybels

AMMAN - It’s summertime and the living is supposed to be easy, but not everyone is heading to the beach.

Foreign students and Jordanian professionals are hitting the books in record numbers this summer in hopes of acquiring new language skills.

Osama Alshurafa, director of the Qasid Institute for Classical and Modern Standard Arabic, said enrollment in the summer programme has nearly doubled over last year.

Alshurafa said most of the students studying in Amman are from the US.

“I think there’s a general interest from the US State Department to provide an opportunity for bridge building,” he said.

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Thursday, July 10th, 2008