Maliha Wehbe embarked on her long teaching journey from her home in Lebanon in 1968. She carried her love for teaching Arabic to the UAE, to which she moved with her family in 1976. Maliha first taught at the Dubai English Speaking School; she also taught from home on freelance basis. Among Maliha’s remarkable students was Mrs. Guillmard, the wife of the Dubai World Trade Centre Manager. Driven by their passion for the Arabic language, together Ms. Wehbe and Mr. Guillmard decided to establish the Arabic Language Centre at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Following the success of ALC and aiming to reach the younger audience as well, Maliha later founded the dar el-ilm School of Languages (DEI) in 1989, which specialises in teaching Arabic for children. She later expanded DEI’s scope of services to also include teaching foreign languages to children and adults. The two schools, ALC and DEI, later merged in 2016 to form the Arabic Language Centre for adults and children.
Maliha was a self-starter who developed an innovative method of teaching Arabic, based on a simplified and logical view of the language. Maliha supported the teaching method by her own teaching materials, mainly being the Business and Social Arabic series along with the Arabic Alphabet Guide. Maliha’s method and materials are still used today at ALC, albeit with regular updates in order to reflect the current topics and changes.
Unfortunately, Maliha passed away too quickly on 12th September, 2006, following a brave struggle with cancer. Today, her legacy remains as both schools continue to teach Arabic to generations of Arabic language learners all around the world.
