LEWISTON — In a Lewiston High School class last week, language teacher Yahya Ismael was reviewing words in Arabic.

“What means ‘past?’” Ismael asked, referring to the cursive Arabic letters on the board.

Students answered, and Ismael indicated they had answered correctly.

Welcome to Arabic I, one of two new language classes offered at the school this year.

Interest in the Arabic language is high; Ismael has 116 students enrolled in his five Arabic classes.

One class has 25 students. Twenty-four students are black, one is white. Most students, like Ubah Mohamed, are from Somali families.

Enrolling in Arabic “is a great opportunity,” said Mohamed, 15. “He (Ismael) is only going to be here one year.”

Knowing Arabic will help her study the Koran, which is written in Arabic, she said.

Kyla Hill, 17, a white student in the class, said knowing Arabic may be useful to her in her future plans of joining the U.S. Marines.

“I wanted to broaden my horizons and experience a new language,” she said. “I’ve taken Spanish and French, but this is something new.”

Mwesa Mulonda, 17, was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and speaks Swahili and English.

“I’m taking French, and why not take Arabic?” Mulonda said. “It’s a new language for Lewiston High.”

Unlike French and Spanish, Arabic’s letters are “way different,” he said. “It’s a complicated language.”

He wants to study the language so he may someday travel to an Arabic-speaking country.

The decision by high school officials and the School Committee to offer Arabic classes “is a great thing,” he said.

Ismael, 40, is a veteran English teacher in Egypt, where his wife and children are still living. He’s teaching in Lewiston through a grant offered by the State Department’s Teachers of Critical Language Program.

While there’s no cost to Lewiston taxpayers this year, Ismael is only here for the school year. He returns to Egypt in June.

Ismael said he’s happy at Lewiston High School.

“This is one of the best schools I’ve ever seen,” he said, adding his students are doing well, even white students who have never been exposed to any Arabic.

High School Principal Shawn Chabot and the faculty have high expectations for the students, and that helps teaching, Ismael said.

Language teachers from other countries chosen to teach in the United States by the State Department have a dual role, he explained, to not only teach a foreign language here but to promote culture and understanding in both countries.

After this year, Ismael will spend two years sharing with Egyptian educators what the schools and culture are like in the United States. The violence Egyptians see in American movies and the media differs from reality, he said.

When asked to explain the lettering system, he said there are 28 letters in the Arabic language. The sounds of some letters are only a single letter (like “F”), while the sounds of other Arabic letters combine letters (like “sh”).

He sees several reasons to offer Arabic to Lewiston students.

Lewiston has more than 1,000 students from Somali Muslim families. Knowing Arabic helps them practice their Islam religion, since the Koran is written in Arabic.

Economics are another reason. Worldwide there are 22 Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

“It’s a big market,” Ismael said, adding that the region has a lot of oil and natural gas.

For that reason, there are economic opportunities between the United States and Arabic-speaking countries, Ismael said. “You should not wait for students to grow up and start learning Arabic. It’s easier when they are young.”

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Above is Arabic for “Hi Bonnie.”