As summer approaches, dozens of Arabic immersion programs are gearing up across the U.S., Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Oman, and beyond. These are intensive environments where international faculty and students live, study, and collaborate for weeks at a time.
Having directed, taught in, and assessed these programs over the years, I’ve seen how this unique environment creates both incredible opportunities and distinct challenges—especially when it comes to building faculty communities quickly with international teams who’ve often never met.
One pattern I’ve observed across different programs is how poor faculty onboarding creates lasting challenges in what should be collaborative, immersive environments.
Even when programs have formal orientations and social events, they often miss the connective elements that transform individual educators into cohesive teaching communities.
How do you know things aren’t going so well?
- No pre-arrival relationship building despite weeks of preparation time
- Orientation focuses more on logistics than on values and culture
- Self-segregation patterns (often by gender) going unaddressed
- Faculty sitting alone during communal meals and weekends
- No clear channel to voice concerns or share ideas
In intensive language environments, these gaps have amplified consequences—chief among them, a failure to build trust. Faculty who don’t feel integrated into the community are less likely to seek help when programmatic challenges arise—exactly when quick collaboration is most needed.
The result? A fragmented teaching team, missed opportunities for pedagogical alignment, and a weaker experience for students. These are preventable outcomes—if programs treat faculty onboarding not just as logistics, but as community-building.
So, what works instead?
- Connecting faculty online prior to the start of the program
- Designing inclusive and engaging kick-off faculty meetings
- Communicating clear expectations and using a positive tone
- Being intentional about the physical setup of meetings
The most successful language programs understand that community building can’t be left to chance. They design multiple connection opportunities, facilitate relationships before arrival, and actively counter isolation patterns from day one.
The investment in thoughtful faculty onboarding pays dividends throughout the entire program—stronger teaching teams, better student outcomes, and more meaningful cross-cultural collaboration.
