About

I help Arabic learners take steps toward fluency by drawing on lessons learned in my own journey of interacting in Arabic. This journey has been ongoing over the past 30 years of living in the Arab world.

My name is Andrew Dempsey, and this blog is about my personal Arabic learning journey. I was born and grew up in Canada, but having lived in Egypt for more of my life than Canada.  Depending on what day of the week it is and how much coffee I drink, I am a relatively fluent Arabic speaker.  That’s what I blog about.

Andrew Dempsey Andrew at Bab Zuwaila

I am on faculty at the American University in Cairo, teaching in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition (see my faculty page). am a software developer, teacher, curriculum developer, and educational technology specialist with a wide variety of experience in different subjects, age levels, and educational approaches (that’s my official LinkedIn blurb).

My educational background is in Applied Linguistics and Middle Eastern Studies.  I have a masters in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, which has helped me in approaching my own process of Arabic learning.  Most of my Arabic education has come from spending many hours with people, although I did do one and a half years of formal Arabic courses at AUC, and several Arabic courses at the University of Toronto.

Most of what I develop or blog about, in terms of Arabic language learning, is based on my own interest in growing as an Arabic learner. The teacher always gets more learning out of the process than the student!

Andrew in 1992
1992 – somewhere in the Nile Delta
Sandboarding
Sandboarding!

I moved to Egypt when I was 21, lived in a slum, did some crazy adventures, met my beautiful wife, married and settled down a bit, but not too much.  I have three awesome 20-something “kids”, a small fluffy dog (not ashamed to admit it), and a ton of great friends, all of whom I am thankful for every day.

I’d love to hear from you about your Arabic learning journey!  Drop me a line here on this site, comment on any blog entry, or contact me on Twitter.

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