Arabic courses at HIAS are taught using the most current international language methods. They are designed to help students acquire and improve their Arabic language skills in reading, writing, speaking, and oral comprehension. Classroom audiovisual facilities, interviews with class guests, and lectures are also among the techniques used to enhance language proficiency. HIAS provides an environment that allows students to "live the language" through a language-adherence pledge, for both inside-and-outside-class communicative tasks. Students are strongly encouraged to become involved in self-directed co-curricular activities that put them in direct contact with local people. The skills the students acquire at HIAS give them the confidence necessary and the proficiency to enable them to function efficiently in any Arabic cultural environment throughout the Arab World. Because the program includes a focus on oral proficiency (in both Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic), students may request to take a Proficiency Oral Test at the end of their study period that will be internationally certified. Several alternative assessments are used to assess the different language-students' styles.