THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
The Chicago Arabic Teachers Council is a grass-roots organization committed to serving the professional interests and needs of the diverse community of public and private K-12 Arabic educators and their students in the city of Chicago and surrounding area. The CATC’s activities include workshops, conferences, and performances organized by and for K-12 and post-secondary Arabic teachers, textbook writers, educational administrators, and students. The CATC is hosted at the University of Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies in partnership with Qatar Foundation International.
The CATC serves the over 250 Arabic educators in Chicago and the surrounding region, including public and private school teachers at the elementary, high school, and university levels. As of the 2017-2018 academic year, four high schools and seven elementary schools within Chicago Public Schools offer Arabic as a world language, accounting for nearly 3,000 students of Arabic in the public schools alone. The University of Chicago, the host institution for the CATC, taught Arabic in its very first quarter of classes in the autumn of 1893 and has been teaching it continuously ever since. Arabic education in Chicago thus has a long history, and the CATC is committed to supporting the vibrant community of Arabic educators as it continues to grow and flourish.