Enhancing employability skills and supporting transition to the year abroad: a case study

The year abroad is one of the most exciting yet challenging aspects of studying modern languages. In addition to the difficulties that all students face in transitioning to the year abroad, students of Arabic face the challenge of Arabic diglossia, given the existence of different written and spoken language varieties. To help with the transition to the Arabic year abroad, Durham University provided funding to recruit a team of staff and final-year students who had completed their year abroad to produce videos to help prepare students for their year abroad in Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco. This project provided students with a unique experience that equipped them with crucial employability-related skills such as creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork, among others. This paper presents a case study of the project, its outcomes, and some feedback received from students who worked on the project and those who have used the videos.