[Internship] Curriculum Development (TAFL) and Educational Sciences

Company Description

Aralects is developing a gamified, self-paced app focused on teaching Arabic dialects like Egyptian, Lebanese, and Emirati to enhance real-world conversational skills. Personalized learning pathways powered by AI aim to make language learning more engaging and accessible. The company is committed to creating a culturally immersive platform for mastering Arabic dialects, catering to a wide audience for professional growth or personal interest.

Role Description

This is a FULL-TIME remote (or hybrid) role for a Curriculum Development Summer Intern in TAFL at Aralects (3 months, extendable). This internship offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of Arabic pedagogy, educational technology, and AI. You'll collaborate with a dynamic team to design and structure engaging learning content for Arabic learners, while gaining hands-on experience building the next generation of language learning tools.

We are looking for creative, detail-oriented individuals with a passion for Arabic education and a desire to grow their skills in curriculum design, instructional content creation, and second language acquisition especially within the framework of educational sciences and ISLA (Instructed Second Language Acquisition).

Possible Responsibilities

• Assist in designing and sequencing curriculum units and micro-lessons for Arabic dialects and Standard Arabic.
• Develop grammar explanations, communicative exercises, and task-based learning activities based on CEFR, TAFL, and ISLA-informed frameworks.
• Annotate and tag language materials for linguistic features (e.g., vocabulary level, function words, grammatical structures).
• Conduct desk research on second language acquisition strategies and evidence-based pedagogy, especially for diglossic and heritage learner contexts.
• Collaborate with NLP engineers and product designers to align content with platform features (e.g., gamification, personalization, spaced repetition).
• Contribute to the building of a knowledge graph of grammatical and thematic concepts.
• Create learning objectives and track them across multiple lesson paths and learner levels.

Qualifications

• Background or coursework in Arabic linguistics, language pedagogy, TAFL, Applied Linguistics, ISLA, or educational sciences.
• Familiarity with one or more Arabic dialects.

• Excellent written communication skills in English, and Arabic to some extent.

• Experience with instructional design or lesson planning, preferably in Arabic language education.
• Familiarity with CEFR levels, ACTFL proficiency guidelines, Arabic language corpora, or psycholinguistic research in SLA.
• Currently pursuing a Bachelors or Masters degree in TAFL, Linguistics, Education, Middle Eastern Studies, or a related discipline.

Terms and Compensation

As this is an internship position at an early-stage startup, the compensation offered will be modest and primarily intended to cover basic expenses. While we may not yet be able to offer a competitive salary, we are committed to providing a rich learning environment, meaningful responsibilities, and mentorship that can contribute significantly to your professional growth. Any increase in compensation or transition to a paid role will be evaluated based on performance and funding availability.

Ready to help shape the future of Arabic learning?

Apply now and join a team that values innovation, cultural insight, and learner-centered design informed by the science of how languages are learned.