A School Born from Frustration.
In 2001, Rana Al-Dirani started teaching Arabic — and immediately knew the existing methods were wrong. What followed was 25 years of building something entirely new.
The Arabic She Knew
Wasn't Being Taught
In 2001, Rana Al-Dirani began teaching Arabic to foreigners in Beirut. From her very first lessons, she saw the problem clearly: the books available at the time didn't reflect how Arabic was actually lived. The materials scared students rather than drawing them in. The methods were dry, lifeless, and disconnected from daily reality.
By day she taught. By night she rewrote. She developed new lessons, new strategies, and new techniques — driven by a single goal: to teach the Arabic she knew. An Arabic full of life, expression, and cultural warmth. An Arabic that started from the ground up and taught students how to speak the way most Arabs actually do every day.
This became "Urban Arabic" — a systematic, comprehensive program for Levantine Arabic written entirely in Arabic script. It was, and remains, unique. No other school in the Middle East has built a full curriculum for Levantine Arabic in this way.
In 2008, she founded Saifi Institute to give that methodology a home — and to build a team that taught with the same passion she did.
What Makes the
Methodology Different
Urban Arabic: A Proprietary Curriculum
Saifi is the only Arabic school in the Middle East offering a complete, systematic curriculum for Levantine Arabic — the dialect spoken in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan — written entirely in Arabic script.
The curriculum covers all four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing — progressing through six structured levels (Beginner through Proficient) with clear CEFR and ACTFL benchmarks at each stage.
At higher levels, the methodology enables students to switch naturally between Formal Arabic (MSA) and Urban Arabic — the way educated Arabs actually communicate.
- Proprietary textbooks: Urban Arabic Books 1–4
- Daily life story series (Abu Jameel)
- Conversation classes run concurrently with core levels
- Audio books, verb books, dictionaries, flashcards
- Assessments mapped to CEFR / ACTFL standards
Outcome-First Teaching
Every lesson is designed around what you will be able to do after it — not what you will know about Arabic, but how you will use it.
Warmth Without Compromise
A nurturing, encouraging environment does not mean lowered standards. Saifi teachers are both warm and rigorous.
Living Language
Saifi teaches Arabic as it is actually spoken and written in daily life — not the version from 1970s textbooks.
Continuous Improvement
Our materials, methodology, and curriculum evolve every year based on what our students tell us works — and what doesn't.
The Saifi Team
Our teachers come from backgrounds in journalism, linguistics, and Arabic literature. Every one is trained in the Saifi methodology.
Teaching Arabic since 2001. Creator of the Urban Arabic methodology and the Saifi textbook series. Rana built Saifi from a single classroom into Lebanon's largest Arabic language institute.
Academic Director overseeing curriculum development, teacher training, and student progress. Nada ensures the academic rigor and warmth that defines the Saifi learning environment.
25 Years of Building
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