He Almost Arab!

In my beginners class today, I told my 11 Saudi Arabian students (all men) about the history of Thanksgiving.  Because they're beginners, the story was drastically simplified, but it seemed that they were getting the general idea.  At the end I asked for questions.  One student asked if this holiday was celebrated in other countries.  I said that lots of countries have days to give thanks, but maybe not all with the same story as in the U.S.

He thought about that, then said that the two Muslim holidays are about being thankful to God, too.  Having taught Saudis for over a year now, I'm familiar with the holidays, so I said something about the holiday that marks the end of the Ramadan fast, Eid Al Fitr.

One of my newer students exclaimed in surprise that I knew the name (though I pronounced it poorly).  Another student, whom I've taught longer said, "Of course he know.  He almost Arab."  In the midst of the laughter, a third student corrected, "He IS Arab!"  A fourth student chimed in authoritatively, "SHE is Arab."  Satisfied now that their sentence was grammatically correct,thanks to their group effort, the class all turned to me, smiling and nodding.

I couldn't help chuckling to myself that the "Arab" part was not considered to be an error.