Dr. Hanada Taha Thomure (panel discussion 2) is the endowed professor of Arabic language and director of the Arabic Language Center for Research & Development at Zayed University, UAE. Previously, she served as associate and acting dean of Bahrain Teachers College, University of Bahrain, and director of Arabic programs at San Diego State University, USA.

She has close to 30 years of experience in teacher preservice preparation and in-service training, Arabic language curriculum design, developing and reviewing national literacy strategies, and literacy coaching. She designed the first system for leveling (determing the level of ability required to read) Arabic texts, which is currently used by regional and international publishers to level their Arabic children’s books. Dr. Taha Thomure was among the first researchers to develop Arabic language arts standards, which have been used by more than 100,000 students all over the Arab world. She is the senior author for Pearson’s first Arabic language arts K-9, a state-of-the-art curriculum that is standards-, literature- and inquiry-based. She has reviewed the national Arabic curricula for Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, and Bahrain, and has been an adviser for USAID, DLI, World Bank, Ernst Young, and many private international schools across the region.