HSC Arabic Extension case studies
HSC Arabic Extension · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Arabic Extension is a Higher School Certificate (HSC) course in New South Wales, Australia, taken alongside Arabic Continuers. It is designed for students who already handle Arabic with confidence and want to work with longer, more demanding texts and to write at length in both Arabic and English. The HSC Arabic Extension case studies are 5 cases and about 1,838 words.
1The Village Radio Interview: Register and Dialect on Air
You are analysing a transcript of a 12-minute radio interview from a regional station in southern Lebanon. The host, speaking in formal Educated Standard Arabic (ESA), asks a 70-year-old farmer about the olive harvest.
422 words, about 2 min2Translating an Op-Ed: When Literal Fails
You must produce a 500-word English commentary on an Arabic opinion piece (roughly 900 words) about water shortages in a North African city. The original opens with the idiom 'al-mā' yukdhib al-'aṭshān' (literally 'water lies to the thirsty') and later uses the rhetorical question 'a-fa-lā yatadabbarūn?' echoing Qur'anic style.
352 words, about 2 min3Extended Essay in Arabic: Choosing Register for a Formal Letter
Your Arabic Extension class must write a 600-word formal letter in Arabic to a municipal council, proposing a youth library. The assessment rubric rewards 'appropriate formal register' and 'cohesive argument'.
356 words, about 2 min4Analysing a Poem's Political Subtext Under Constraint
You are analysing a 1960s Arabic poem in which a nightingale sings in a walled garden while a 'silent guard' watches. The poet never names a country or regime.
368 words, about 2 min5Cultural Context in a Short Story: Honour, Hospitality, and Misreading
A short story describes a family receiving an unexpected guest at night. The father insists on slaughtering a lamb despite the family's poverty; the mother objects quietly; the guest later reveals he is a tax collector.
340 words, about 2 min