Fourth graders at Manuel A. Salinas Creative Arts Elementary School in San Bernardino have been learning the Arabic language and about Arab culture thanks to a collaboration between Cal State San Bernardino and the school.

Since the fall of 2016, as part of a university project, two CSUSB students who are enrolled in an Arabic internship class having been teaching fourth graders at Salinas School the language and culture around universal themes that includes friendship and decision-making based on proverbs and folkloric stories from the Arabic culture.

At the end of the last quarter, the fourth graders showed what they had learned to their principal and other invited guests during an end of the year event at the school.

Oraib Mango, a CSUSB associate professor of Arabic in the Department of World Languages and Literatures, said the program gives university students the opportunity to gain self-fulfillment, and learn the value of community work and serving others, while building and strengthening bridges between different cultures.