"Onward to Amman!" by Christian Bevilacqua
Banner Image: Al Bataeh, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Photo credit: S. Darsch, 2022.
Hello everyone!
My name is Christian Bevilacqua and I am a junior studying at Syracuse University. I am a dual major in social studies education and human geography. I am originally from eastern Connecticut but have been spending the majority of my time while at SU in Syracuse, New York or traveling abroad, fortunately! Beyond studying I absolutely love hiking, running, going on nature walks with my dog, appreciating any beach in sight, trying new types of food, and traveling as much as I can.
The teaching program at Syracuse University has enabled me to study inclusive education practices. These methods allow me to support students of all cultural and linguistic backgrounds and implement culturally sustaining pedagogy in the public school classroom. Enlivened by my love for my teaching program tied with my passion for studying world human geography (particularly the MENA region) I have worked to dedicate time towards studying the languages that my students may commonly speak as well as traveling abroad to build cultural consciousness.
Over the past two and half years I have been fortunate enough to travel abroad throughout the Americas, Europe, MENA region, and Asia, most of which is all thanks to my university. In the Summer of 2022 I participated in the Critical Language Scholarship program where I studied Hindi and Urdu language in Jaipur, India, in an effort to support and become more communicative with my Indic-language speaking students. It was here that I discovered my love for language learning and added learning another language to my bucket list.
In May of 2022 I was fortunate enough to travel to Palestine and Israel through a school program where I was able to experience the culture, language, and discussions of regional politics directly in the heart of the Holy Land. With a strong appreciation of the culture as well as recognizing that many of my future students may speak the Arabic language, particularly the Levantine dialect, I decided that I wanted to study Arabic as soon as I could! This led me to applying to the Amideast Area and Arabic Language Studies in Amman, Jordan, as I knew that it would enable me to learn Levantine Arabic and experience the culture of the region that I fell in love with. I am so greatly excited to explore Jordan, study Arabic and MENA area course electives, and make many amazing memories! Moreover, I am ecstatic to share my learnings and memories with Amideast!
Stay tuned for more! 🙂
Christian is a student at Syracuse University and is studying abroad in Amman, Jordan on the Amideast Area and Arabic Language Studies Program during Spring 2023.
