2025 CLTA Conference San Diego

Iman Arabi-Katbi Hashem, MA
Director, Loyola Marymount World Language Project (LMWLP)
Director, Southern CA Arabic Teacher Council (SCATC)
Arabic Language Instructor, CSULB
Independent Consultant

Iman Arabi-Katbi Hashem is the 2019 California World Language Teacher of the Year and the California representative. She is a classroom teacher at Long Beach and the director of Loyola Marymount World Language Project. As a director, she is responsible for fostering professional growth opportunities for the World Language teachers throughout their careers. As a classroom teacher she is revered by her students who have provided many testimonials—that through the learning of Arabic language and culture in Mrs. Hashem’s classroom that they have acquired the historical and cultural perspectives of the people who speak the language across the Arabic speaking world.
Iman has shared her exceptional expertise by serving as a consultant for Arabic teaching programs at public and independent institutions, developing standards-based curricula and instructional resources, supervising teacher candidates, and serving as a STARTALK team Leader. As an Arabic language and culture instructor at California State University, Long Beach, Iman has designed courses for teaching Arabic as a world and heritage language. She is the author of published and unpublished textbooks and multimedia course materials. Her work has significantly contributed to the development of teacher leaders in the Arabic, Chinese, and Korean language teaching communities. Iman designed programs and conducted educational activities within a rich language and cultural environment, engaging her own students as well as students from other institutions to gain new content knowledge. Furthermore, she developed positive relationships with other Arabic language learners with the goal of motivating them to use their language and cultural competence in real world contexts.