CET Jordan

CET Jordan is not your normal study-abroad experience. Most would think of Instagram pictures next to the Eiffel Tower and eating Pasta in Italy when first imagining a typical American semester abroad; however, CET Jordan wipes that slate clean and flips it over on its head. Instead of capturing the sites of the country as a portal to access the culture, it gives you direct access to Jordan's culture through its language and its people.

Before even arriving at CET Jordan, the program's application will repeatedly ask you your intentions for going and challenging moments through which you persevered because it is not easy nor for the faint-of-hearted. Despite seeming intimidating at first, the entry form serves a purpose: ensuring the goals of the student coincide with CET's goal of teaching and building fluency in Arabic. With the goal to help you thrive and immerse yourself in the culture, the program has a language pledge to only speak Arabic, which painful and frustrating at first, will become the most enabling feature of your experience.

I remember the first days of feeling utterly paralyzed at even the most basic level of interaction with my classmates, yet within two weeks I found myself able to talk to a taxi driver about my family and about his. Near the end of my 4 months, I could even explain to my language partner and now friend about the importance of staying true to yourself. Of course, talking about these gains makes it easy to skip over the plentiful hours of self-doubt, frustration, and headaches, but that's why you have to remember your original goal of going in the first place. Whether it is learning Arabic, or using the language for some secondary means like connecting with family, the people who hold on to their intentions for going will be the most successful(I stole some of that from my teacher).

Connecting with Jordanian culture is another goal of the program. CET Jordan tries to offer a lot of Avenues for connecting with Jordanian society. It makes interviews and recording each conversation a core part of the class, especially in the first several weeks, meaning you need to talk to people to keep your grade. On top of that, you always have the availability of your Jordanian Neighbors who provide you the comfort of being at home as well as the patience needed for learning a language.

CET Jordan does really well with these two goals, reaching both linguistic and cultural fluency, as someone that really appreciates exploring and facing a country on my own, I felt tied down to the Program when I knew I could see more. Its intensive nature means it's difficult to travel on weekends because there are always assignments due. Also, without any choice in your housing, you are at the mercy of CET Jordan's location, located in a suburb 30 minutes away from downtown, making the CET program the center of your life in Jordan rather than the bustling streets of downtown Amman.

All in all, I'm grateful I went through the challenges of CET as I now speak Arabic and understand Arabic culture better than I ever thought I would.

CET Jordan exceeded my expectations in every aspect-- it offers a (very) supportive staff, rigorous academics, beautiful housing, and so many opportunities to explore Amman and the rest of the country. I came to CET Jordan with very little Arabic knowledge and no opportunities to take Arabic courses at my home university. CET's academic resources ensured that I left Jordan confident in my speaking abilities and gave me the resources I needed to continue self-studying Arabic at home. I can't say enough kind things about the teachers and staff at CET Jordan. If you're looking for rapid language acquisition, a supportive academic environment, and endless once-in-a-lifetime experiences, CET Jordan is the right program for you.

The CET Jordan experience was beyond my expectations; between the high-quality academics and beautiful city, the CET Jordan program was indubitably the best immersive experience for any student looking to learn Arabic. I studied in Jordan in the Fall of 2022 and loved it so much that I just returned from a trip to Amman to visit my language partner, former professors, and the city, which will always have a special place in my heart.

CET offers high-quality academics through a comfortable and high-level classroom experience. The professors are competent, patient, and always willing to help, providing a safe learning environment and personalizing the material to adhere best to student's needs. Through daily office hours, the professors get to know the students and create a study program that allows them to target their strengths and weaknesses and reach their personal goals for the semester. The language pledge - to only speak Arabic - encourages the students to stick to the intensive language program through the struggle and discovery of learning a new language inside and outside the classroom. The language partners and local neighbors allowed me to advance my language, discover the city, and further explore my personality in a new country. I am still in contact with the local neighbors and my language partner, who is now one of my closest friends.

CET provides cultural immersive experiences to travel around Jordan and get to know different aspects of the culture. The program offers a beautiful community between students, professors, and management. I cannot stress enough that everyone in the program is genuinely interested in the personal growth of each student, both academically and individually. Everyone, including management, always has their door open, ready to help, whether to practice Arabic, provide assistance with any situation, or just sit, chat, and have a good laugh.

My experience at CET Jordan’s summer intensive program exceeded my expectations. I studied with CET through their semester abroad program in the fall of 2022, so I had reasonable expectations for what returning to Jordan would look like for me. Still, I was beyond pleased with how the program helped me learn Arabic through the intensive classroom experience, field-based excursions throughout the country, personalized time with professors, and the driven cohort of students. Similarly, the program required us to sign a language pledge—to only speak in Arabic for the summer—which encouraged me to commit to the intensive language study beyond the classroom and enabled me to immerse myself in the local community and culture and connect more deeply with the language. I am thankful that the program patiently and graciously welcomed us into a new language and culture and supported us as we made mistakes and learned from them.

As for particular experiences that aided my language acquisition and cultural immersion, I benefitted from meeting with my assigned language partner (and now friend) weekly to do activities in Amman and eat traditional Jordanian dishes with her family. Similarly, I bonded with my Jordanian neighbors (from CET) who lived in the same apartment building over tea and games. CET’s structure supports a strong community among professors, neighbors, and the cohort itself. Also, it gives students the tools to foster individuality and personal development through language skills and connections with local establishments such as pottery, Turkish baths, and other fun activities!

I was also very impressed by the quality of instruction; the office hours requirement elucidates the strong commitment of the professors to the students, as we would meet with our professors every day for 30 minutes outside of class for personalized one-on-one instruction. The academic community of CET is genuinely committed to each student’s development and love for the language. I would recommend this program ten times over to anyone dedicated to learning Arabic or wanting to participate in this cultural exchange. My friends loved it too!

My experience at CET Jordan was absolutely incredible. It was amazing to be able to see so much of the country, whether it was the mountainous natural reserve of Ajloun, or the vast beautiful desert of Wadi Rum, or even the bustling capital of Amman. You will be able to see everything you want to see and learn anything you want to learn. You just need to put in the work because the curriculum is pretty demanding. However, you will be able to get through it and you WILL be satifsified with how much you learn.

CET Jordan is an incredible program for language aquisition. The teachers are incredible, class sizes are small, and there are a plethora of opportunities to customize learning to how you like and need. We had 2 hours a week of 1-on-1 office hours, which was a great way to get to know my teacher and to improve on my personal language struggles. The elective classes were interesting, although the directed research class was very very independent, especially if your research interest didn't fall under the professors realm of experience. The administration was great and supportive. If you are focused on Arabic aquisition this program is for you. I will say I think host families would help with that, but that of course comes with its own difficulties. The location is in a nice area in Amman, although a little disconnected from public transportation if that is a priority of yours. CET is good because you can chose how connected to the program/cohort you want to be.

To begin, I'd like to emphasize that this curriculum takes intense Arabic studies but is extremely rewarding. I had only taken one semester of Arabic during my first year of university prior to this program. When I first moved to Jordan, I knew very little Arabic. But only after two weeks of classes. I was able to express my wants, grasp and comprehend simple phrases, and hold basic conversations. My favorite quality of this program is how much Jordanian culture is woven into our studies and daily life. We went on multiple field trips throughout our time in Amman, also had Jordanian neighbors, Language partners. Which played a huge role into our cultural immerse.

My primary goal was to learn Ammiya (Jordanian dialect) Arabic, which is spoken by the locals. So, when I expressed an interest in developing my conversational abilities, my teacher was very supportive, and we scheduled one-on-one sessions throughout the week to practice conversing. Which led to the accomplishment of my goal and my ultimate personal success in this program.

If you want to learn Arabic, this is the place to be! Despite having studied four years of university-level Arabic prior to the program, the biggest improvement in my language skills was definitely during my two months in Jordan. Not only are the teachers and staff are absolutely phenomenal (incredibly sweet, supportive, and understanding) but the curriculum is incredibly challenging and engaging.

The setting is also perfect. Not only are you set in Amman, but the program is also held within the Univerist of Jordan campus, meaning you have a wonderful opportunity to get to know other Jordanian students your age. One of the students even offered to arrange for me to become a regular at a lecture/class while I was there! Being at the University of Jordan also means that you have the wonderful opportunity of participating in campus extracurriculars and events, an opportunity that you should definitely not pass up! Being assigned a language partner from the university (still a close friend of mine!) means that your skills just keep improving.

The program also actively tries to include you into Amman's social scene. Your language partner will take you out to different locations (often to visit their families as well) and your Jordanian roommate will work hard to introduce you to his/her friends. As long as you stay open to new experiences and actively try to explore, you will make lifelong memories and friends.

The housing situation is also incredibly safe and comfortable. That being said, it is definitely different from the type of comfort you might find at a European or American study abroad program but despite some minor hiccups, we were very happy with the situation. Being assigned a local roommate only makes it that much friendlier.

That being said, there are some tips to share:
- Do your own studying and research about Jordan and the Middle East before arriving. You will learn a LOT about Jordan and Arab culture while in Amman but, as most of the teachers have grown up in Jordan and never lived in the West, they will be teaching you curriculum based on their perceptions of how the West looks at the Middle East. Sometimes these (though completely well-meaning) intentions end up re-inforcing stereotypes that are untrue.
- Although the housing situation is wonderful, make sure to BRING WARM CLOTHES! Water shortages in Amman means that central heating is not a common amenity and it gets incredibly cold in the winter!
- Evaluate what you want to get out of your study abroad experience. If you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and excited at the idea of adventure, this is the program for you! This will not be like a program in Europe - to meet people and have exciting experience, you have to be actively trying to take risks and meet new people! Once you do that though, you're gold.

All in all, this was an absolutely heartwarming experience and, hands down, I would definitely do it again. I met some incredibly wonderful people and people who I will be friends with for a long time (both American and Jordanian). If you have the opportunity to go to this program, don't pass it up.